Cretan Dakos

Rusks, hard dry breads made from barley and whole wheat, have been an essential part of the Cretan diet for many years. Lauded for its high fiber content, the locals praise its digestive qualities and have perfected the art of baking these delicious breads. If you are lucky and have access to a store that sells these rusks, as many specialty Mediterranean food stores do, be sure to look for ones with a high barley content as the whole wheat rusks are less hard and will become soggy quite quickly. Look for the brand 'To Mavva' (pronounced 'Toe Mahnah') with the green labeling (the blue labeled ones are whole wheat) as I considered these to be the best barley rusks from Crete.

What you will need:

Barley Rusks*
Sea Salt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Grated Ripe Tomatoes
Goat Cheese (Feta, Myzithra, or Soft Goat Cheese)
Oregano
Kalamata Olives

Depending on the size of the rusks, use as many as your hunger requires. Take the barley rusks and run them under tap water until the whole rusk is wet (a few seconds will do). Do not skip this step - they are VERY hard and will break your teeth if you don't! However, if you are using a whole wheat rusk, or bread you have dried out on your own at home, skip this step to avoid ending up with a plate of mush. Once the bread is wet, generously sprinkle the bread on all sides with sea salt, place on a serving dish, then pour your finest, freshest Extra Virgin Olive Oil over the bread. If you have a Greek Koroneiki variety, use it! The flavor of the oil really shines in this dish.

Next, grate the tomato (one medium-sized ripe tomato per piece of bread) and pour on top of the bread, then take the goat cheese and crumble as much as you like on top. Take a pinch of dried oregano and sprinkle over the cheese and place a few kalamata olives on top. Now take your bottle of olive oil once again and drizzle some more over the entire dish for a final touch. Serve right away.

The outcome should be bread that is not too hard nor too soggy - think 'softly crunchy'. By the time you serve the dish, the combined flavors of the oil and tomato should have soaked into the bread and be absolutely delicious!

* If you cannot find barley rusks, wheat rusks are ok too, just do not wet them with water before you cover with the oil and tomato. You can also dry out thick pieces of whole wheat bread at home in your oven on low heat.