Introduction: How to Make Maltese Bread Recipe Ħobż Tal-Malti No-Knead Method

How To Make Maltese Bread Recipe ( No - Knead ) Method
Recipe
3 Cups of strong flour
2 Tablespoons of yeast
1 + 1/4 of salt
1 Tablespoon of olive oil

Before you bake put plenty of flour on grease-proof paper put your dough on the paper & dust with flour, cover up with a T-towel and leave for 30 mins. Flour your hands and fold the dough into itself a few times and leave for a further 30 mins. Take the T-towel off and pick the dough up by holding on to the grease-proof paper, pulling it a little tightly, place in your pot. This will give you a huge loaf :-)

Ħobż tal-Malti is a crusty sourdough bread from Malta, usually baked in wood ovens.

Although it can be eaten as accompaniment to food and with a variety of fillings, the typical and favourite way to eat it is as Ħobż biż-żejt, where the bread is rubbed with tomatoes (as with the Catalan pa amb tomàquet) or tomato paste, drizzled with olive oil and filled with a choice or mix of tuna, olives, capers, onion, bigilla and ġbejna.

Qormi is the capital of breadmaking in Malta with several bakeries spread out in almost every corner of this beautiful town. In fact during the rule of the Knights Hospitaller, it was known as Casal Fornaro meaning the bakers' town. Nowadays an annually held festival, Lejl f'Casal Fornaro (a night at Casal Fornaro), takes place in Qormi in late September. Veteran baker Ġorġ "Il-Foqs" is locally known as the best in his profession and his bread is very sought after. He is located in a corner on St.Catherine's Square in the older part of the city known as the San Ġorġ area .Other notable bakers like Ġorġ "il-Boqboq", Ġorġ "is-Sufa" , Leli "il-Paċċ" and Ġorġ "taz-Zinger" are based in San Ġorġ. On a humoristic note, the people of Qormi are teased as being "nies sa Nofsinhar" meaning that they are not to be relied on after noon due to most Qormi residents in the past being bakers and working late at night and in the early morning thus being very tired by noon. The reason for the Maltese bakers working at the small hours of day is that people wanted to have fresh bread ready to be bought as they were heading back home from the first mass of the day usually held at 5 am.
The common recipe is

3 Cups of Strong flour
10g salt
10g sugar
1 Table Spoon Olive Oil
15g yeast
3/4 cup of luke warm water
1/4 Cup of Milk
Mix the flour, salt and Olive Oil then yeast.
add the luke warm water, sugar and the milk.
knead the mixture well until the dough is white and elasticated.
Flour baking tray put dough direct on tray in a loaf shape (score if desired) cover with damp cloth, place in a warm place for about 1 hour.
Once Proven heavily dust with more flour Cook in oven at 150 oC for 40 Minutes then turn up to 230 oC for last 10 minutes making 50 minutes total.