Hellİmlİ Zeytİnlİ Kıbrıs Çöreğİ (Haloumi & Black Olive Cypriot Seeded Loaf

I have been dreaming of sharing this recipe for so long and it’s finally here! This beautiful bread is the lovechild of two of my most popular recipes - Kıbrıs Çöreği (Cypriot Seeded Loaf) and Hellimli Zeytinli Kek / Bulla (Halloumi and Black Olive Cake / Loaves). You can watch the method on the reel here - please make it! 

RECIPE

Makes 1 loaf

For the dough

225 ml (8 fl oz) lukewarm water

100 ml (3½ fl oz) lukewarm milk

½ tsp caster sugar

7 g (¼ oz) fast-action dried yeast

1 tsp salt

500 g (1 lb 2 oz) strong white

bread flour, plus extra for

dusting (optional)

1 tsp olive oil

For the filling

50 g (1¾ oz) fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped

25 g (1 oz) fresh mint leaves, finely chopped

2 spring onions, finely chopped

100 g (3½ oz) pitted dry black olives, roughly chopped

250 g (9 oz) hellim (halloumi cheese), cut into 2½-cm (1-inch) cubes

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, very finely diced

For brushing

1 tbsp flour

1 tsp water

1 tsp milk

For coating

4 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp nigella seeds

¼ tsp aniseed 

METHOD

In a heatproof jug, mix together the water and milk, add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the yeast, give it a gentle stir and leave to one side for 5–10 minutes until it’s activated. The liquid will rise and turn frothy when ready.

Meanwhile, sift the flour into a large bowl, stir in the salt, then make a well in the centre. Pour the activated yeast mixture into the well. Combine together with your hands to form a dough. Transfer the dough to a clean surface (add a little extra flour for dusting if necessary) and knead for 10 minutes or so until smooth and elastic (or knead in a standing mixer using the dough hook attachment). Tuck the dough under to form a nice ball, grease with a little of the olive oil then place in a large bowl greased with the remaining olive oil. Cover the bowl with plastic film and a tea towel and leave somewhere warm and cosy to prove for an hour or so until doubled in size.

While the dough is proving, prepare the filling. Add the coriander, mint, spring onions and olives to a large bowl. Pat the hellim cubes dry with kitchen paper and add to the other ingredients.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the finely diced onion and reduce the heat a little so that the onion slowly softens and caramelises. Cook the onion for around 15–20 minutes until translucent and a lovely even golden colour. Add the entire

contents of the frying pan, including any remaining oil, to the bowl of filling ingredients and stir everything together.

Once the dough has doubled in size, remove it from the bowl, turn it over and place it on a clean surface and gently punch it down for a few seconds. Using your hands, stretch and open out the dough section in front of you so that you have a flat base, around 40cm (16 inches) square to place the filling into. Put the filling into the centre of the dough and fold over the edges so that the filling is encased within it like a parcel. Place the filled dough back into the bowl and, with your hands, squeeze, punch down and continuously work the dough for a good few minutes so that all the filling ingredients become fully mixed into it. The mixture might be a little sticky, but the dough and the filling will be fully combined. Start to fold over the dough from the top (furthest away from you), downwards, pinching down everytime the folded dough reaches the dough laying flat on the surface, until you are left with a chunky, long baguette-shaped piece of dough. Using your hands, shape the ends into curved points. 

Mix all the seeds together on a large tray.

Mix the flour, water and milk in a small bowl to create a smooth paste and brush most of it over the top and sides of the shaped dough. 

Carefully lift the shaped dough and transfer it to the tray of seeds, smooth, pasted side down, coating the bread all over so that no seeds remain in the tray. Pinch the long seam together on the underside of the bread (which should be facing upwards if the smooth side is laying in the seeds) and brush with a little more of the paste mixture. Turn the dough over to coat the underside in seeds too. Transfer the seeded dough back to your clean surface and using a dough cutter (or a saucer, like my mum has always done) cut horizontally all the way through the dough in eight equal sections to create eight separate segments. Gently push the pieces back together to reform the original shape while maintaining the shapes of those distinct segments.

Line a deep baking tray with parchment paper, place the dough on it and cover with film wrap or a light, clean tea towel. Leave somewhere warm to prove the dough again for 30-35 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 190c fan / 210c while the dough is having its second prove. 

Place 100 ml (3½ fl oz) water into a glass, and as you place the baking sheet on to the middle rack of the oven, throw the water (not the glass) into the bottom of the oven and quickly close the door. Bake the bread for 30-35 minutes or until beautifully golden brown and cooked through (the internal temperature should be around 82-85c). Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack until ready to serve.