Glystarkes (Cypriot crusty, sesame rusks)

Gyristarkes, from the Greek verb ?????? = turn, now commonly known as glystarkes or glistarkes, is a kind of grid-like crusty, sesame rusks.   The bread sticks are dipped into sesame seeds and then they are shaped beginning with a cross (as it had a religious meaning as well) and then other bread sticks are added round the cross and baked.  They were used during old traditions in villages, where the bride’s family would invite guests to the wedding and hand a glistarka as an invitation or as part of the decoration of pumpkin or dried gourds (krasokoloka) which were used as wine containers during wedding ceremonies.  These gourds were hand crafted and elaborately decorated for special occasions.

The recipe is my own as I don’t have the original one, nor did I find one on the internet.   In order to make them much healthier, I added whole wheat flour, demerera sugar and salt substitute, for mine, which were fine for me but the rest of the family wanted them more salty. so I added some coarse sea salt in the spice mixture for theirs.  The traditional glystarkes were made with only bread flour and fresh yeast, white sesame seeds and had a flavour of cinnamon, cloves and anise.  The first time I made them with the traditional ingredients and were shaped the traditional way.  They were quite close to the taste I remembered.

Since then, I have made them many times, either as mini glystarkes or shaped like grissini in order to know which flavour was in each kind.

I’ve also made a lot of  combinations of spices mixed in the sesame seeds but I am giving you a few of my favourite, which as you may see always include the peppers.  These combinations are so addictive you can’t just eat one of these crunchy bites.

I am sending these to Yasmeen, of Health Nut, for her event Guilt Free Snacks.

Glystarkes, Cypriot recipe by Ivy

Preparation time:  1 hour

Baking time:  25 - 30 minutes

Makes:  30 mini or bread sticks

Ingredients:

For the dough:

250 gramsa bread flour
100 grams whole wheat
10 grams dry yeast
1 cube (4grams) demerera sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon salt substitute
3 tablespoons olive oil
100 grams white sesame seeds

Combination of spices used:

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon various peppers, black, green, pink and white

or

100 grams black sesame seeds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1 tablespoon anise seeds
1 tablespoon various peppers, black, green, pink and white
1 teaspoon sweet paprika

or

50 grams white sesame seeds
50 grams black sesame seeds
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 tablespoon anise seeds
1 tablespoon various peppers, black, green, pink and white

Directions:

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and olive oil.
Put dry yeast and sugar cube in the water and stir until dissolved, let stand for a couple of minutes to bubble.
Add the yeast to the flour and mix with the dough paddle until the dough does not stick on your hands.
If it does, add more flour.  Remove dough from the bowl and add 1 tablespoon olive oil and wet the dough.  Cover with cling film and a towel and leave it to rise for about half an hour in a warm place.
Prepare spice mixture and grind in a spice grinder on with a mortar and pestle.  Mix with the sesame seeds.
Preheat oven at 180 degrees Centigrade.
Shape the dough into a long piece of dough about 5 cm thick and then cut about 30 thin slices.
Roll each piece into a thin stick (the thinner the better) quickly bathe it in water and then into the sesame-spice mixture.  Shape them as you like and place them on a tin lined with parchment paper.
Bake for about 25 minutes.

Note:

For those in which anise seeds were used, I added a couple of tablespoons of ouzo in the water I used to wet them.

If you bake more than one batch, when they are baked turn off the oven, allow the oven to cool for ten minutes and then place them all in the oven to become more crunchy.  This is not necessary during summer as the hot atmosphere will do this job.  Store in air tight containers.

There will be a lot of sesame seeds falling off the rusks when baked.  Do not discard it.  I collected it in a plastic bag and used it in a different recipe, which will be posted soon.

For the family I made some not so guilt free cheesy sticks.  I used only bread flour, regular salt and sugar and instead of using spices, I mixed 1 cup of kefalograviera after the dough rose.  I  then followed the same procedure and covered each stick with white sesame and pepper mixture.

Finally, a guilt free smoothie which I prepare for my children who are always lazy to peel and eat fruit.   I add some Bee pollen which is a great source of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and more.  Bee pollen has an earthy taste which is not so pleasant by itself, so I camouflage it in the smoothie and add the vanilla essence to hide its taste

Healthy Smoothie

Ingredients for 3 glasses:

2 glasses of low fat milk
1 medium pear, peeled and cored
1/2 cup seedless grapes
1small apple, peeled and cored
1 tsp bee pollen
1 tablespoon Greek Honey
4 - 5 ice cubes
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Directions

Put all the ingredients in a blender and start on low speed until the ice cubes break and then blend for a few minutes on high speed.

Enjoy!!!

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