Paximadia glykanisou (aniseed rusks)

Описание: Recipe
1. 30 gr olive oil
2. 200 gr honey
3. 200 gr orange juice (room temperature)
4. yeast (optional)
5. 1 tsp ground anise
6. 450 gr all purpose flour
7. sesame for the outside covering

Bake at 200 C for 20 minutes, turn over, and bake again at 120 C for 30 minutes.

Procedure
The recipe I am using is from Paros. However, it can be modified, with the substitution of orange juice with water, or yeast with baking powder. You can also remove anise and add any other ingredient you like, such as raisins, almonds etc.

Let the dough double in size for about 2 hours. Please note that I am using honey, which gives extra humidity. If you decide to use sugar, you will need to put less flour.

Before giving shape to the rusks, divide the dough into 3-4 pieces and make loaves (of approx. 1 cm height). Then cut them into slices of 1 – 1.5 cm, only on the top. After the first baking, let the loaves cool down, then cut them down to the bottom so that they are divided, and then turn them over.

When the rusks are done, let them cool down. By letting them to be exposed to the air, they will get dried and get hard after some hours.

Description
Even though this recipe is from Paros (3-5 hours by boat from Athens), different kinds of rusks can be found at the Greek bakeries. There are almond rusks, olive oil rusks, cinnamon rusks, mastic rusks, you name it. There are also savory rusks. Sweet rusks, such as these, are usually consumed with coffee in the morning, while savory rusks are used in salads (such as Cretan dakos), or accompany cheese, ham, fruits, vegetables etc.