Sunday, January 25, 2009

Aw Yeah...

Warning: This post will have absolutely no meaning if you haven't spent part of your life in Southeast Michigan!

What does that look like folks?!

If you said an Olga than you know how astatic we all were to be having one of these babies grace our tummies this weekend.

How could it be?! You aren't back in Michigan are you?!

No! We're right here sitting in our little old house in North Carolina.

Last week I stumbled upon a posting of the Olga bread recipe and I just about had a coronary. There isn't a member of this house (is there anyone in the world?!) who doesn't swoon at the sight (and taste) of Olga bread served up in any fashion.

Since there is absolutely no chance that we'll be having a real Olga anytime soon I thought it was worth making a trial batch... just to see.

They were surprisingly easy to make (and I say that as someone who bakes everyday so keep that in mind... easy for me... not necessarily easy for everyone). It's basically like making a pizza dough and then rolling out small rounds and pan frying them (no oil) much like tortillas. So if you've made either of those you're good to go. This bread is slightly sweet, slightly yeasty, and more dense and chewy than a traditional flatbread. In highschool I'd go to the food court and eat nothing but Olga bread for lunch. It is seriously good. The home version was pretty close. I have a feeling some oil might actually be used to fry these up in the restaurant... they were missing a little something. Nonetheless we'll be making them again... probably next week.

Kid said "Mom these aren't like Olga's... they are better than Olga's!"


Without further ado the recipe...

Olga Bread
I have no idea where this was taken from... sorry!

1 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup margarine (I use butter)
1 teaspoon salt
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 egg

Scald milk, remove to large bowl. Add honey, margarine and salt to milk; stir until margarine is melted. Set aside to cool until lukewarm. Combine yeast, warm water and sugar; stir until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.

Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour to lukewarm milk mixture and beat well. Mix in egg and yeast mixture. Add remaining flour, a little at a time, until sticky dough is formed. Turn out on a floured surface; knead about two minutes. Dough will be sticky, but don’t add more flour. Place dough in oiled bowl, turning once to oil whole surface of dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in warm place until doubled in bulk. Punch down dough; divide into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece to a thin rough circle about 1/8 inch thick and 8-10 inches in diameter.

Heat a large dry skillet over medium-high heat; do not use any oil. Bake 15 seconds, flip and bake about 10 seconds on other side, until mottled brown spots appear. Do not over cook. Cool and store in a plastic bag, use them at once or refrigerate or freeze. Makes 16.


*I halved the recipe to turn out 8 - 8" ish small flatbreads. I also found the cooking time to be about 30 sec per side.
(wondering how you halve an egg?... I get that a lot... just beat it and then pour in half)


We didn't have any shaved lamb or olga sauce on hand but I managed to do a pretty good knock off of the Olga Burger.
We had these crazy 1/3 pound hamburger patties in the freezer so I used those up slicing them to fit (about 1/6 pound for each). I topped the bread with mayo and seasoned it generously with house seasoning (1 part garlic powder, 1 part ground pepper, 4 parts salt). I put ketchup under the burger and topped with sliced red onion. I swear to God it tasted exactly like the Olga burger you know and love. (I should know... I ate at least one a week throughout my pregnancies).

25 comments:

katieo said...

How much time did it take the dough to rise? ...about?

Mrs Furious said...

It would be ready in time for dinner if that's what you want to know ;)

I didn't time it. About an hour or so. I put in in the oven on "proof" which I think you could mimic with a super low setting. I think the whole process start to eating took me 2 hours.

I'll time it next time!

katieo said...

"It would be ready in time for dinner if that's what you want to know ;)"

haha, yes, in fact.

Jane said...

It looks absolutely delicious!!!

hicktowndiva said...

I have never heard of an Olga...it looks like a gyro? I do know what you mean about regional food, though. I have similar feelings about Taco Cabana.

Mrs Furious said...

Me, Myself & I,
Oh it was delicious.
It does help to have Mr F around to photograph stuff though... looks much better!


Hicktowndiva,
kind of like a gyro... the bread is sweeter though. It's just a local chain restaurant that is loosely middle eastern oriented.

Torey said...

Oh. My. God. You have just made my day. I mean that. Olga's is my favorite food! I mean that.

They opened one in the new Plaza at Plymouth and Green, and you an order ONLINE and pick it up at the curb. Can we say dangerous to my credit card???????


Speaking of tacos, have you tried the taco place that is behind the Sonic in the strip mall? It's like BTB, or Moes but it's really good!! Hope that helps you out!

Amy said...

i saw someone making this bread on the food network this morning and wondered what it was! now I know!

Mrs Furious said...

Amy,
seriously?! That's some freaky timing!

Robin said...

I have never heard of it, but it looks delish!

I was also going to ask if it was like a gyro. :) Yummy

emmyjw said...

MMMMMM Olgas....

Amy said...

i know! what are the chances?

Unknown said...

Sadly , Olga's has gone down hill as of late. Tiny salad with no feta and a sliver of onion. a sliver of meat on my original , had to ask for tomatoes and more sauce. Wish it was what it was years ago. thanks for this cause now i will be making my own using Alton Browns Gyro meat recipe.

alexiswk said...

I used to work at Olga's (thankfully we have them here in St. Louis but I'm still excited to try this recipe!) Do y'all remember the smoked sausage olga?? My FAVORITE!! But they don't make it anymore and I think the bread would be gross by the time I get it home. If I remember right, Olga Sauce is just plain mayan yogurt. Not sure what makes it Mayan but it's very similar to the greek yogurt that's so popular now...can't wait to whip up some bread and make me some smoked sausage!! LOL!

Unknown said...

Been trying to figure out the ingredients of this bread for ages. Thank you! I lived in Michigan most of my life and have to say olgas is one of the few things I miss. Nothing like it in Virginia!

Sheryldish said...

Just stumbled on this because we have a young lady goin gup to U of M. The minute someone says Michigan--my head hears OLGA. It's about the only thing from that state I miss. Now--I'm in North Carolina and would move for anything.

Sheryldish said...

**would NOT move--SORRY. Long day.

Sheryldish said...

Just stumbled on this because we have a young lady goin gup to U of M. The minute someone says Michigan--my head hears OLGA. It's about the only thing from that state I miss. Now--I'm in North Carolina and would move for anything.

Unknown said...

I made these over the weekend. Mine were a little hard. I kind of think they need more honey and maybe a hint of nutmeg. There is something missing in taste and texture in my batch.

Jen said...

They just announced filing chapter 11 this morning. (sad trombone) Figured I better find a copycat recipe to keep it accessible. Thanks for this!

Carrie said...

I've been craving Olgas out in CA for awhile now - made a 3 cheese olga last night from this bread recipe and it was everything I hoped and dreamed it would be. I invented my own olga sauce as there isn't a recipe out there for it. 1c greek yogurt, 1/4c sour cream, 1T Milk, a splash of lemon juice, salt, and pepper. At first it's not quite right but as it sits it gets better. Since I've got so many breads leftover the Olga Burger is tonight!

Unknown said...

So has anyone came up with how long it takes the bread to rise? I'm wanting to plan how long I need to start it before dinner.

Unknown said...

This recipe is very good tasting but not exactly like the olga bread, I had really hoped it would be. I have played around with the recipe and came really close I think but still maybe 1 ingredient away or my technique.

Half the original Recipe
instead of margarine I used unsalted butter
instead of milk yogurt (I have tried buttermilk and yogurt I think yogurt is perfect.)
I didn't like the very sweet flavor because olgas isn't that sweet so I didn't use the honey.
I have also tried different flour and bread flour is best but regular flour was fine.

but I am still going to tinker with this recipe maybe try some sour cream or olive oil or something to get the texture of the bread more like olgas maybe it needs baking powder or something else.

I would love a more experienced baker to try this recipe and let me know what they think, for now I am very happy with the result

Gary

Unknown said...

in addition to the original post i used 2 tbsp of sugar

sprtngrl46 said...

It's the best, isn't it!❤️😍 My mouth is watering just looking at this pic! Born and raised in Metro Detroit, so I'm very familiar. We now live up north, near Houghton Lake. Sadly, no Olga's up here (no coney island either!), but every single time we're downstate, we have our Olga's. ❤️

Blog Widget by LinkWithin