Gianniotiki Frantzola (Γιαννιώτικη Φραντζόλα)

Gianniotiki frantzola is Ioannina's long white loaf, the everyday bread of Epirus with a crisp crust and a firm, close crumb. It isn't a festival bread. It is the loaf that waits beside feta, olives, bean soup, fried eggs, whatever the table has that day. The region is the dish's surname, and here the name says Giannena.

One thing decides it: the hot oven starts with water. Slide the shaped loaf into strong heat and pour boiling water into a preheated tray below it. For those first minutes the crust stays flexible, the loaf opens cleanly along the slash, and then the surface dries crisp enough to sing as it cools. No butter, no milk, no sweet dough. Flour, water, yeast, salt, and patience.

I write this kind of bread down with particular care because everyone thinks everyday food will remember itself. It doesn't. Your grandmother cooked by eye because she'd made it a thousand times. Here are the numbers until you have.