How to Make Traditional Cretan Homemade Dakos (Cretan Bread and Tomato Salad)
Dakos is a traditional Greek salad, which is popular in Crete. It is made with rusk bread, tomatoes, feta cheese and oregano. Dakos can be eaten as a side dish or as an appetizer.
What is Dakos?
On a platter, this Dakos (Ntakos) Cretan Salad resembles a little version of a stunning Greek island. a typical Cretan barley rusk stuffed full of nutritious Mediterranean flavor. As good and nutritious as it is vibrant and colorful.
The Cretan traditional dish dakos (or tsakistes) is a delicious salad made of rusk bread, tomatoes, feta cheese and olive oil. The key ingredient in this dish is rusk bread. Rusk bread is a type of hard dry biscuit made from wheat flour with Greek origin but also produced in other countries such as Turkey and France, among others.
Ingredients
- 5-6 slices of rusk bread, sliced approximately 1/2 inch thick
- 2 tomatoes, diced into small cubes (about 1 cup)
- 4-5 ounces crumbled feta cheese (about 1 cup)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste (optional)
- Optional ingredients: fresh oregano leaves
Instructions
- Prepare the bread, tomatoes and oregano.
- Prepare the yoghurt and feta cheese (if using).
- Put all of your ingredients in a bowl and mix well with olive oil to make dakos salad! Enjoy!
Cooking Notes
- Dakos is best served with a salad and a glass of wine.
- Traditionally, dakos is eaten on Crete, but it can be completely delicious no matter where you’re from!
Tips
While it’s possible to prepare dakos with a good loaf of bread and fresh tomatoes, the best results come from using rusk bread that is neither too dry nor too moist. The best time to use fresh tomatoes is in late summer, when they are at their sweetest. Make sure your olive oil is top quality. You can add oregano at the end of cooking if you want—just make sure not to add it too soon! Also remember that cheese should be added right before serving so it doesn’t burn on contact with hot ingredients like olive oil or tomato juice. Salt should only be added at the very end of cooking because salt draws out moisture from food, which makes for drier results rather than crispier ones!
Dakos is best to serve with
- Greek salad, which is prepared by mixing together tomato and cucumber slices, green peppers and onions. The salad can also include other ingredients such as olives, feta cheese or eggs.
- Pita bread, thin flatbread that goes well with souvlaki (grilled meat kebabs). If you don’t have pita bread on hand, you can use any kind of bread instead.
- Olives: This is one of the most important ingredients in dakos because it adds flavor to this dish along with extra nutrients and vitamins from olive oil that are present in olives as well as their juice content.
If you want to eat this ancient dish at home but do not know where to start then don’t worry! We’ve got some recommendations for you so that making Dakos won’t be so difficult after all!
Dakos is made with rusk bread
- Dakos is made with rusk bread, tomatoes, feta cheese, olive oil and oregano.
- To make Dakos: first you will need a large bowl and a baking tray. Cut the crusts off the bread slices then tear into small pieces. Place on a lined baking tray with space between each piece of bread.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 220C/425F/Gas Mark 7 for 15 minutes until lightly golden brown but not too crispy.
- Cool before adding them to your salad bowl along with your tomato pieces (cut into quarters), feta cheese cubes and some torn fresh oregano leaves -OR- dried oregano if you prefer using that instead of fresh (you may need slightly less).
- Drizzle over some olive oil and toss well so everything is coated evenly in dressing before serving immediately while still warm or cold depending upon your preference on how crunchy you like it!
