Za'atar, feta and olives quick bread

Savory breads or "cake salé" as they are called in France, are popular appetizers.

The good thing about quick bread is that they're done in 10 minutes, and what makes them truly 'quick' is the fact that they're made with baking powder, rather than with yeast, which requires no kneading. And when I say quick, it's really quick because a quick bread should not be over mixed, otherwise it can create tough results. They can be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner or as a snack.

Here, French people gather for aperitifs, a kind of light dinner, or as called 'un apéritif dînatoire'. An apéritif dinatoire will include enough food to fill people up without actually having to sit down and dine. The portions are small, so that you can eat each appetizer in one or two dainty bites. Many times the food will be served in waves, maybe starting with canapés, moving to verrines, and then ending with sweets. Savory breads are the star, they might include any number of ingredients; popular combinations are olives and ham, prunes and bacon, and salmon and goat cheese... You can flavor your cake with what you like. You only need the basic proportions of flour, olive oil, and eggs, then the rest is up to your creativity. As for me, it was za'atar, feta cheese and olives!

Ingredients:
2½ cups flour (I used whole wheat flour)
2 tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
3 tbsp zaa'tar
2 tbsp olive oil
7 oz (200 g) feta cheese, crumbled
½ cup pitted olives

Preheat the oven at 350ºF (175ºC).
Grease a loaf pan.

Whisk the flour, baking powder salt and zaa'tar in a bowl.

In another bowl, whisk eggs, milk and olive oil.

Add flour mixture to wet ingredients, and fold together until the dry ingredients are about 3/4 moistened. Do not over mix.

Add olives, feta and fold. Pour the batter into the greased pan.
Sprinkle with some extra zaa'tar and bake for 45 mn. Let cool before serving.

Cake za'atar, feta et olives

Ingrédients:
280 g de farine (j'ai utilisé de la farine complète)
1 sachet de levure chimique
½ càc de sel
2 œufs, légèrement battus
235 ml de lait
3 càs de zaa'tar
2 càs d'huile d'olive
200 g de feta, émiétté
½ tasse d'olives dénoyautées

Préchauffez le four à 170ºC.

Beurrer un moule à cake.

Dans un bol, mélangez la farine, la levure, le sel et le za'atar.

Dans un autre bol, mélangez les œufs battus, le lait, et l'huile d'olive.

Ajoutez le mélange de farine au mélange œufs-lait et mélangez jusqu'à ce que les ingrédients soient incorporés, sans trop travailler la pâte.

Ajoutez les olives coupés, le feta et mélangez. Versez la préparation dans le moule beurré et saupoudrez d'un peu de za'atar. Laissez cuire 45 mn. Laissez refroidir avant de servir.