warm grilled bread with olive oil, sea salt and Greek oregano

Grilled bread  or λαδοβρεχτό is probably one of the most wonderful and simplest ways to enjoy a loaf of good bread. I make it right on the grill in summer and early fall and use a grill pan on the stovetop when its too cold to grill. Nice, thick slices are my favorite and just the thing to soak up the few but delicious flavors here. They also hold up well piled high with endless topping options (see list below!)

While the bread is still warm, preferably right off of the heat, generously brush each piece with good Greek olive oil and sprinkle with a coarse sea salt and crushed dried Greek oregano. Could it be any easier? Enjoy just as is, as a side to your favorite soup/stew or topped with

basil and roasted garlic spread, fresh chopped tomatoes, skordalia to list a few of my favorites (longer list below!) – the possibilities are endless and completely customizable to your tastes

Before heading out to the grill, I like to assemble all my ingredients and tools to make sure I’ll have everything right on hand. A half sheet pan is perfect for organizing and transporting everything quickly and safely.

ready for the grill

As I mentioned earlier, thick slices of bread are best. And the bread should be good quality – that is, not too crumbly or too mushy. Bromated bread (yuck!!) will turn to dust so don’t use cheap bread! White or wheat, its your choice.  I just don’t recommend hard grains like barley or rye though. They get a little too hard too fast in my experience. For a bakery loaf of white Italian or French bread, I often wait a day or so after buying a fresh loaf to let it get, not stale, but a little less fresh. Seems to work better for this purpose.

And it may seem counterintuitive but you grill the bread DRY and once they’re toasted, brush liberally with olive oil. It makes a big difference to add the oil while bread is still warm. This way you get a well toasted crunchiness outside AND all the delicious flavor of your olive oil inside and not a soggy, smoky slice.

Remember to move the slices around a bit as each side is toasting.  You want nice grill marks but you also want the entire slice to be just golden brown.  If you don’t move your slices, your grilled bread will end up with unsightly tan lines or white stripes where they didn’t meet any heat.  If I have an extra minute or two, I usually do a test slice before adding the whole batch as each time you grill the heat/flames are different.

thick slices of bread on the grill

You want to toast without setting fire to your bread (obviously!) and you want to toast pretty quickly so as not to completely dry out your slices. A couple of minutes per side over medium flame usually do the trick but again, test a slice first to get a good idea of your grill.chopped Greek salad or just chopped tomatoes

Here are a few other great ways we enjoy toasted bread λαδοβρεχτό!

• slathered with fig jam or honey for breakfast
• topped with roasted garlic spread or hummus
• as the perfect side to bean soups and vegetable stews
• underneath a heaping potion of Greek green beans or braised okra

generously brush grilled slices with olive oil right off the grill

Hungry for more?  Find 25 more of your favorite authentic, traditional dishes in The Greek Vegan Cookbook (PDF) – 33 pages of beautiful, full color, detailed, interactive recipes order your copy today!