News of Olga Loizon’s passinghasmany metro Detroiters thinking about their Olga's restaurant favorites. Loizon died Monday at age 92.
There are the sandwiches, snackers with almond cheese, salads with crisp red onion, olives and feta cheese, and soups.
But it’sOlga's pita-style bread that had so many people swooning,including me.Several years ago, we published a version of the bread from our archives. It was from 1985. I retested the recipe on Monday and made a few tweaks.
It turned out very close to what the restaurant serves. Many staffers told me it wasn't as sweet or as thick as the restaurant'sversion.
Also read:
Olga Loizon, restaurateur and founder of Olga's Kitchen
Olga Loizon recounts the first Olga's Kitchen
What’s important to note in the recipe is thatonce the bread gets a brief skillet fry (minus any oil), you transfer them to a plastic bag. By placing them in the bag, they continue to steam and stay pliable.
I also used some of the bread to make those tasty snackers.The recipe is below. On the menu, they list two seasonings, a garden-herb, and their signature blend. I winged it and guessed on the signature seasoning as I remembered it, and they turned out well. A staffer passed along a post that recommended sprinkling the snackers with Salad Supreme seasoning, which is commonly used in spaghetti salad recipes.
Another favorite with those snackers was the almond cheese spread. There are several versions online and I’ve included one that appears to be the closest.
The creamy and tangy Olga Sauce that topped their sandwiches also isa favorite. Several versions of the sauce describe its favor as akin to tzatziki. Some describe it as a mix of sour cream and yogurt. A friend’s sister worked at an Olga’s mall location many years ago. I asked her about the special sauce on the sandwich. She assured me it was simply plain yogurt. Whatever it is, it’s a good match for the famed Olga bread that had a slightly sweet taste to it.
Here are the recipes. The dough comes together easily. Only the skillet frying of the bread is a bit tedious, but once you get a system down of rolling out the dough and transferring to a skillet, it goes by quickly.
Olga-type Bread
Makes: 16 / Prep time: 30 minutes / Total time: 1 ½ hours (plus rising time)
1 cup whole milk
¼ cup honey
¼ cup margarine, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1 package fast rise or rapid rise dry yeast (or 2 ¼ teaspoons yeast)
¼ cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 teaspoon sugar
4 cups unbleachedall-purpose flour, divided
1 egg at room temperature
In a small saucepan scald the milk and remove to large bowl. Stir in the honey, margarine and salt to milk until margarine hasmelted. Set aside to cool until lukewarm.
In small cup or bowl, combine the yeast, warm water and sugar; stir until sugar is dissolved and set aside until milk mixture is cooled. The mixture will form bubbles.
Add 1 ½ cups of the flour to lukewarm milk mixture and stir well. Beat in the egg and yeast mixture until thoroughly combined. Add remaining 2 ½ cups flour, a little at a time, until a sticky dough is formed. Turn out on a floured surface and knead about two minutes.
The dough still 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, about 1 hour or more.
Punch down dough and remove to working surface; divide into 16 equal pieces. Roll out each piece to a rough circle about eight to 10 inches in diameter. Don't worry if the circles aren't perfect but they must be no thicker than one-eighth inch.
Heat a large dry skillet over medium-high heat; do not use any oil or grease. Bake each circle 15 seconds, flip and bake about 10 seconds on other side, until mottled brown spots appear. Do not overcook. Bread should be flexible.
Remove with spatula, cool about 1 minute and transfer to a plastic bag. Repeat with remaining dough. Seal bags tightly to retain moisture and use at once, refrigerate or freeze. Bread may be reheated on cookie sheet in hot oven for a few minutes.
Olga Snackers
Cut the bread into triangles and place on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 350degrees. Brush bread triangles lightly with olive oil or coat with cooking spray. Sprinkle with dried oregano, paprika, garlic salt and a small about of crushed red pepper flakes for a little heat if you like. Bake about 10minutes or until they get a bit more browned. They should still be somewhat soft.
From the Detroit Free Press recipe archives.
Tested by Susan Selasky for the Free Press Test Kitchen.
Here’s a recipe I found for the Swiss Almond Cheese Spread served with the snackers. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, beat 1 package (8 ounces) regular or reduced fat cream cheese until smooth. Stir in 1 ½ cups shredded Swiss cheese, 1/3 cup sliced and toasted almonds, 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 1 sliced green onion, a few pinches of black pepper and nutmeg. Spoon onto a lightly greased small baking dish. Bake about 15 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with remaining almonds. Serve warm with the snackers
