Feast Page 3
MAKES 10 SMALL SAJ OR YUFKA BREADS
2 cups (240 g) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and rolling out
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon (200 ml) water. Mix until you have a rough ball of dough.
2. Transfer the ball of dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead for 3 minutes. Shape into a ball and invert the bowl over the dough and let rest for 15 minutes. Then knead for 3 more minutes until you have a smooth firm dough.
3. Divide the dough into 10 portions, each weighing about 1½ ounces (40 g). Shape each into a small ball, rolling the dough in between the palms of your hands. Then roll the ball of dough against your work surface—which should not be floured—keeping the side with the seam against the work surface to seal it. Sprinkle a tray or part of your work surface with flour and place the balls of dough on the floured surface. Cover with a damp kitchen towel. Let rest for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out each ball of dough—here it is a good idea to use a thin rolling pin like the Turkish oklava—sprinkling with flour every now and then, until you have a round 7 to 8 inches (17.5 to 20 cm) in diameter. Place the rounds of dough in between floured couches (baker’s linen)—or simply use floured kitchen towels.
5. Heat a large nonstick pan over medium heat and until very hot. Add the dough rounds, one at a time, and cook for a minute or so on each side. They should be lightly golden with small burned spots where they have bubbled up. Stack in between clean kitchen towels. You can serve these immediately or use them to make wraps. Or you can do what the Turks do and stack them in a dry place where they will keep for weeks.
6. When you are ready to serve, sprinkle each bread with a little water to soften, fold it in half, and wrap in a clean kitchen towel. Let rest for 30 minutes so that it becomes soft and pliable and ready to serve.
TANNUR: Tannur is a flatbread that is eaten throughout rural Syria, thicker than either saj or yufka and named for the oven in which it is baked. Tannur ovens are found in Iran, India, and Pakistan, as well as Central Asia. To make tannur, divide the dough into 6 equal portions and flatten the bread a little thicker. Bake in the same way.
MAKES 6 TANNUR BREADS
Somali Pancakes
ANJERO
SOMALIA
Anjero is similar to Ethiopian injera although a little thicker, and it is used in lieu of cutlery to scoop up food. Unless, that is, it is eaten for breakfast, in which case it is spread with butter and sprinkled with sugar or drizzled with honey. Another way to have anjero at breakfast is to tear it in pieces and pile them in a bowl, sprinkle with sugar, drizzle with olive oil, and drench the whole lot with tea. I can’t imagine ever wanting to have anjero this way, either for breakfast or any other time for that matter, but it is lovely with stews or simply spread with butter and honey. This kind of fluffy bread is closer to a pancake and it is found with slight variations all over the Muslim world. The Yemeni variation is known as lahoh. It is very close to anjero while the Zanzibari version, known as chila, can be made with ground rice. Moroccan beghrir is another take on anjero, while Lebanese/Syrian qatayef are similar but are used as in sweets, filled with either clotted cream or walnuts or eaten plain or fried, drenched in sugar syrup.
MAKES 8 MEDIUM PANCAKES
FOR THE SOURDOUGH
½ cup (70 g) white corn flour
¼ cup (35 g) sorghum flour
1½ teaspoons superfine sugar
1½ teaspoons instant (fast-acting) yeast
FOR THE PANCAKES
2 cups (240 g) self-rising flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons superfine sugar
1. To make the sourdough: Mix the corn flour, sorghum flour, sugar, and yeast in a bowl, then add ½ cup (125 ml) water. Mix well and let ferment for at least 2 hours. Some people let the sourdough ferment for 2 days.
2. To make the pancakes: Mix the self-rising flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl, then add the sourdough. Add 1 cup (250 ml) water to the mixture and mix well. Add another ¾ cup (180 ml) water and once the water is absorbed by the dough, start slapping the dough, raising it with your hand, at least a dozen times—you can also do this with a whisk. This will aerate the dough and will help it become smooth. Then add another ½ cup (125 ml) to ¾ cup (180 ml) water to have a pancake batter. Mix until the batter is smooth. Cover and let ferment for at least 2 hours or even overnight.
3. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, pour a ladleful of batter into the middle of the pan and spread the batter with the back of the ladle from the center in a circular motion. You should aim for a round that is about the size of a dinner plate with a circular swirl inside it where the batter should be thinner. Cook until the surface is full of tiny holes and the bottom is golden.
4. Remove from the pan and place on a plate lined with parchment paper. Keep cooking the remaining anjero in the same way until you have made eight pancakes. Serve with a stew or for breakfast.
Iranian Flatbread
BARBARI
IRAN
Barbari is probably the most common bread in Iran. It is the bread that most people eat for breakfast and it can be baked in a tannur oven, although most barbari bakeries I have seen in Iran bake the bread on a very interesting rotating hot plate, which as it rotates moves the bread into the oven under the oven doors (set high enough so as not to scrape the loaves). The baker starts by shaping the loaves on a large table in front of the oven doors, making deep indentations in thin lines down the long barbari loaves. He then lifts and lays these on the rotating plate, which carries them into the oven, where they bake quickly, and then out again the other side of the doors, crisp and golden. In the morning barbari bread is served with eggs scrambled with tomatoes, feta cheese, and butter while at other meals it is served with a platter of herbs, cheese, and walnuts before the rest of the meal.
MAKES 2 MEDIUM LOAVES
3⅓ cups (400 g) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and shaping
½ teaspoon instant (fast-acting) yeast
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1. Mix the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Gradually add 1 cup (250 ml) water, bringing in the flour as you go along. Knead until you have a rough dough.
2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 3 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, invert the bowl over it, and let rest for 15 minutes. Knead for 3 more minutes. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly floured bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
3. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a ball. Place on a lightly floured work surface. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rest for 20 minutes.
4. Flatten the dough into a long oval loaf about ½ inch (1 cm) thick and using the tips of your fingers, make deep indentations about ½ inch (1 cm) from the edge and the top down the long side and stop about the same distance from the bottom. Make a few more lines of deep indentations at equal intervals. Do the same to the other loaf, then gently pick up one end of one loaf with your fingers, while still holding on to the other end, and stretch the loaf to elongate the bread. Repeat at the other end, being mindful not to tear the dough.
5. Let rest while you preheat the oven to 475°F (250°C).
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown all over. The top should be darker than the bottom. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Serve at room temperature or reheat to serve hot.
Turkish Flatbread
PIDE
TURKEY
Pide is a thicker, softer version of barbari bread (Iranian Flatbread). Like barbari, it is long and oval, but smaller; and whereas barbari is crisp and holey inside, pide is soft and spongy with an even crumb. Pide dough is also used with a variety of toppings to make long, boat-shaped filled breads, also called pide but with the name of the topping preceding pide to diff
erentiate them from the plain bread such as patlicanli pide (with an eggplant topping) or etli pide (with a ground meat filling).
SERVES 4
3¾ cups (450 g) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and shaping
1 packet (7g/2¼ teaspoons) instant (fast-acting) yeast
2 teaspoons baker’s sugar or superfine sugar
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin oil, plus more for greasing the bowl and baking sheet
Egg wash: 1 egg whisked with ½ teaspoon water
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add the oil and with the tips of your fingers rub the oil into the flour. Gradually add 1 cup (250 ml) warm water, bringing in the flour as you go along. Knead until you have a rough ball of dough.
2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead for 3 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, invert the bowl over it, and let rest for 15 minutes. Knead for 3 more minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a large oiled bowl, turning it to coat all over with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
3. Transfer the dough to a work surface. Shape into a ball. Place on a nonstick baking sheet (or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat). Cover with a very damp kitchen towel. Let rest for 15 minutes.
4. With your hands, flatten the dough into a long oval loaf about ½ inch (1 cm) thick. Cover with the damp towel and let rise for 45 minutes.
5. About 20 minutes before the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
6. Uncover the dough 5 to 10 minutes before baking to let the surface dry. With the tips of your fingers, make deep dimples all over the top. Brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden all over. Let cool on a wire rack before serving at room temperature or reheat to serve warm.
Moroccan Bread
K’SRA
MOROCCO
Morocco is one of those rare countries where bakeries are not so much a place where professional bakers bake and sell bread, but rather a resource for the neighborhood: Dough is prepared and proofed at home and the risen loaves taken to the local bakery to bake. Each neighborhood has at least one bakery. The lady of the house will not be the one to take the bread to the bakery, however. She will be too busy cooking the meal at home. Instead it will be one of her offspring or one of the grandparents who will carry out the bread and bring it back home once baked. That moment of the day, just before lunch, when a procession of boys, girls, and old men and women files through the narrow lanes of the medina, each carrying a tray either in their arms or on their head where they have the family’s loaves ready to be taken to the bakery, is quite magical. And if you venture inside a bakery, you will inevitably find the baker feeding the loaves into the hot oven, being careful not to mix them up from one tray to another. He usually knows which loaves belong to whom by the order he places them in the oven, or by the mark the home baker will have made on the loaf, or simply by the cloth they have used to cover the dough. The trays with the baked breads are lined up on shelves by the entrance of the bakery to be taken away by those who brought them in. During Ramadan, the bakeries will start baking later in the day shortly before iftar (the breaking of the fast). During Eid (the Muslim feast, one at the end of Ramadan and the other a month or so later), they will work double time as everyone will be feasting and receiving family and friends.
In the countryside, people bake their own bread, usually in a large round shallow earthenware bowl called a g’saa placed over an open fire. The dough can be mixed with anise and sesame seeds (see Variation, below) for special occasions or even just for breakfast, and, depending on the region, that same bread can be made with barley or whole wheat flour. The usual flour used here is semolina.
MAKES 1 LOAF
2¾ cups (450 g) fine semolina (also known as semolina flour), plus all-purpose flour for kneading and shaping
1 packet (7g/2¼ teaspoons) instant (fast-acting) yeast
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1. Mix the semolina, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Gradually add 1¼ cups (310 ml) warm water, bringing in the flour as you go along. Knead until you have a rough ball of dough.
2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead for 3 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, invert the bowl over it, and let rest for 15 minutes. Knead for 3 more minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (or use a nonstick pan). Flatten the dough into a disk ¾ inch (2 cm) thick and place on the baking sheet. Cover with a floured kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 1 hour, or until well risen.
4. About 20 minutes before the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
5. Carefully brush any excess flour off the dough and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden all over. Let cool on a wire rack and serve at room temperature (if you want to serve the bread hot, reheat it). It is always a good idea to let breads cool completely before serving them as they continue to develop as they cool outside the oven. The only breads to which this does not apply are the totally flat breads.
VARIATION: For an anise/sesame seed version, add ½ tablespoon anise seeds and 1 tablespoon sesame seeds when you mix together the semolina, yeast, and salt.
North African Multilayered Breads
M’HAJJIB
MOROCCO | ALGERIA | TUNISIA
M’hajjib are typical North African street food that are made either plain or filled with a variety of stuffings. The name changes from country to country. In Algeria, they are called m’arekk or m’hajjib, in Morocco they are known as r’ghayef, and in Tunisia as m’lawi. The plain version of Tunisian m’lawi is used to make wraps, whereas r’ghayef, also known as m’semmen, are eaten as a snack or a quick meal on the go.
MAKES 8 INDIVIDUAL MULTILAYERED BREADS
1 cup (120 g) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
1 cup (165 g) semolina flour
½ teaspoon instant (fast-acting) yeast
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
Vegetable oil, for shaping the dough and greasing the pan
1. Mix the flours, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add a generous ¾ cup (190 ml) warm water to the well and gradually mix with the flours until you have a rough, sticky dough.
2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Sprinkle the dough with a little flour and knead for 3 minutes. Shape into a ball and invert the bowl over the dough and let rest for 15 minutes. Knead for 3 more minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes.
3. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions, each weighing about 2 ounces (60 g). Roll each piece into a ball. Smear your work surface and hands with oil. Place a ball of dough on the oiled surface and flatten it into a very thin round with your fingers, greasing your hands and work surface with more oil if necessary. Fold in one-third of the round, then fold the other third over to make a long rectangle. Fold one-third of the long end of the rectangle of dough, then fold over the other third to make a 5-inch (12.5 cm) square. Let rest while you make 3 more squares of dough.
4. Flatten the squares of dough with your fingers as thinly as you can without tearing them.
5. Grease a large nonstick skillet with a little oil and place over medium-high heat. Place 1 square in the hot pan (or 2 if they fit). Dip your fingers in a little oil and drizzle over the bread. Cook for 1½ to 2 minutes, or until the bottom is lightly golden. Turn over, drizzle with a little more oil, and cook for another 1½ to 2 minutes. Remove to parchment paper or a wire rack. Cook the remaining
3 breads in the same way. Then form and cook the remaining 4 breads in the same manner, making sure to oil your hands, work surface, and pan in between each bread. Serve warm.
REGAG
* * *
QATAR | UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | BAHRAIN
Regag is a very thin crisp bread from the Arabian Gulf that is made by rolling a ball of very loose dough over a hot plate to leave a thin film that is scraped off as soon as it becomes crisp and golden. Some of the older ladies who make it seem oblivious to the intense heat of the plate so close to their hand and are very adept at rolling the dough, but younger ones use a flat plastic panel (or sometimes a DVD case) to roll the dough over the hot plate. The bread can be spread with cheese and/or egg or with mehyawa (Iranian/Arabian Fish Sauce) as it bakes and then eaten as a snack, or it can be baked plain and used in Tharid, the Prophet’s favorite dish. Regag is delicious but rather difficult to make, not unlike warqa or brik, both of which use the same principle of leaving a thin film of dough on a hot plate. The difference is that regag is crisp and eaten on its own or broken up and used as a bed for a stew, while warqa is soft and pliable and used to make a variety of savory filled pastries.
Arabian Pancakes
KHOBZ AL-JBAB