Kubaneh bread

[shain]

Kubaneh is a rich "pull apart" bread of Yemenite Jewish origin. It is baked overnight and served on the Sabbath for lunch or breakfast. Flavored with butter, slowly caramelized sugar and fenugreek, it has a delightful savory-sweet aroma of butterscotch and brioche.

While it has a decent amount of sugar, it's no sweeter than a dinner roll, as the long baking time breaks down the sugar into aromatic caramel. It is actually most often served with savory sides. That said, my favorite serving options is with s drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of salt.

It's really no harder to make than a simple brioche or challah.

 

 

Since the baking time is long, consider doubling the recipe, it can be frozen quite well. Actually, in some ways it is better reheated, since the outer crust can be crisped.

My recipe uses dark brown sugar, which is not traditional, but gives it a striking dark color that I love, and further butterscotch notes. You can use white sugar. Some recpies uses date molasses or plum/apricot jams.

 

Ingredients:

• 6g dry or instant yeast
• 240g water
• 60g dark brown sugar (or other sugars, see note above)
• 375g flour
• 8g salt
• 1 tsp
• 1.5 tsp fenugreek seeds, finely or roughly ground (don't worry if your not a fan of it, it mellows while baking and leaves a lovely fruity-spicy maple-like scent)
• optional: 1 tsp nigella seeds
• ~~~
• 40 to 60 g soft butter, for rolling
• 15 to 30 g soft butter, for covering the rolled dough
• ~~~
• optional: nigella or sesame seeds for decoration. 

 

Prep:

Two to three days ahead:

• In mixer bowl, mix yeast, water and sugar.
• Add flour, salt and spices.
• Knead for ~7 minutes until a firm dough is formed.
• Let the dough relax for apx. 10 minutes.
• Knead for another ~7 minutes or so until strong.
• Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight and up to 2 nights.

Evening/night before:

• Transfer the dough onto a lighlty oiled surface.
• Flatten and roll into an elongated rectangle, try to get it to be 80cm (2.5 ft) wide, but don't worry if it is shorter.
• Spread 40 to 60 of butter over the dough.
• Roll it tightly in order to receive a long log shape.
• Divide the "log" into 12 segment.
• Roll each segment against the surface to elongate it to apx 12-15 cm (~5").
• Spread remaining 15 to 30 g of butter on the rolls, covering them well.
• Place the rolls standing in a pot wide and deep enough to contain the bread once risen. For this amount, I use a pot with a 20cm diameter.
• Optionally scatter some nigella or sesame (just a sprinkle, don't over do it).
• Cover tightly with a tin foil, followed by the pot's lid.
• Let rise for ~ 30 to 45 minutes.
• Place in a preheated 210C oven (410F) for ~20 minutes.
• Lower the heat to 100C (210F) and bake overnight.
• For haminados eggs - place raw or leftover boiled eggs (unpeeled!) in the oven along the bread (I usually leave them in their cartoon).

Morning/noon:

• Before serving, drizzle ~1/5-1/4 cup of water onto the bread. Cover and return to the oven for another 15 minutes or until ready to eat.
• To serve, remove from the pot. Eat while warm.

 

For serving:

Traditionally, it is often served with:

• Haminados eggs, baked all night long
• Fresh tomatoes blended or grated into chunky sauce and flavored with zchug (chili paste) and salt
• Pickles
• Fresh veggies
• Some fresh salty or acidic cheeses
• Arak or ouzo

It can also be eating with honey and a sprinkle of salt.

 

Leftover eggs are great in a sandwich with tomatoes, tahini sauce, pickles and zchug.

 

 

 

My shaping skill is still not great (rolled to thick), but it will taste great regardless.