Kubaneh Yemenite Jewish Bread Recipes

KUBANEH

Steps:

• 1. In a large mixing bowl, combine yeast, flour, sugar and salt. 2. Slowly add water and mix in a stand mixer using the dough hook attachment for 6 minutes, until dough is smooth. (You can also knead dough by hand for 10 minutes, until smooth.) 3. Grease bowl with 1 tablespoon room temperature butter, place dough inside, cover with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour, or until dough doubles in size. 4. Punch down dough and divide into 8 portions. Grease a 9-inch cake pan with 1 tablespoon butter. 5. On a very lightly floured surface start forming each portion of dough into the signature kubaneh shape by taking a bit of butter in your hand and smoothing dough out in a thin large circle. Spread some more butter (about 1 tablespoon per circle of dough) over the circle of dough, spread dough as thin as you can (a few rips in dough is fine) and then roll dough like a jelly roll. Once you have a long strip of rolled out dough, roll dough into a snail-like shape and place in greased pan. Repeat for all eight portions of dough. 5. Cover with plastic wrap or damp kitchen towel and allow to rise for 30 minutes. 6. Preheat oven to 350°F degrees. 7. Bake for 30 minutes, uncovered.

KUBANEH (YEMENI PULL-APART ROLLS)

Steps:

• Prepare a 9-inch springform cake pan by buttering it and placing it on a sheet tray. In a stand mixer fitted with the hook attachment, mix water, yeast, flour, sugar, salt and 1 egg (reserve the other egg for egg wash) on low speed. Once they're combined, turn up to medium-high, and knead for 10 minutes. With the machine running, add the 2 tablespoons of butter a bit at a time, waiting until it's fully incorporated before adding more. Continue to knead until the dough balls together and becomes very elastic, or 5 more minutes. Remove the hook, cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and rest for 20 minutes.
• Use lightly floured hands to turn dough out onto a lightly floured cutting board. Cut in half, and again, and again, until you have 16 even-size pieces. Cover with plastic wrap, and set aside. Spread 2 tablespoons of soft butter across your work surface, and place a piece of dough in the center. Cover the palms of your hands with another tablespoon of soft butter, and without lifting the dough off the counter, use your fingers and palms to flatten and smear the dough out, until it is smooth and thin and sheer in places, or approximately 12 inches in diameter. The exact shape doesn't matter much, and neither do some small rips here and there in the dough. Sprinkle some nigella seeds over the dough, then roll the dough into a long, skinny log: starting from the end farthest away from you, push the dough toward you with 8 fingertips until it gathers up into a thick enough piece to begin rolling it, then roll it all the way toward you. Wind the log up into a snail shape, and place it in the center of the prepared pan.
• Repeat the process for the remaining 15 pieces, buttering your work surface and hands each time as needed, and continue arranging the finished buns loosely around the first. Cover the pan with a towel or plastic wrap, and allow to rise in a warm spot for 1 hour, or until the buns have almost doubled in size.
• Preheat the oven to 350. Whisk remaining egg with a tablespoon of water, then gently brush the egg on top of the buns. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the buns at the center are as puffed asthe buns on the edges. In the meantime, grate the tomato, then season it with olive oil and salt. Allow the kubaneh to cool for a few minutes, then serve with the tomato on the side.

KUBANEH (YEMENITE JEWISH BREAD)

Steps:

• Sourdough Prep
• If you're doing the sourdough version, make the sweet stiff starter the night before you plan to bake. After mixing the ingredients, knead the starter dough a bit on your counter to fully incorporate the ingredients, then place the blob in a jar, press it down with your knuckles and cover loosely. The starter should double (or more) in 8-12 hours, and you can proceed with the rest of the instructions.
• Mixing
• Pull 57g/half stick of butter from the refrigerator, unwrap it, and place it on a small plate to soften. Fold the wrapper in half and save it to grease your springform pan and countertop. Reminder: The butter doesn't go into the dough during mixing.
• Whisk the dry ingredients in a large bowl: flour, sugar, (yeast), and salt.
• Add the water, whole egg, egg white, (and sourdough starter broken into pieces). Mix thoroughly until the dough is smooth.
• Pour 1 tablespoon of oil on top of the dough, cover, and let the dough rise until it has more than doubled. In a warm summer kitchen, this took 1 hour for the yeast version and 4.5 hours for the sourdough version.
• Shaping and Final Proof
• Smudge a bit of the softened butter onto your saved butter wrapper and grease a 9-inch springform pan. Use this wrapper to lightly grease your countertop too.
• Scrape the dough out of the bowl and de-gas it by pressing your palms into it.
• Divide the dough in 12-18 pieces. See the photo galleries for different outcomes with fewer large pieces (yeast) versus more smaller pieces (sourdough).
• Working one piece at a time, spread the dough thin with butter-coated fingertips. Don't worry if you tear the dough a bit.
• Layer more butter on the thin dough, then sprinkle it with nigella seeds. (Have a paper towel nearby to occasionally de-seed your buttery fingers as the seeds will shred the next dough ball.)
• Fold the dough in thirds, and then roll it from a short side.
• Place the roll in your pan, working from the center outward. It's okay if the rolls topple over a bit. You can adjust them later, and a little chaos adds to the appeal.
• When all the rolls are done, cover your pan and let the dough rise until it has more than doubled. This was 1 hour for the yeast version and 2.5 hours for the sourdough version. See the photo gallery for expansion.
• Baking
• Preheat your oven to 350F.
• Beat the egg yolk with a tablespoon of water and brush the top of the dough. Sprinkle with nigella seeds and bake for 30 minutes uncovered.
• Let the dough cool on a rack for about 20 minutes before you remove the outer ring of the pan. Serve on the base.

SHABBAT BREAKFAST BREAD (KUBANEH)

Steps:

• Sprinkle yeast over lukewarm water and add 1 teaspoon sugar.
• Leave for 10 minutes until yeast is foamy.
• In a mixing bowl, combine remaining sugar, salt, 5 tablespoons margarine, and boiling water.
• Stir until sugar and margarine is completely dissolved.
• Stir in yeast mixture.
• Add flour and mix with a wooden spoon until dough becomes difficult to stir.
• Knead in remaining flour.
• Knead dough vigorously on a lightly floured work surface, adding flour by tablespoons if necessary, until dough is very smooth but still soft, about 10 minutes.
• Put dough in a clean, oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until nearly doubled in volume.
• Punch down dough, knead it briefly in bowl, cover, and let rise again in a warm place for about 1 hour; or refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours.
• Generously rub a deep 2-quart baking dish with margarine or butter.
• Divide dough into 8 pieces.
• With a lightly oiled rolling pin, roll out one piece on a lightly oiled surface to a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick.
• Spread with about 2 teaspoons of butter or margarine.
• Roll up like a jelly roll.
• Flatten resulting roll by tapping it with your knuckles and spread it with about 1 teaspoon butter, then roll up a spiral and place it in baking dish so that spiral design faces up.
• Continue with remaining pieces of dough, placing them one next to the other and touching each other in dish.
• If any margarine or butter remains, put it in small pieces on top.
• Cover with greased paper or foil placed on surface of dough and with a tight lid.
• Preheat oven to 225 degrees.
• Bake 3 hours or until golden brown.
• Turn out onto a plate, then reverse onto another plate and put back into baking dish, so it is now upside down.
• Cover and bake another hour; or reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees and bake overnight.
• (Bread can be baked ahead and reheated in its covered baking dish for about 45 minutes in a 225 degree oven.) Serve warm.