Yemenite Kubaneh

Kubaneh is a traditionally Jewish- Yemenite bread made for Shabbat morning. The bread is cooked all Friday night in the residual heat of the oven and is ready to be eaten, with a lot of yummy sides, on Saturday morning.

I have been eating Kubaneh most of my life, since my (step) grandmother (so sadly, not Yemenite blood in me, just Ashkenazi) makes it for us when we visit her in St. Louis or she came to us. it was always such an amazing treat to wake up to on the weekend.

Ingredients:

• 5 cups of all purpose flour (bread flour also works)

• 2 packets of yeast

• 1 tbsp of white sugar

• 1 tbsp of kosher salt

• 1/2 stick of margarine or unsalted butter

• warm water

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the sugar in a little bit of warm water. Add the yeast, mix well, and let sit there until layers of bubbles appears on the surface. Add the 5 cups of flour and the salt. Start to mix the ingredients together and add more water as needed. You want the dough to be sticky and start to come together.

Form the dough into a ball, place into a large bowl, and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let the dough rise.

After the dough has just about doubled in size (after about an hour or 2), separate the dough into 5 or 6 equal sized balls. Melt the margarine or butter and add it to the bottom of a heavy bottomed stock pot that comes with a tight lid. Coat the balls in the melted margarine/butter and place them in a circle around the circumference of the stock pot. Add the final dough ball into the center of the dough ring. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let it rise again.

Preheat your oven to 210F. Place the lid on your pot and place the pot in the middle of the oven. Let the dough back over night or at least for 6 hours.

Accompaniments:

The Kubaneh bread is traditionally eaten with boiled eggs, tomatoes and a spicy or herby sauce (like pesto or zhoug).

Hard boiled eggs: The night that you are preparing the Kubaneh, boil as many eggs as you may need in a pot with the lid on. Put one or two tea bags into the water. make sure there is plenty of hot water in the pot and place the covered pot with eggs in the oven overnight to simmer alongside the Kubaneh. The eggs will turn a nice brown (from the tea) and will be incredibly tender and delicious.

Fresh shredded tomatoes: Peel and puree fresh tomatoes in a food processor or you can grate the tomatoes on a box hand grater.

Other accompaniments: Kosher salt, zhoug/schug, harissa, pesto, grated Parmesan cheese.