Yemeni Kubaneh Recipe

BM# 75: A-Z Bake Around the World: Day 25
Bake of the Day: Y for Yemeni Kubaneh
Country: Yemen

We are in the home stretch of this month's mega marathon and with two difficult letters left, it will be very interesting to see what everyone came up with. So for the letter Y, I made this gorgeous Yemeni Kubaneh from Yemen. It is probably one of the prettiest bread I have ever baked (next comes this Rajasthani beauty Khoba Roti).Initially I had an Ethiopian honey milk bread called Yemarina Yewotet Dabo planned for the day. But then I saw the recipe for this Yemeni Kubaneh on Food52 site and I just had to make it. It looked great and the name of the dish was not that much of a tongue twister.This bread needs a little more time and patience to make than regular breads. The good news is that the dough is a pleasure to work with -- it's soft and very pliable. The dough does not have any fat in it, but butter is worked into it while making the swirls. I wish I had taken a video of how to make the swirls, but I was shorthanded at home and I don't have a tripod to mount the camera. Actually if you know how to make Indian breads, making this bread will be a piece of cake. Once the dough has risen (2 times), the dough balls are buttered generously, then rolled out into very thin squares. The butter helps in rolling out the dough very thin without tearing. The square is then folded into a simple 3-fold and then rolled into a cylinder. The cylinder is then cut in half crosswise to reveal the curlicue inside.Once the bread is baked, the tops of the swirls get crispy while the bottom (or the inside of the bread) is buttery and soft. I loved this interesting contrast difference in texture. This bread is great to serve as is or with some jam. It stays fresh wrapped tight for up to 3 days at room temperature, freeze for longer storage.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 75.

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Yemeni Kubaneh

Yemeni Kubaneh is a gorgeous pull apart bread from Yemen. The top of the bread is crispy with a soft, squishy insides. It is great to serve as is or with some jam.

Author: Pavani

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Prep Time: 30 mins

Cook Time: 1 hr

Total Time: 3 hrs 30 mins

Course: bread, breads

Cuisine: yemen

Servings: 16 Rolls

Ingredients

1x2x3x

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2½ tsp Instant Yeast
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 stick (8tbsp) and more for the pans and brushing on top unsalted butter
• 1¼ cups Room temperature Water

Instructions

Make the Dough:

• Combine the flours, instant yeast, sugar, salt and water in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix until the ingredients come together, then increase the speed of the mixer and continue to knead until the dough cleans the bottom and sides of the bowl, about 3 minutes.

Stretch and fold the dough:

• Lightly flour a work surface and transfer the dough onto the surface. Use your palms to stretch a corner of the dough away from you in one movement, then fold the front portion over and on top of itself. Give the dough a quarter turn and repeat. Do this about 10 times until the dough is a nice smooth round.

First Rise:

• Cover the dough and let rise for 30~40 minutes until it is puffed up.

Second Rise:

• Divide the dough into 8 equal sized pieces and shape them into rolls. Lightly grease a plate with butter and place the dough rolls on the plate, cover with plastic wrap and set aside for another 30 minutes.

Stretch the dough:

• Generously butter a 9" springform pan.
• Butter the work surface and place a dough ball on it. Smear 1tbsp of butter on top of it, gently press and roll it out into a thin 12~13" square. Butter helps in rolling the dough thin without tearing -- few tears are completely OK.

Shape the Swirl:

• Fold the left side of the square over the center, then the right side of the dough over the left to form a simple three fold. Starting at the bottom of the strip closest to you, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. Slice the cylinder in half crosswise and place the halves, cut side up, in the springform pan starting from the center.
• Form the swirls with the remaining 7 dough balls. Wrap the bottom of the springform pan with foil to protect from any butter leakage.

Third Proofing:

• Cover the pan and let rise for 40 minutes or until a finger gently pressed into the dough leaves a depression that quickly fills in by three-quarters.

Bake the Kubaneh:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Melt 1tbsp butter and brush over the top of swirls. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350°F and bake until the top is deeply golden, about 30~40 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for at least 20 minutes before turning the bread out of the pan.
• Leftovers can be wrapped tightly in foil and placed in ziplock bag for up to 3 days.

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