Kubaneh (Traditional Yemeni Bread)
This delicious bread keeps well. To keep the loaves fresh, make sure they’re kept tightly wrapped or sealed and they’ll be fine overnight at room temperature, or for up to 3 days in the fridge. They defrost brilliantly, and are very easy to warm up.
Servings Prep Time
2loaves 45hours
Cook Time Passive Time
40min 2hours
Servings Prep Time
2loaves 45hours
Cook Time Passive Time
40min 2hours
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook attached, place the egg and the water. Mix on low speed and then add the the flour and yeast together on a low speed, followed by the salt and the sugar. Mix on a low speed ensuring there is no flour left unmixed at the base of the bowl. The dough will be very sticky, but do not worry – this is exactly how it should be, so do not be tempted to add any flour.
  2. Continue to knead the dough on a low speed for 3 minutes. (The dough can be mixed by hand in a large bowl). Once the dough looks like this, transfer to an oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave the dough to rest for 10 minutes.
  3. Uncover the dough and knead it for about 1 minute to let some of the air out, then recover with clingfilm and leave to rest for a further 10 minutes. Repeat this kneading and resting process, then uncover and knead once more to let the air out – three times in total. Leave the dough to rise for about an hour or until tripled in size.
  4. Next comes the fun part – it’s time for some hand-in-butter action. Lightly butter 2 loaf tins. Melt the butter in a small pan on the hob or in the microwave – it should be lukewarm rather than piping hot, otherwise dipping your hands in it will be no fun at all.
  5. Clean your work surface and use your hands to grease it with a little of the melted butter. Make sure you keep your hands and work surface nicely buttered throughout. Now divide the dough into 6 evenly sized balls (150g each). Take the first ball and, using your buttered hands, begin to spread the dough into a thin sheet roughly A4 paper size (30 x 42cm) – it’s OK if you get a hole here and there. Keep buttering your hands and work surface if needed.
  6. Use your hands to roll the sheet into a tight tube. Now spiral the tube into a coil and place at one end of the baking tin. Repeat with the rest of the balls of dough.
  7. For loaf tins, fit three coils of dough in one tin, and snuggle them close to each other. If there’s any butter left over, spread it on top of the loaves.
  8. Cover the tins, leave them to prove for up to 1 hour or until tripled in size and very puffy. This is key to getting a good result. Towards the end of the proofing time, preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan).
  9. Bake the kubaneh for 30-35 minutes if using loaf tins, turning the baking sheet around halfway, if necessary, through baking to ensure a nice even colour on each loaf.
  10. Take the baking sheet out of the oven and leave the loaves to cool for 10 minutes after which you are ready to pull apart and dip!
Recipe Notes

Fresh tomato dip – Serve this as they do at Palomar, with a fresh tomato dip, made by blending ripened tomatoes, a dash of chilli and cumin and little olive oil. Strain through a fine sieve, season and serve.

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