Uri Scheft's Yemenite Jachnun (Dairy)
Jachnun is a traditional Yemenite Shabbat bread, a unique dish often featured in Israeli baking.
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Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 225 F and place a rack in the lowest position.
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Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, honey, and salt in a bowl, then add water and stir until a shaggy dough forms.
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Knead the dough for 2 minutes, then let it rest for 5 minutes.
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Knead the dough by lifting from the center and stretching it towards the bowl's edge, repeating 8 times while turning the bowl a quarter turn between each stretch.
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Cover the dough and let it rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
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Lightly oil a large plate and your hands. Form 10 baseball-sized dough balls by squeezing and shaping, then placing them smooth-side up on the oiled plate.
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Cover the dough balls and let them rest for 5 minutes.
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Line an 8 or 9-inch springform or kubaneh pan with a folded piece of parchment paper, ensuring the ends hang over the sides.
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Heavily butter your work surface and one dough ball. Stretch the ball into a paper-thin rectangle, adding butter if necessary.
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Fold the left side of the rectangle over the center, butter, then fold the right side over and butter again. Roll this into a tight cylinder and place it perpendicularly in the pan.
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Repeat the stretching, folding, and rolling process for 3 more dough balls to complete the first layer in the pan.
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Arrange the next 4 cylinders in a crosshatch pattern over the first layer, then place the final 2 cylinders around the pan's edges.
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Cover the dough with a buttered sheet of parchment, then tightly seal the pan with a lid or heavy-duty foil.
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Bake overnight for 12 hours.
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The next morning, remove the jachnun from the oven, uncover, discard the parchment, and serve.