Gaza Mom

I promised (on my twitter…which if you’re not following-well, shame on you! do it now!) that i would be supplying a recipe a day in honor of Ramadan, with a focus on the unusual and oft-overlooked cuisine of Gaza. Its more likely to be every few days, and though I said I’d start with Meatless Wild Baqla Stew, today I’m just going to begin with kmaj, كماج or خبز عربي freshly baked Arabic bread. It differs from its Lebanese variant in both texture and content (Lebanese bread is paper thin and traditionally made from white flour).

We (meaning my mother and father-who have successfully made it through Rafah Crossing and here to the U.S.-I’ll save that story for another post-, and myself who usually bake it together) like to give it an Egyptian twist (for those who haven’t had subsidized Egypt wheat bread-delic) by baking it on a generous layer of wheat bran.

We also make it in the traditional (pre-industrialization) Palestinian method-with whole spring wheat (a softer grain of wheat that is most commonly used in Europe and the Middle East) or a mixture of whole wheat and white flours (“white bread”, when it first made its debut in Gaza, according to my father, was considered a decadent treat eaten as a dessert would. Sadly, it has come to replace the more nutritious and filling whole wheat flour as the grain of choice due its refined and sweeter taste).

Freshly baked Kmaj we made last week

The true mark of success when baking kmaj is what I call the “puff factor”-when the bread puffs up, creating the trademark “pocket”. We have experimented for years with the best method to achieve this in Western ovens, and finally have come up with a fool-proof way adapted from a woman who bakes bread for my mother in Gaza. It involves first heating the dough on a griddle as one would a chapati and then placing it in the oven.

I don’t generally use strict measurements in my cooking, particularly when it comes to making bread, but I will give it a try. Let your senses guide you if something doesn’t go according to plan!

Measure and whisk together in a bowl either:

5 cups whole white wheat flour or spring wheat (the softer wheat grain traditionally used in the Middle East, which you can find sold as a 5lb package by Arthur’s or in the bulk section of natural food stores, which label it “organic spring flour” or “organic bread flour”; look for the “spring wheat” in the ingredients list).

Have a bowl of wheat bran (also found in said natural food stores bulk sections) ready handy and set aside for now.

Add:

1 T. yeast
1 T. sugar
1 T. salt
3 T. Olive oil

Gradually mix in, a little bit at a time and starting with just 1 cup and adding more only if necessary:

2-3 cups warm water

Start by mixing dough by hand, then kneading with the palm of your hand or your knuckle, turning the dough over, and kneading again. Continue kneading until the dough forms a ball (i.e. does not stick to the sides of the bowl anymore). Do not over-knead. Pat top of dough with some olive oil.

Leave to rise in draft-free place for one hour or until doubled in volume. Punch dough down, knead gently for one minute and form into a ball; let rest for twenty minutes.

Form palm sized balls from the dough and pinch ends; place on well-floured surface-or a surface sprinkled with a generous layer of wheat bran*- and let rest for 10-20 minutes. Roll dough balls out to about 1/2 cm thickness. Cover and let rest for at least 20 minutes and up to overnight (this is the way they traditionally do it in Palestine-they let the flattened dough at this stage to rest overnight to allow a more complex flavor to develop).

Pre-heat conventional oven to 500 degrees or highest available setting. At the same time, preheat an electric or stove-top griddle to medium-high heat.

Prepare baking sheets (baking stones if you have them!) by sprinkling them with bran to prevent sticking.

Begin baking by placing rolled doughs on top of griddle. Wait a few minutes-or until small sore-like “craters” begin to form, then quickly remove half-baked breads and move to baking sheets. Quickly place in pre-heated oven and bake for a few minutes or until bread puffs up.

Take bread out and cover with a towel or sheet to prevent the moisture from building up. Tip : nothing like warm kmaj with olive oil and zaatar!

Bil hanna wil shiffa/With Joy and Good Health !

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