Jachnun
Local name : גַ'חְנוּן
Yemenite dough rolls baked overnight at the lowest heat, served with grated tomato and zhug on Saturday morning.
Photo : Joshua Herzig-Marx · CC BY 2.5
- Prep
- 40 min
- Cook
- 600 min
- Total
- 640 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Medium
Method
- Knead the flour, water, salt, sugar and baking powder for 8 minutes. Rest for 30 minutes under a cloth.
- Divide into 8 balls, oil them and let them relax for another 20 minutes.
- Stretch each ball as thin as you can on an oiled surface, until you can see the wood through it.
- Spread butter across the whole sheet, then roll the dough into a tight cylinder.
- Pack the rolls into a buttered casserole, set the whole eggs on top and pour in water to the height of the rolls.
- Seal tightly and bake at 100°C for 10 hours or overnight.
- Grate the tomatoes with the garlic and a little salt. Serve the rolls piping hot with that sauce and the peeled eggs.
Jachnun came with Yemenite Jews, who brought a cuisine of long cooking to the Levant. The dough carries no live starter and no complicated folding: the butter between the layers does all the work through the night.
