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Jun
Ka’keh is the quintessential Lebanese street food. Vendors have them precariously strung on various structures which they fit on their bicycles and wheel along the corniche or regular streets. No one ever makes them at home but after I recently got into a twitter conversation with a lebanese tweep about ka’keh and how we’d both love it if we could have some here, I decided to see if I could replicate them at home.
Now, there are certain foods that are best left to specialists and in Lebanon bread and sweets are what we buy from specialist shops rather than make at home. Still, I thought it would be fun to make my own ka’keh and I decided to use an interesting recipe from my baking book for khobz al-sabah (morning bread) instead of one for pita which I would then shape into the handbag-like ka’keh.
The recipe calls for three types of flour: plain, wholewheat and cornmeal. I couldn’t find cornmeal at Waitrose, so, I used a very good polenta which I found at Leila’s, a wonderful local grocery and café. I had been to a ka’keh furn (bakery) in Byblos when writing my baking book and I saw the ka’kehs resting before baking and puffing miraculously in the oven within seconds of going in there but I never saw them being shaped nor did I get a proper recipe from the baker. Still, I reckoned I could probably make it work. So, I made my dough without too much kneading — after reading about autolyse, I developed my own version of it by kneading the dough a little, then letting it rest under the bowl for 15 minutes during which time it hydrates and becomes quite smooth and as a result needs very little kneading before shaping and proofing.
Then when the dough was ready came the big question: how to create the handbag-like shape. I decided that the best way was to roll out the dough into large circles then make an incision a third way down the circles to make the openings which I would then stretch. It didn’t quite work out. So, I cut out a little more from the top bit to arrive at the right shape, well almost right!
Thinking about it later, what I should have done was to take a round pastry cutter with which I would have cut an opening at the top of the circle of dough which I would then gently stretch to get to the handbag shape. Also, I think I rolled out the dough a little too thinly. Normally, the two layers of ka’keh are a lot thicker than regular pita. The result was not perfect but it was not an abject failure either as you can see from the picture below.
However, there is more to making successful ka’kehs than just the shaping. The morning bread dough was good enough and my oven hot enough but I really needed a baking stone for the dough to puff up immediately on contact with the heat, and I probably didn’t let the shaped ka’keh rest enough before baking. In any case, two ka’kehs was all I needed for my twitter friend and I, so, I decided to use the rest of the dough to make regular morning bread and I made a baby ka’keh with the cut-outs. The baby one was a little better but not by much. And I forgot to cover it with sesame seeds! And the friend never turned up!
Moral of the story? Worth experimenting with if you have a baking stone, a fiercely hot oven and at least two spare afternoons. You will probably need to make them twice to get a satisfactory result. The one question that I still need to have answered is how bakers get the ka’kehs to brown without crisping up too much. Do they brush them with egg yolk? I don’t know but I will try to find out and will insert a post-script when I have the answer. Until then, here is the recipe for the morning bread with the instructions to shape it into ka’keh as well as a couple of B&W pictures of the proper ka’kehs in the bakery in Byblos.
Lebanese Morning Bread
Khobz al-Sabah
I was given the recipe for this variation on pita by the same baker who gave me the recipe for mishtah (see page 000). I never asked him why he calls it morning bread but I assume it is because it is eaten mostly for breakfast. The dough is made with 3 different flours: all-purpose, wholewheat and cornmeal and as a result, the bread is more interesting than pita and has more texture. Makes 12 individual breads
3 1/3 cups (500 g) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra if needed
2/3 cup (100 g) wholewheat flour
2/3 cup (100 g) cornmeal
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 package) easy bake yeast
3 teaspoons fine sea salt
toasted sesame seeds
Mix the flours, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre. Gradually add 400 ml warm water, bringing in the flour as you go along. Knead until you have a rough ball of dough.
Remove the dough onto your lightly floured work surface. Knead for 2-3 minutes. Invert the bowl over the dough and let rest for 15 minutes. Knead for a few more minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Roll into a ball and place in a clean, lightly floured bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 2 hours. Fold after the first hour. The best way to do this is to first flour your hands and work surface, then invert the bowl over your hand to let the dough drop on your palm. Gently slide it onto the work surface and pat it into a thick flat circle. From the right, fold one third over then fold the left third over then fold the top third over and the bottom over it. Return to the bowl with the folded side down. Folding the dough will strengthen strengthen and make it rise better.
When it is ready, remove the dough onto your work surface. Divide in 6 equal pieces. Roll each into a ball. Place on a lightly floured tray. Cover with a wet, although not dripping kitchen towel and return to rise for 45 minutes.
Roll out each ball of dough to a disk about 25 cm diameter, then either make the opening as I explained above or use a 7.5 cm round pastry cutter and cut an opening at the top of your dough then gently stretch the opening to create a handbag-like shape. Transfer onto a non-stick baking sheet (or one lined with parchment paper or a rubber baking mat) where you will have spread an even layer of sesame seeds. Cover with a floured couche (baker’s linen). Let rest for about 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees or to its highest setting.
Brush your ka’kehs with water. Sprinkle sesame seeds to cover and bake in the preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, or until puffed up and very lightly golden. The baking time may vary, depending on how hot your oven is. As with pita bread, I suggest you check the breads after 5 minutes. Again, these are best served immediately or still warm. Alternately, you can let them cool on a wire rack and freeze them for later use.
I should have looked at my pictures before embarking on the experiment as I am pretty sure the opening is made with some sort of round pastry cutter. Next time, after I get myself a baking stone. In the following picture, you can see how the ka’kehs puff out almost as soon as they hit the baker’s oven floor!
Tagged : Beirut, byblos, ka'keh, Lebanon, sesame galettes, street food, street vendors 
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There is 20 comments on this post
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June 26, 2011 at 10:51 am
How courageous to try that! I have been feasting on ka3k almost every day for the past week. They are delicious, especially with Picon cheese and summak and za3tar :-)7
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June 26, 2011 at 11:29 am
honestly mich, picon? akkawi yes but not super processed picon. said the same to one of our compatriots on facebook 🙂
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June 26, 2011 at 12:15 pm
Lovely post Anissa and chapeau that you even dared attempting to make ka3k at home! 🙂 it’s one of my favourite street foods in Beirut and I remember my mom always bargaining with the vendors to give her the crispiest ones…
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June 26, 2011 at 12:28 pm
funny, i like the soft ones. mine were mostly soft but with crispy bits. am sure i can perfect the recipe but will leave it to the specialists 🙂
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June 26, 2011 at 1:30 pm
aha, here’s the experimenting i heard about – and definitely worth missing most of the federer match yesterday. 😉
those baby ka’keh are too cute. and i’m with you (as opposed to mayssam), i think i’d prefer them soft.
you have a few questions that remain, but i have one as well… who on earth doesn’t show up for homemade bread, baked by *you* ???
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June 26, 2011 at 4:54 pm
The pictures look much better than you’re giving yourself credit for, got me obsessing over Ka’k until my next trip to Beirut. I’m sure the next ones will be as good as the Beirut street vendors’ minus the effects of traffic pollution.
*and I’m extremely sorry about the misunderstanding*
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June 26, 2011 at 5:33 pm
honestly dania, don’t worry about it. one day i will make them again and you will come over to taste them 🙂
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June 26, 2011 at 5:35 pm
yes, the baby ka’keh is v cute. and if you see dania’s comment, it was a misundestanding. i should have confirmed 🙂
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June 27, 2011 at 12:05 pm
Ka’keh are one of my favorite flatbreads. I’ve only had them at bakeries in the States, though. The picture of the bike vendor balancing his wares is wonderful. Really enjoy your blog, and I love the current banner.
You might try a higher proportion of water in your dough, for a softer result.
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June 28, 2011 at 5:31 am
Very new bread and looks so delightful!
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June 28, 2011 at 6:19 am
thanks sanjeeta 🙂
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June 28, 2011 at 6:19 am
thanks Elizabeth. i will try that next time i make it although it will not be so soon 🙂
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July 6, 2011 at 3:19 pm
I am wondering about the bread being cooked on a very high heat and somehow not crisping up too much .Do you think they add a touch of butter or oil to the mixture to stop it doing this?
This flatbread is definitely one I will try so thank you for the recipe!
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July 6, 2011 at 4:19 pm
not sure as i never took a recipe from the baker. i have to check my recipe for pita 🙂
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July 16, 2011 at 8:07 pm
corn flour in any Levantine bread??? a fusion horror, why on earth not use semolina instead,,reminds me of french fries in shawarmas!!
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July 17, 2011 at 2:46 am
actually, this recipe was given to me by an old and very traditional baker in the south. it has nothing fusion about it, and if i am not mistaken there is no savoury baking done with semolina in lebanon. semolina is normally used in sweets but i will double check on that and will get back to you 🙂
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July 17, 2011 at 6:09 pm
I realize semolina is only used is sweet making in the Levant,,but if a coarse crumbly yellow flour was required in the recipe why not opt for that..Cornflour has such a different flavour profile, these breads should be fairly lean tasting ..I once had pita baked by a Lebanese family that ended up living in South America where corn flour is common so they incorported some that in the recipe, it was sweet and coarse and clashed with anything you scooped up..maybe he moved back from South America or someone in his family and the corn flour became part of his recipe..kind of like mate tea
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July 18, 2011 at 2:53 am
you are funny zeki, and right re mate but not sure about the corn flour. will ask when i am next in lebanon, that is if i can find the baker. luckily i have the name of the bakery and a photo of his price list which was v beautiful 🙂
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August 4, 2011 at 3:00 pm
I made Khobz al-Sabah the other day, following your recipe, Anissa. They turned out be to be perfect, and since my oven was very hot, every single bread puffed up immediately. I saved some for fattoush.
The small addition of cornflour certainly does not distort the flavor at all, and this bread goes perfectly with all other Lebanese flavors. Yet, what the cornflour does is to give it a delicious coarse texture.
Thank you, I will be making it often!
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August 4, 2011 at 3:09 pm
i am so pleased to hear this victoria. you are right about the texture. i prefer this bread to the regular pita and the interesting thing is that home made pita or khobz al-sabah are better in fattoush than commercial breads. perhaps because they are not as thin and they don’t go soggy so quickly. post a pic of the fattoush when you next make it 🙂