Ka'Kat

By stancec44

From Baking with Julia

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. active dry yeast
• 2 c. warm (105-115 degree F)
• 4-5 c. bread flour (best) or unbleached all purpose
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. mahleb (optional - I used 2 tsp Dukkah instead and probably could have used a bit more. Mahleb is available in Mid. Eastern groceries.
• 1 lg. egg beaten with 1 Tbsp cold water for egg wash
• 3-4 Tbsp. sesame seeds (or could use poppy, I suppose)

Details

Servings 32

Preparation

Step 1

Whisk the sugar, yeast and water together in med. bowl. Stirring in ONE direction with a wooden spoon, add 2-3 c. flour, a cup at a time, mixing until incorporated. Stir in ONE direction for about a minute (about 100 strokes). Let this sponge rest, covered, for 10 minutes.

Stir the salt and mahleb or dukkah into the sponge. Continuing to stir w/wooden spoon in ONE direction, gradually add as much additional flour as the dough can incorporate. Then turn it onto a lightly floured board and knead for 8-10 minutes, adding more flour only as necessary. The dough should be smooth and elastic.

First Rise: Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, turn to coat the dough with oil and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Shaping and second rise: lightly oil 2 baking sheets and keep them close to your work space. Punch the dough down, turn it out onto a work surface and cut it into 32 pieces. Lightly flour the work surface, then use your palms to roll each piece of dough into a 6-7" rope. Pinch the ends of each one together to form a circle and place the circles on the baking sheets, leaving at least 1/2" between each roll. Cover and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400.

Baking the bread:
Set the oven racks in the upper part of the oven. Brush the ka'kat with the egg wash and sprinkle with seeds. Bake until nicely browned, about 20 minutes. To ensure the breads bake evenly, rotate the baking sheets top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking. Transfer to baking rack and cool for about 5 minutes before wrapping in cloth to keep warm. Best served warm.

These can be kept in a plastic bag at room temp. for a day or two, or wrapped airtight and frozen for a month. Thaw, still wrapped, at room temperature and crisp in a hot oven before serving.