Jachnun

In the previous post we have seen the Shkug sauce. To finish making the matter unpronounceable, what is usually dipped in said sauce is Jachnun bread. This binomial of rare names is popular not only in Yemen, but throughout the Middle East and interestingly for breakfast. Making Shkug was easy but Jachnun is a bit more complicated.

INGREDIENTS :

• 500 grams (1.1 lbs)  of wheat flour
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of butter
• 3 teaspoons of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 2 cups of warm water

Take all the ingredients and mix them in a bowl. Of the butter we will only use 25 grams (0.9 oz), the rest we reserve.

We will make the mixture with energy, kneading with our hands until there is an elastic mass. When this happens, let it rest for half an hour, covering it with a damp cloth. 

After this time we will return to work the dough with energy and divide it approximately into six balls. Cover again with a damp cloth and let rest for an hour. After this time we will proceed to create the typical form of the jachnun. Lightly melt the remaining 75 grams (2.6 oz) of butter and spread a little on the surface where we are going to shape. 

We grab a ball and with the help of a rolling pin we extend it as much as we can. Sprinkle with a little more melted butter and begin to fold in one direction so that layers about two or three centimeters wide overlap as if it were the bellows of an accordion. At the end of the process there will be a kind of roll about twenty centimeters (0.8 ~ 1.2 inches)  long by three or four wide (1.2 ~ 1.5 inches)

Now we are going to bake. The baking of the jachnun is very slow and distinctive: it is the baking that gives character to the recipe.

We will place the rolls in a container previously bathed in butter that we will heat in the oven at 90 degrees (194 F)  for a minimum of 8 hours, which would be more or less all night. The end result is a brownish-colored dough that is served for breakfast accompanied by hard-boiled eggs and the famous Shkug. In other words, the idea was that the jachnun should be prepared "alone" at night and eaten fresh in the morning.