Frying-Pan Pastries

Frying-Pan Pastries

From two 13th c. Andalusian cookbooks

Muqawwara mahshuwwa (Cored Out and Stuffed Pastries)

(Al-Tujibi, Translation by Nasrallah)

Knead 1 ½ ratls (1 ½ pounds) fine white flour (daqiq darmak) with the yolks of 15 eggs, bit of fresh yeast (khamir), and enough milk to make a firm dough-not soft. Shape it into thin discs, and set them aside to ferment.

Put a skillet on the fire with sweet olive oil (zayt 'adhb). Once it boils, put the

discs in it, turning them several times until they slightly brown-be careful not to fry them any longer. Take them out of the skillet and core them out as is done with muqawwara.[1]

Take out the crumbs inside the pastries and rub them very well between the hands. [Separately] pound sugar and shelled and skinned walnuts and almonds, mix the nuts [only]. Spread some of the nut mix inside the muqawwara followed by some of the crumbs, repeat until the cavity is full. [Note that] sugar is sprinkled after each of the two layers [of crumbs and nuts]. Sprinkle rosewater while layering.

Boil ghee (samn) and honey ('asal) and pour them on the muqawwarat until they are well moistened. Return the [cut-out] covers, which have been taken from their tops, pour some more of the honey and ghee on the covers, sprinkle them with sugar, and serve them, God Almighty willing.

Flour 2c                                            Walnuts 5/8 c

Egg yolks 4                                       Almonds 5/8 c

Yeast t dry, or oz bread dough           Rose water ~7t

Milk 9T                                            Ghee or butter* 1/8 c

Olive oil ½ c                                     Honey 1/8 c

Sugar 8t                                            More sugar 2t

Half of it made a disc ~6” in diameter, 3/8” thick. Let it rise about 2 hours. Fry in oil at about 350° (use a bit of dough to make sure it browns slowly).  Try next time with all of it and an 8” disk.

Cut a 5” circle in the top. Remove inside, rub between my hands. Ground nuts not to dust but pretty small, avoiding nut chunks. Do three layers, nuts then crumbs then sugar then sprinkle with rose water. Pour in hot ghee (or butter) and honey, put on the top, pour on more honey and ghee, sprinkle with sugar, serve.

*[It is butter in the almost identical version in the Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook]

Making murakkaba (Assembled Crepes)

(Al-Tujibi, Translation by Nasrallah)

Knead fine-tasting semolina flour with hot water into a hard dough and continue kneading, adding water with salt and a bit of fresh yeast (khamir); continue adding water [in small amounts] and kneading the dough for a while until it becomes thin in consistency. Knead it again after adding egg whites­ for each ratl (pound) of semolina use the whites of 4 eggs-until the whites blend with the dough.

Put a wide unglazed earthenware pan (tajin fakhkhar ghayr muzajjaj) on the fire. As soon as it gets hot, wipe it with a piece of cloth in which salt is tied and then dipped in olive oil or melted ghee. Pour some of the dough into the pan to make a flat, thin sheet of bread (raghif raqiq); once it looks white, spread some more of the dough to coat it and flip the two together. Repeat with the rest of the dough-coating the top layer and flipping them together. When finished, all the layered discs of bread will look as if they were one piece, whereas in reality it is made of many layers assembled on top of each other.

Once finished, put it in a wide vessel and pour [heated] honey and ghee to cover it. Sprinkle it with Ceylon cinnamon (qirfa), and eat it salubriously, God Almighty willing.

[From the Anonymous Andalusian: and when it is done, as it is desired, put it in a serving dish and make large holes with a stick, and pour into them melted butter and plenty of honey, so that it covers the bread, and present it.]

1 lb semolina = 2 3/8 c         4 egg whites   ¼ t salt     3/4c hot water + ¼ c (possibly more)

Honey ¼ c                           Butter 3/8 c    T sourdough or 1 oz live bread dough or t dry yeast

Heat a frying pan over medium to high heat and grease it with oil or ghee. Pour on enough batter to make a thick pancake about 7" in diameter. When one side is cooked (about 2 minutes) turn it over. Put onto the cooked side about ¼ c more batter, spreading it out to cover. When the second side is done (1-2 minutes more), turn it over, so that the side smeared with batter is now down. Cook another 1-2 minutes. Repeat. Continue until the batter is all used up, giving you about 8-10 layers—like a stack of pancakes about 3" thick, all stuck together. Turn the loaf on its side and roll it around the frying pan like a wheel, in order to be sure the edges are cooked.

Punch lots of holes in the top with the handle of a wooden spoon, being careful not to get through the bottom layer. Pour in honey and melted butter, letting it soak into the loaf. Serve.

Preparation of Musammana [Buttered] Which Is Muwarraqa [Leafy] 

Anonymous Andalusian p. A-60

Take pure semolina or wheat flour and knead a stiff dough without yeast. Moisten it little by little and don't stop kneading it until it relaxes and is ready and is softened so that you can stretch a piece without severing it. Then put it in a new frying pan on a moderate fire. When the pan has heated, take a piece of the dough and roll it out thin on marble or a board. Smear it with melted clarified butter or fresh butter liquified over water. Then roll it up like a cloth until it becomes like a reed. Then twist it and beat it with your palm until it becomes like a round thin bread, and if you want, fold it over also. Then roll it out and beat it with your palm a second time until it becomes round and thin. Then put it in a heated frying pan after you have greased the frying pan with clarified butter, and whenever the clarified butter dries out, moisten [with butter] little by little, and turn it around until it binds, and then take it away and make more until you finish the amount you need. Then pound them between your palms and toss on butter and boiling honey. When it has cooled, dust it with ground sugar and serve it.

~ ⅝-¾ c water           2 c semolina flour         ⅛ lb butter, melted  ¼ c ghee for frying

¼ c honey at the end  ¼ c butter at the end     1 T+ sugar

Stir most of the water into the flour, knead together, then gradually knead in the rest of the water. Knead for about 5-10 minutes until you have a smooth, elastic and slightly sticky dough that stretches instead of breaking when you pull it a little. Divide in four equal parts. Roll out on a floured board, or better on floured marble, to at least 13"x15". Smear it with about 4 t melted butter. Roll it up. Twist it. Squeeze it together, flatten with your hands to about a 5-6" diameter circle. If you wish, fold that in quarters and flatten again to about a 5-6" circle. Melt about 1 T of ghee in a frying pan and fry the dough about 8 minutes, turning about every 1 ½ to 2 minutes (shorter times towards the end). Repeat with the other three parts, adding more ghee as needed. Melt ¼ c butter, heat ¼ c honey. Beat the cooked circles between your hands to loosen the layers, put in a bowl, pour the honey and butter over them, dust with sugar, and serve. If you are going to give it time to really soak, you might use more butter and honey.

For regular flour everything is the same except that you may need slightly more water. You can substitute cooking oil for the ghee (which withstands heat better than plain butter) if necessary.

[1] The recipe assumes common knowledge of how such hollowed-out dishes are made. Luckily, we learn from the corresponding recipe … [Anonymous Andalusian] how this was done: a wide circle is cut out from the top crust first; later to be used as a cover for the finished muqawwara. (Nasrallah footnote)