We all love challah: fresh challah for Friday night dinner, challah slathered with butter, challah French toast. But have you heard of kubaneh?
Kubaneh is a uniquely Yemenite Jewish bread that is traditionally slow cooked overnight from Friday to Saturday to enjoy Shabbat morning. Yemenite Jewish immigrants brought it to Israel, and now it is creeping its way onto the American food landscape. I first tasted it at a pop-up hosted by food writer Adeena Sussman and Israeli chef Gil Hovav a few years ago in Manhattan, and now it is featured on Nur NYC‘s menu among other restaurants in the U.S.
Kubaneh is made with a yeasted dough, which is laminated with butter. It’s then rolled up to form beautiful, pull-apart roses. The dough is slow cooked in a tall round pan. It’s typically eaten with a simple grated tomato dip and slow-cooked eggs that are often cooked on top of the bread in the same pan. Try your hand at this recipe for kubaneh with grated tomato dip from Carol Ungar’s book or this recipe from Breads Bakery featured in the New York Times.
Or, follow along with Israeli baker Lior Mashiach as she makes brown butter kubaneh in this Instagram video:
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