Maarouk, the Levantine Brioche

Foodies+ , a G+ community, was more than an online community were we all got together and shared delectable recipes, but it was more like a family were we shared our food cultural heritage and our fondest food memories. It is unfortunate that this wonderful platform will be switched off in August 2019. But for the time being, let's continue to use this platform in the best way we know and keep this community as vibrant as it has always been.

October is "bread month" at Foodies+. A staple for most people across the globe, bread comes in more shapes, forms and tastes than you can think of. My choice to celebrate this theme is a wonderful bread that hails from one of the most ancient cities in the world: Aleppo, Syria. Maarouk, a brioche-like bread, is quite popular in Aleppo all year long, but it is especially popular during Ramadan.

Maarouk has a texture that is quite similar to a good brioche, but the flavor profile is different. While vanilla, and sometimes citrus zest, flavor brioche, maarouk relies on the aromas of anise, fennel and if available mahaleb (a cherry grown for its aromatic kernels)  to get its unique taste.

The process of making maarouk is easy but you need to be patient to get a a very soft and extremely tasty bread. (This one of the endless recipes you can find)

For the dough you need:

• 250 g bread flour
• 80 g lukewarm milk (37 C)
• 8 g fresh yeast or 2,5 g dry yeast
• 1 egg
• 30 g sugar
• 10 g honey
• 5 g sea salt
• 1 tsp fennel seeds 
• 1 tsp anise seeds
• 1 tsp mahaleb (if available)
• 100 g soft butter

First crush the salt with the fennel, anise and mahaleb seeds, set aside.

In a bowl combine the milk with the yeast and mix well until dissolved, add 80 g of the flour and mix again, add the rest of the flour over the mixture and cover the bowl and let it rest for half an hour.

Now add all the ingredients but the butter and knead for at least 10 min on a low speed. Once you have an homogeneous  and soft dough start adding the butter piece after piece and knead for 10 more minutes.

Transfer the dough into a clean bowl and let it rise for about 2 hours or until doubled in size. Now bring the sides to the middle, to let out the accumulated gases, cover the bowl and place in the fridge over night or at least 8 hours. I usually prepare the dough at night and leave it to proof in the fridge over night.

In the morning, or after 8 hours, take the dough out of the fridge and cut into pieces, depending on the braid you want to shape. I opted for a 6 strands braid so I divided the dough into 6 pieces about 90 g each. Braid the dough and leave it to rise, it will take between 2 to 3 hours, depending on the room temperature.

Before the maakrouk is almost ready, preheat your oven to 180 C for about 20 min.

Brush the bread with egg wash (1 egg with 1 tsp of milk and a sprinkle of  instant coffee). Leave it to rest 10 min and egg-wash it again, sprinkle sesame seeds or any other seed of your liking and bake for about 25 to 30 min or until golden brown. 

Once baked, place the bread on a cooling rack and brush it with a simple syrup (50 g water, 50 g sugar, few fennel seeds (optional) and few drops of lemon juice) and leave it to cool.

Enjoy a slice of maarouk with some honey, cream cheese, jam, or anyway you like; the options are endless. I personally enjoy this bread in the morning with a dollop of jam and a big warm cup of coffee for some comforting indulgence before the start of a long working day.

The bread will stay soft and delicious for at least 4 days, due to the slow fermentation process.

Insider tip: you can use the dough to make a wonderful stuffed bread perfect for breakfast. Stuff the rested dough with the cheese of your choice, let it proof for the final time, and bake as indicated. 

Sfouf, the Vegan Anise and Turmeric Semolina Cake

In a previous post I went over that special ingredient my mother always had/has on standby to use to whip a lot sorts of sweets including a childhood favorite, the crumbly yellow yumminess we call "Sfouf".  This turmeric or saffron colored/flavored cake is still on my list of favorite desserts that are also incredibly easy to make.

The cake has some other claims to fame! Beyond being easy to make and requiring very simple ingredients, it is a vegan, suitable for lactose intolerant people and those with egg allergies. Additionally, it can be easily made with polenta or gluten free flour for gluten intolerant people.

Back home, we used to make this recipe a lot during the lent season. Being a vegan recipe, it suited my parents well as they abstain from any meat or dairy for a period of 50 days. In addition to sfouf, we would look for other vegan recipes (like this rice pudding) that suited our cravings for sweets in the lent. As traditions mean a lot to me, I like to make sfouf during this season, especially in the last days of the lent.  It's a sweet reminder of days gone by!

It is worth mentioning that there is a non-vegan recipe of sfouf, but let's leave this for another post!

As you will see, the recipe is pretty simple. It is also quite flexible and you can adapt it to your own liking. I like my version to be more crumbly. That's why I use more semolina than flour. But if you want a more consistent cake invert the quantities mentioned below. Another thing you can modify easily is the quantity of sugar used; adjust to your liking.

The main flavors of the cake come from the use of two spices: anise and turmeric. Yet again, you can adjust the quantities to your liking, just be careful that turmeric in excess would give an unpleasant bitter aftertaste.  I used anise in two ways:  anise infused water and ground anise. My parting from the traditional cake I knew is my use of a small quantity of ground mahaleb cherry seeds. The use of mahaleb is totally optional, you can omit it or use instead some almond extract.

For an 18 cm round pan you need:

• 150 g fine semolina
• 100 g cake flour
• 125 g sugar (you can use less if you want)
• 3/4 tsp ground turmeric
• 3/4 tsp ground anise
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• dash of salt
• 1/2 tsp ground mahaleb cherry
• 100 g oil (I used a mix of ;light olive oil and sunflower oil)
• 200 g boiling water
• 1 tsp anise
• sesame seeds, walnuts, pine nuts for the topping
• Tahini paste to coat the pan (if not available use oil)

First you need to infuse the anise seeds in the hot water and leave to cool.

In a bowl, combine semolina, flour, sugar, turmeric, ground anise, salt, baking powder  and mahaleb cherry and stir to mix the dry ingredients.

Add the oil and mix well. Add the anise water and whisk until well combined.

The batter will be rather liquid which will give you a moist cake. Pour the batter into the tahini covered pan.

Sprinkle the topping of your choice, I used three. Sesame is the traditional topping, but you can use cashews or pecans. Experiment and make the recipe your own.

Bake for 30 min at 180 C. Check after 25 min; insert a skewer in the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean then it´s done. 

Leave it to cool for about 10 to 20 min, remove it for the pan and wait until it cools completely.

Now all you need is to slice, sprinkle a bit of powdered sugar and enjoy with a cup of mint tea or coffee.