SC - Re: White, Dafair, Flour & Semolina

[Philip & Susan Troy]

david friedman wrote:

> The Making of Dafâir, Braids
> Andalusian, p. A-25
> 
> Take what you will of white flour or of semolina, which is better in these
> things. Moisten it with hot water after sifting, and knead well, after
> adding some fine flour, leavening, and salt. Moisten it again and again
> until it has middling consistency. Then break into it, for each ratl of
> semolina, five eggs and a dirham of saffron, and beat all this very well,
> and put the dough in a dish, cover it and leave it to rise, and the way to
> tell when this is done is what was mentioned before [it holds an
> indentation]. When it has risen, clean a frying pan and fill it with fresh
> oil, then put it on the fire. When it starts to boil, make braids of the
> leavened dough like hair-braids, of a handspan or less in size. Coat them
> with oil and throw them in the oil and fry them until they brown. When
> their cooking is done, arrange them on an earthenware plate and pour over
> them skimmed honey spiced with pepper, cinnamon, Chinese cinnamon, and
> lavender. Sprinkle it with ground sugar and present it, God willing. This
> same way you make isfunj, except that the dough for the isfunj will be
> rather light. Leave out the saffron, make it into balls and fry them in
> that shape, God willing. And if you wish stuffed dafâir or isfunj, stuff
> them with a filling of almonds and sugar, as indicated for making qâhiriyât.

<snip>

> Add water to semolina 1/8 c at a time, mixing, until all of semolina is
> barely moistened.  Add sourdough, 3/4 c flour, and salt, and knead until it
> is a smooth elastic dough. Crush saffron into 2 t water; add it and eggs to
> dough and knead in. The dough being too soppy for braiding, add another 3/4
> c flour.  Leave to rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour and a
> half.  While the dough rises make the sauce:  grind the lavender and add to
> the honey with pepper and cinnamon; boil honey and spices about 10 minutes
> on medium heat.  Flour a cutting board, take small lumps of dough (about 2
> tablespoons), roll into 6" strings, and braid three together into braids 6"
> long. Let rise half an hour.  Heat about 1/2" of oil in a frying pan at
> medium high heat (to 275° with a candy thermometer) and fry the braids a
> few at a time, so that there is room to turn them over as they fry, until
> puffed up and light brown on both sides: about 2-3 minutes total. According
> to the recipe they should be brushed with oil before frying, but I could
> not see any difference between the ones I brushed and those I did not.
> Drain braids on paper towels, put on a plate, drizzle with the sauce and
> sprinkle with a little sugar.  Makes 15 braids.

I notice that your redaction calls for a second proof, with the twisted
braids being allowed to rise 1/2 hour, where the original doesn't seem
to call for it.

Just out of curiosity, was this something you feel the original recipe
omitted accidentally, or was it just that you felt it needed that second
proof? I assume that the braids would be much tougher and denser without
the second rising, but I also note that they are apparently supposed to
be denser than isfunj...have you tried this without the second rise? It
occurs to me that they might be crunchier without the second proof,
which is a matter of personal taste, I suppose, and also that even after
forming, there might be enough trapped air bubbles and egg to render
them light enough without the second proof. They might well puff up just
enough under the action of oven spring (or in this case, oil spring),
which conceivably might also solve Cairistiona's problem of the surfaces
bursting.

Any thought on this?

Adamantius 
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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