SC - Book opinion wanted

[Decker, Terry D.]

I made this recipe for my Middle Eastern Pastry class at Gulf Wars. It went
over very well. Some people attending the class preferred it to the sweeter
modern middle eastern pastries. 
Dinah bint Ismai'l

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From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
To: sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG
Subject: SC - Khushkananaj (was: Ideal vs. practical)
Date: Thursday, March 25, 1999 7:46 PM

At 1:27 AM -0600 3/24/99, Stefan li Rous wrote:
>
>I too, would be interested in finding out what khushkananaj is.
>
Period Islamic pastry with almonds, rosewater, and sugar. From the
Miscellany:

Khushkananaj
al-Baghdadi p. 212/14

Take fine white flour, and with every ratl mix three uqiya of
sesame-oil[one part oil to four of flour], kneading into a firm paste.
Leave to rise; then make into long loaves. Put into the middle of each loaf
a suitable quantity of ground almonds and scented sugar mixed with rose
water, using half as much almonds as sugar. Press together as usual, bake
in the oven, remove.

2 c white +1 c whole wheat flour	12 oz = 1 1/2 c sugar
1/2 c sesame oil	1 T rose water
6 oz almonds =1 c before chopping	3/4 to 7/8 c cold water or
additional flour for rolling out dough	1/2 c water, 1/2 c sourdough starter

"Leave to rise" is a puzzle, since the recipe includes neither yeast nor
water. The recipe does not seem to work without water; perhaps the author
took it for granted that making a paste implied adding water. We originally
developed the recipe without leavening, but currently use sourdough, which
is our best guess at what the original intended (and also seems to work a
little better). The two versions are:

Without leavening: Mix the flour, stir in the oil. Sprinkle the water onto
the dough, stir in. Knead briefly together.

Sourdough: Mix the flour, stir in the oil. Mix the water and the sour dough
starter together. Add gradually to the flour/oil mixture, and knead briefly
together. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise about 8 hours in a warm
place, then knead a little more.

We also have two interpretations of how the loaves are made; they are:

Almost Baklava: Divide in four parts. Roll each one out to about 8"x16" on
a floured board. Grind almonds, combine with sugar and rose water. Spread
the mixture over the rolled out dough and roll up like a jelly roll,
sealing the ends and edges (use a wet finger if necessary). You may want to
roll out the dough in one place and roll it up in another, so as not to
have bits of nuts on the board you are trying to roll it out on. You can
vary how thin you roll the dough and how much filling you use over a
considerable range, to your own taste.

Long thin loaves: Divide the dough into six or eight parts, roll each out
to a long loaf (about 16"), flatten down the middle so that you can fill it
with the sugar and almond mixture, then seal it together over the filling.
You end up with a tube of dough with filling in the middle.

Bake at 350° about 45-50 minutes.

Notes: At least some of the almonds should be only coarsely ground, for
texture. The sesame oil is the Middle Eastern version, which is almost
flavorless; you can get something similar at health food stores. Chinese
sesame oil, made from toasted sesame seeds, is very strongly flavored and
results in a nearly inedible pastry. We do not know what scented sugar
contained.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook


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