[Sca-cooks] Origins of kesra and khobz

[Terry Decker]

If you look in the Anonymous Andalusian cookbook, you'll find recipes for 
Qursa and Khubaiz.  I am given to understand that the words refer to small 
loaves of bread.  Modernly, ksra refers to a small loaf of raised bread 
while khobz may be leavened or unleavened.  While most modern recipes call 
for yeast, a sourdough leaven would likely be more correct prior to the 
late-19th or early-20th Centuries.  The Khubaiz of the Anonymous Andalusian 
cookbook is closer to the Khobz Tunisian, an Algerian dessert bread, than to 
the leavened khobz recipes.

Bear

>I was bumming around the Interwebz and came across a couple of recipes for 
>kesra (a once-risen Moroccan yeast bread sprinkled with sesame seeds) and 
>khobz (a once-risen bread from Algeria, sometimes sprinkled with sesame 
>seeds).
>
> Any ideas as to the origins of these breads? It's very similar to Sicilian 
> pane riminciato. Chef Farim Zadi had mentioned in one of postings on 
> eGullet (where he was having an interesting discussion with Clifford 
> Wright) between the similarity between the two breads and the Sicilian 
> one.
>
> Gianotta (soon to be Adelisa di Salerno)