Homemade Yemenite Jachnun
The most authentic Homemade Jachnun Recipe - exactly the way my Yemenite grandmother makes it
Ingredients
- 3 cups room temperature water 695g
- 2 tablespoons silan date syrup or honey, 35g
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar 50g
- 8 cups unbleached all purpose flour 1000 g
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 2g
- 4 teaspoons kosher salt 20g
- 16 tablespoons room temperature softened butter 227g
Instructions
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To the bowl of a stand mixer, add the room temperature 695g of water, the 35g silan or honey, and 50g granulated sugar. Whisk to dissolve the silan into the water.
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Attach the dough hook, and add the 1000g of flour, 2g baking powder, and 20g of kosher salt to the bowl. Mix on low speed for 3 minutes. The dough should be fairly sticky and tacky, but should pull away from the sides of the bowl and come together in a dough ball, 3-4 minutes.
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Pull out the dough hook, and cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest at room temperature for five minutes.
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With damp hands, reach your hands down the sides of the bowl, and gently lift the dough up from the center to stretch it. Let it fall back down, wet hands again, and stretch and fold the sides of the dough up and over to build up gluten strength. Work your way around the dough, giving the bowl a quarter turn each time you stretch and fold the dough over on itself. Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel, and let it rest at room temperature for about an hour.
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Next, divide the dough into about 12 small pieces, and roll each piece into a smooth ball. Let the dough balls rest on the counter, uncovered for 5-10 minutes.
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Then, brush the work surface generously with avocado oil. Work with one dough ball at a time, and begin to stretch the dough in a large thin circle. Work slowly and gently to stretch the dough so thin, it should basically be see through.
Use your hands to smear on about a tablespoon of softened butter over the whole circle of dough. Gently lift the left side of the dough and fold it into the center. Rub on more butter, then bring the right side into the center, overlapping, and smear on more butter.
Start with the short end closest to you, and roll up the dough into a log. Pull the dough gently as you roll to create tension, and to make the layers even thinner.
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Layer the jachnun rolls into the special round jachnun pan (linked above), there should be 2 layers of jachnun in one pan.
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Optional: Add a round piece of parchment paper on top of the dough, and place 4-5 raw eggs on top. They will slowly hard boil in the oven overnight, and become "Haminados" - very toasty, and nutty and delicious hardboiled eggs.
Place the lid on top of the pan, or cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil, and bake for 10-12 hours at 225°F.
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Enjoy while hot from the oven. Serve with grated fresh tomato, and spicy Yemenite schug (a spiced green chili condiment).
Do not use a knife and fork! Jachnu is meant to peeled apart with your fingers, layer by layer, then scoop up the grated tomato.
Recipe Notes
How to store: See notes above :)