Egyptian Mahlab Bread #BreadBakers

Puffy and crispy yet chewy around the edges, this Egyptian mahlab bread is sprinkled with kalongi aka nigella seeds for flavor and decoration. 

First, I have to tell you that this bread doesn’t actually contain mahlab. I haven't even been able to figure out why this particular kind of bread is called mahlab. It has nothing to do with cherries or the spice made from the kernel in their pits. 

Suffice to say that it is Egyptian so it fits this month’s Bread Bakers theme of Mediterranean breads and that’s gonna have to be good enough for me right now. If someone has more info, please let me know. 

Egyptian Mahlab Bread

This recipe is adapted from several I found online. It makes 8 mahlab breads. For some reason, they all didn’t puff up but even the flatter ones were still delicious. 

Ingredients

For the bread dough:

1/2 cup or 120ml warm water

3/4 teaspoon dry yeast

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 cups or 187.5g flour

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the egg wash:

1 egg whisked with 1 tablespoon milk

For flavor and decoration: 

Kalongi aka nigella seeds

Method

In your mixing bowl, mix the warm water with the yeast and sugar. Set aside for a few minutes to make sure your yeast is active. It should start to foam up.

In a separate bowl, whisk together your flour and salt. 

Add the flour and salt to the warm water/yeast bowl a little at a time and stir well until you form a soft smooth dough. I have a Danish whisk that is perfect for this job. 

Knead the dough by hand for several turns then form it into a ball. Place it in an oiled bowl and let it rise for an hour or until doubled in size. 

As you can see from this photo, I let mine over prove but no harm, no foul. Life got in the way. Just punch it down and carry on. 

Divide the dough into eight equal pieces. Mine each weighed about 38g.

Use a cupped hand to roll them into balls against the countertop. 

Roll out the balls to a 1/4 inch or 6mm thickness, brush the tops with the egg wash.

Sprinkle the seeds on top.

Let the little dough circles rest for about 10-15 minutes while you preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C. They will rise again slightly. 

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the bottoms are nicely browned.

Remove from the oven. If you'd like the bread crunchier, leave it to cool completely. 

Enjoy!

As mentioned above, it’s Bread Baker time! Yep, it's the second Tuesday of this new year (and month) and that means it’s time for my Bread Bakers to share their recipes. My daughter Cecilie chose the theme of Mediterranean bread and I was grateful since my brain wasn’t working so great. Fortunately, a lot of my fellow bread bakers are more organized than I am. Check out all their links below:

• Bazluma from Magical Ingredients
• Cheese Fatayer from Sneha's Recipe
• Egyptian Mahlab Bread from Food Lust People Love
• Halloumi Cheese, Olive, and Mint Bread from Cook with Renu
• Ka'ak Asfar from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Olive Oil Blueberry Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pita from Passion Kneaded
• Scones with Za'atar and Feta from Palatable Pastime
• Sourdough Man'oushe (Za'atar Flatbread) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Vasilopita from A Messy Kitchen

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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