Khubz bil ashab
Virtuous Bread is about more than bread. It is about the power of food to effect positive social change. It is about community. It is about working together to make a better world. I originally posted this recipe as part of a series when people from various were banned by Donald Trump from entering the USA. I called it the Banned Bun series.This is a gorgeous, no-knead bread from Libya. It's incredibly versatile - you can add pretty much anything into the dough although, if you are Libyan there are probably some commonly used ingredients. If you know someone from Libya, why not make this bread for them and take it over to them?
Servings: 16 buns
Equipment
- scale, bowl, baking tray lined with non stick parchment.
Ingredients
- 600 g Whole wheat or spelt flour you can use white wheat or a mixture if you like
- Pinch Yeast Any kind
- 12 g Salt
- 50 g Olive oil
- 500 g Water
Optional extras include a little handful of some of these
- Chopped olives, chopped spring onions, crumbled feta cheese, crumbled goat cheese, chopped fresh herbs
You can also consider a spoonful of any of these
- Ground coriander, ground cumin, za'ataar, paprika, smoked paprika
- If you wanted it to be sweet rather than savoury, you may want to add a handful of chopped dates and a spoonful of pomegranate molasses or date syrup
Instructions
- The night before you want the buns, mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl and cover with cling film. Pop the bowl in the fridge and let it sit there overnight.
- In the morning, remove the dough from the fridge and gently scrape it out of the bowl onto a floury surface. Divide it into 16 pieces. Flour your hands and shape each piece into bun. Use a scraper to place each bun on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
- Cover and let rise for one hour.
- Heat the oven to 220 degrees C and pop the buns in when it's up to temperature.
- Bake for 20 minutes and then remove them and place them on a wire rack to cool.
- Enjoy them in the company of strangers in need.
Notes
This recipe first appeared in The Book of Buns, available on Amazon.