Lebanese Sweet Tahini Swirls

Photo: Blago

Ingredients

This amount is for four Tahini Swirls

dough:

1 teasp dry yeast

120 mls lukewarm water

200 grs plain flour (or use a ready-made bread flour 2 teasps sugar

1 tablesp olive oil

filling:

4 small tablesps tahin (I used the salted variety)

4 tablesps sugar

4 teasps olive oil

4 teasps cinnamon

optional: teasp grated lemon rind

white castor sugar and flour to dust worktop

Preparation

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water, and add the sugar and oil. Add the flour, a handful at a time. Quickly knead into a floppy, flexible dough that does not stick to the hands anymore. Leave covered in a bowl for about 2 or 3 hours, to rise. As all the air will be rolled out of it later, the stretchyness of the dough is more important than the amount of air in it.

When the dough has had some time to rise, divide it into four balls. Roll out one ball at a time, into a rough rectangle of “pizza thickness” – about 2 or 3 mm (1). Scatter the teaspoon of olive oil over it. I combined the tahin with the sugar, added a teaspoon of finely ground lemon rind (packet) to that, and scattered the somewhat dryer tahin mixture, like crumbs, over the dough surface (2). Dust the tahin-sugar layer with cinnamon. Gently press it flat with the back of a spoon. You’re now ready to roll.

Pre-heat the oven to 190° C. If you use a baking stone, put it in the middle rack.

Dust the worktop with a bit of castor sugar and flour to help with the rolling. Cut sqares of baking parchment of about 17 x 17 cm. Roll up the dough rectangle, starting at the longest edge. Roll and pull and gently twist a bit, and the resulting sausage will be much longer, about 40 to 50 cm (4).

Taking one end as the center, now turn the sausage in on itself, forming a rolled bun (5).

Gently press it flat with your hand, then transfer onto a piece of parchment, and use the rolling pin again to gently roll the bun into a 15cm wide flat circle, about a cm in thickness (6). Prepare as much swirls as your oven can hold in one go, leave the rest covered up.

Using a pizza peel or an extra-wide spatula to support the flat tahini swirls sitting on their separate parchment, quickly transfer them into the oven. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or till parts of the surface have turned a deep golden brown. Get them out and leave them to cool and get nice and crispy on a wire rack.

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About

Thinly stretched layers of crispy crunchyness with a slightly caramelized sesame filling and a hint of cinnamon; these “Tahinov Hatz” are absolutely wonderful.

The added cinnamon makes it perhaps less authentic, but the taste is absolutely awesome. They are not complicated to make. See a how-to set of pictures herre: http://www.blago.net/baking/bread/lebanese-sweet-tahini-swirls/ (numbers in text refer to the picture there)