I discovered by experimentation a similar recipe.
Starting from a kosher recipe book, that gave no too much detail.
In the book the ingredients are wheat flour, vegetable oil, yeast, anise, salt and water for the dough and the sesame seeds and egg to garnish.
Those are the ingredients, certainly. Here is hard to find the mahlab, but also fenel, corianders seeds and cumin are used to each one taste
.
Here is my, not so original recipe.
1. The book recipe used too much oil. I discovered to poor the oil in the flour until it feels like the pie dough. The olive oil adds a great flavor. I also use it. And depending on the quality of the flour you can mix it with semola or semolina as called in the US.
2. The book recipe didn’t grind the anise seeds. It is essential to grind them, although it can also have some ungrinded too.
3. The original recipe used baking powder too, but there is no need for it. We just need yeast (I use dry yeast activated in a small amount of warm water with a tea spoon of sugar)
4. Instead of water, one can use an anise seed infusion.
The general rule in making dough is that it always needs the half of the flour weigh in liquid.
Some people like to add the liquid to the flour, others like to add the flour to the liquid. It is matter of taste how to mix them.
The later is better for an orbital stand mixer.
It is important to let them rise well to develop those bubbles that give the crunchy and porous texture.
Also not to bake with high temperature, 160C-170C is a good option to let them cook well inside and not to burn outside.
Because this dough is quite oily watch them or they can burn very quickly.
I just use sesame seeds to cover it, because I like the traditional recipe and I like to soak them in Turkish coffee.
Some people like to eat them with zaatar.
Try to avoid to use shortening, even if it is not hydrogenated, it is still saturated fat, and not healthy.
The commercial kaak is only use oil no other fats.
I will make some with walnuts, in your style but with the dough just with oil. It seem a good idea, you like to experiment too.
I discovered by experimentation a similar recipe.
Starting from a kosher recipe book, that gave no too much detail.
In the book the ingredients are wheat flour, vegetable oil, yeast, anise, salt and water for the dough and the sesame seeds and egg to garnish.
Those are the ingredients, certainly. Here is hard to find the mahlab, but also fenel, corianders seeds and cumin are used to each one taste
.
Here is my, not so original recipe.
1. The book recipe used too much oil. I discovered to poor the oil in the flour until it feels like the pie dough. The olive oil adds a great flavor. I also use it. And depending on the quality of the flour you can mix it with semola or semolina as called in the US.
2. The book recipe didn’t grind the anise seeds. It is essential to grind them, although it can also have some ungrinded too.
3. The original recipe used baking powder too, but there is no need for it. We just need yeast (I use dry yeast activated in a small amount of warm water with a tea spoon of sugar)
4. Instead of water, one can use an anise seed infusion.
The general rule in making dough is that it always needs the half of the flour weigh in liquid.
Some people like to add the liquid to the flour, others like to add the flour to the liquid. It is matter of taste how to mix them.
The later is better for an orbital stand mixer.
It is important to let them rise well to develop those bubbles that give the crunchy and porous texture.
Also not to bake with high temperature, 160C-170C is a good option to let them cook well inside and not to burn outside.
Because this dough is quite oily watch them or they can burn very quickly.
I just use sesame seeds to cover it, because I like the traditional recipe and I like to soak them in Turkish coffee.
Some people like to eat them with zaatar.
Try to avoid to use shortening, even if it is not hydrogenated, it is still saturated fat, and not healthy.
The commercial kaak is only use oil no other fats.
I will make some with walnuts, in your style but with the dough just with oil. It seem a good idea, you like to experiment too.