Difo dabo

Ingredients

Dough

• 1.5 kgplain flour
• or 1.2 kg plain and 300 g wholemeal
• 800 mlwarm water
• 15 gdried yeast
• 150 gsugar
• 2 teaspoonssalt
• 150 gbutter or niter kibbeh, melted
• 3eggs

Spices

• 2 teaspoonsground cardamom
• 1 teaspoonground coriander seed
• 1 teaspoonground fenugreek
• 1 teaspoonblack cumin seed, optional

To finish

• 1egg, beaten, for brushing
• black cumin or sesame seeds

Equipment

• a large clay or cast iron pot
• a lid
• wood or charcoal embers
• or a very large oven tin

Directions

1. Warm the water to just above body temperature. It should feel barely warm to a clean finger. Stir the yeast and a spoon of sugar into it. Let it stand for five minutes until it foams.
2. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a very large bowl. Add all of the ground spices to it. Whisk them together thoroughly. Combining it takes a large bowl and space. Add the yeasted water to the flour. Beat the eggs and add them in. Add the melted butter as well.
3. Bring it together into a soft dough. Use the biggest bowl you have. Turn it out onto a floured surface. Knead it for a full fifteen minutes. It should become smooth and elastic.
4. Work it in two batches if you need to. Put the dough in a large oiled bowl. Cover it over with a clean cloth. Leave it somewhere warm for two hours. It should roughly double in size. Grease the clay pot or tin generously. Shape it into one large smooth round. Set it down into the greased pot. It should fill it about halfway.
5. Cover it and let it rise again. Give it about an hour for the second proof. Brush the top with the beaten egg. Scatter black cumin or sesame seeds over. Baking it over coals takes real judgement.
6. Set the covered pot directly on them. Cover the whole lid with a layer of them. Let it bake for about ninety minutes. The heat must be steady rather than fierce. Heat the oven to 175C before baking. Bake it for about ninety minutes. Cover it with foil after forty minutes. Judging when it is done takes a test.
7. Let it sit in the pot for twenty minutes. Let it cool for at least an hour. A hot loaf tears rather than breaks. Set the whole loaf on a large tray. It keeps four days if wrapped well.

Technique

• Ethiopia’s everyday bread is injera, a fermented teff flatbread, and difo dabo is a celebration wheat loaf baked for Genna, Fasika, weddings and baptisms.
• There is no oven in a traditional kitchen, so the dough is baked in a covered clay pot set in embers with more embers heaped over the lid.
• The loaf is blessed before it is broken, with an elder or priest cutting a cross into the top.

Substitutions

• Niter kibbeh, the Ethiopian spiced clarified butter, gives a deeper flavour than plain butter.
• A very large oven tin and a domestic oven stand in for the clay pot and coals.

Variations

• Some bakers press a cross or a pattern into the top before baking.
• A version with more wholemeal flour is baked in some households.
• Ambasha is a smaller spiced Ethiopian bread made the same way.

History

Baked buried under a clay pot in coals rather than an oven, made for Christmas, Easter and weddings and blessed before it is broken.

Frequently asked questions

What is Difo dabo?

Difo dabo is a bread & pastry from Ethiopia: huge yeasted wheat loaf baked in embers, torn at family celebrations. Baked buried under a clay pot in coals rather than an oven, made for Christmas, Easter and weddings and blessed before it is broken.

How long does Difo dabo take to make?

Difo dabo takes 40 minutes plus rising of preparation and 1 hour 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes one very large loaf. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Difo dabo?

Yes, within limits. Niter kibbeh, the Ethiopian spiced clarified butter, gives a deeper flavour than plain butter. A very large oven tin and a domestic oven stand in for the clay pot and coals.

What is the most important thing to get right in Difo dabo?

Set the covered pot directly on them. Cover the whole lid with a layer of them. Let it bake for about ninety minutes. The heat must be steady rather than fierce. Heat the oven to 175C before baking. Bake it for about ninety minutes. Cover it with foil after forty minutes. Judging when it is done takes a test.