Ingredients
Dough
- 500 gwholemeal flour
- 7 ginstant yeast
- 350 mlwarm water
- 1½ tsp salt
To finish
- bran or coarse semolina, for dusting
Directions
- Mix the flour, yeast and salt, add the warm water and knead for 10 minutes into a soft, slightly sticky dough.
- Cover and prove for about 1 hour 30 minutes, until doubled.
- Divide into eight and roll each piece into a ball, then flatten it to about 1 cm thick and 15 cm across.
- Dust both sides generously with bran and lay them out on a bran-covered cloth.
- Bran on both sides is not decoration. It stops the loaves sticking to everything, and it is what gives baladi bread its speckled surface and slightly gritty crust.
- Prove for 30 minutes uncovered, until slightly puffed.
- Heat the oven as hot as it will go, at least 250°C (480°F), with a baking stone or a heavy tray inside for a full 30 minutes.
- The oven has to be genuinely fierce. The pocket forms because the outside sets before the inside has finished expanding, and a moderate oven gives you a flat disc instead.
- Slide the loaves onto the hot surface and bake for 4 to 6 minutes, until they balloon completely and colour only lightly.
- Do not let them brown. They should stay pale and soft, because they are made to be torn and used as a scoop.
- Stack them under a cloth as they come out of the oven, where they steam and deflate into soft pockets.
- Aish means life in Egyptian Arabic, and subsidised baladi bread has been politically charged since the 1977 bread riots that followed cuts to the subsidy.
Technique
- Wholemeal flour and a very hot oven. Those two things make it baladi rather than pitta.
- If a loaf refuses to balloon, it was rolled unevenly or the oven was not hot enough. Both are fixable.
- They stale within hours and are reheated in seconds over a flame, which is how they are eaten all day.
Substitutions
- A mix of wholemeal and strong white for a softer, lighter loaf.
- Coarse semolina in place of bran for dusting.
Variations
- Made small, as individual pockets for stuffing with ta’ameya.
- With a proportion of maize flour, which is done in Upper Egypt.
- Aish shamsi, the sun-risen sourdough version of Upper Egypt.
History
A round, flat, whole wheat bread that puffs up during baking to form a pocket inside, documented across Egypt for thousands of years as the country’s most essential daily staple food, with bread-making in Egypt tracing back to ancient Egyptian civilization, which is credited by food historians as among the earliest cultures to develop leavened bread using wild yeast. Its name, meaning literally local or national bread, reflects its deep and continuous importance to Egyptian daily life and identity, and the bread’s affordability has historically been so politically significant that the Egyptian government has long subsidized its price to ensure access for all citizens. Eish baladi remains the most essential staple food across Egypt today.
Frequently asked questions
What is Eish baladi?
Eish baladi is a bread & pastry from Egypt: puffed wholemeal pocket flatbread, the bran-dusted staple of Egyptian meals. A round, flat, whole wheat bread that puffs up during baking to form a pocket inside, documented across Egypt for thousands of years as the country’s most essential daily staple food, with bread-making in Egypt tracing back to ancient Egyptian civilization, which is credited by food historians as among the earliest cultures to develop leavened bread using wild yeast. Its name, meaning literally local or national bread, reflects its deep and continuous importance to Egyptian daily life and identity, and the bread’s affordability has historically been so politically significant that the Egyptian government has long subsidized its price to ensure access for all citizens. Eish baladi remains the most essential staple food across Egypt today.
How long does Eish baladi take to make?
Eish baladi takes 25 min plus 2 hr rising of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 loaves. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Eish baladi?
Yes, within limits. A mix of wholemeal and strong white for a softer, lighter loaf. Coarse semolina in place of bran for dusting.
What is the most important thing to get right in Eish baladi?
Do not let them brown. They should stay pale and soft, because they are made to be torn and used as a scoop.
