Mkate wa ufuta

Ingredients

Dough

• 600 gplain flour
• 2 teaspoonssalt
• 1 tablespoonsugar
• 10 gdried yeast
• about 380 ml warm water
• 3 tablespoonsoil

To top

• 80 gsesame seeds
• ufuta
• 1egg, beaten
• or a little water
• a pinch of salt

Sometimes added

• 1 teaspoonnigella seeds
• a little ground cardamom

To serve

• torn by hand
• with curry
• or with urojo soup
• at iftar in Ramadan

Directions

1. Stone Town markets sell it in the evenings. Warm the water to blood temperature. Stir the yeast and the sugar into it. Let it stand until it foams up. Give it about ten minutes to foam. Put the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle of it. Pour in the foaming yeast liquid. Add the oil to the well as well. Bring it together into a soft dough. Turn it out onto a floured surface.
2. Knead it for a good ten minutes. It should become smooth and elastic. Put the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover it and leave it somewhere warm. Let it roughly double in size. Give it an hour or a little more. Divide it into four even pieces. Roll each one into a smooth ball.
3. Let them rest for fifteen minutes. Flattening them is straightforward enough. Press each ball out with your hands. Work from the centre outwards. Aim for a round about two centimetres thick.
4. Press rather than roll every time. Set the rounds on a lined tray. Cover them loosely with a cloth. Let them prove for twenty minutes. They should look visibly puffed. Brush the tops with beaten egg. Scatter the sesame seeds over the top.
5. Cover the whole surface completely. Use far more than seems necessary. The whole top should be covered. Press the seeds down with your palm. Press the whole surface firmly. Scatter a small pinch of salt over them. Press your fingertips into the surface.
6. Make dimples across the whole round. They stop the bread ballooning up. Heat the oven to two hundred degrees. Bake them for about eighteen minutes. A hot oven gives a good rise quickly. Cover them with foil if they darken fast.
7. Let them cool for ten minutes. Ten minutes lets them firm up. Tear it by hand rather than cutting it. Serve a hot curry alongside it. It keeps two days in a sealed bag. Warm it briefly through to revive it.

Technique

• The whole top is covered in sesame rather than lightly scattered, and the seeds form a genuine crust that is the character of the bread. Brush the dough with egg or water first, scatter far more seed than seems necessary, and press it down firmly with your palm — loose seeds fall off and burn on the tray.
• Press the dough out by hand rather than rolling it, since a pin presses out the gas that keeps it soft; and dimple the surface all over, which stops it ballooning and keeps it flat.
• Watch the sesame in the last few minutes: golden seeds are toasted and fragrant, dark ones have burnt and taste bitter. Cover the loaf with foil if it is darkening fast.

Substitutions

• A little water brushed on instead of egg holds the seeds equally well, giving a paler matt finish.
• Nigella seeds or a little cardamom go in alongside the sesame in some versions.

Variations

• It is torn by hand and dipped in curry or in urojo, the thick sour Zanzibari soup.
• Sesame is an old East African crop, grown along the coast and traded across the Indian Ocean for centuries.
• Bakeries make it through Ramadan and Stone Town markets sell it in the evenings.

History

Sesame has been grown and traded on the Swahili coast for centuries; the seeded loaf is a Stone Town Ramadan staple.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mkate wa ufuta?

Mkate wa ufuta is a bread & pastry from Tanzania: flat sesame-crusted bread from Zanzibar, torn and dipped in curry. Sesame has been grown and traded on the Swahili coast for centuries; the seeded loaf is a Stone Town Ramadan staple.

How long does Mkate wa ufuta take to make?

Mkate wa ufuta takes 25 minutes plus rising of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 4 loaves. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Mkate wa ufuta?

Yes, within limits. A little water brushed on instead of egg holds the seeds equally well, giving a paler matt finish. Nigella seeds or a little cardamom go in alongside the sesame in some versions.

What is the most important thing to get right in Mkate wa ufuta?

Press rather than roll every time. Set the rounds on a lined tray. Cover them loosely with a cloth. Let them prove for twenty minutes. They should look visibly puffed. Brush the tops with beaten egg. Scatter the sesame seeds over the top.