Dabo - Ethiopian honey bread

Updated: Fri, 25 September, 2020

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Dabo - Ethiopian honey bread

Servings: one large loafTime: 3 hours

Tags: bread, christmas, african, ethiopian, jewish, tasty

INGREDIENTS

30g fresh or 3g instant yeast
60ml warm water
1 free range egg, beaten
125g runny honey
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
10g salt
250g warm milk
75g melted butter
525g strong white flour
For the glaze:
1 tbsp. salt mixed with 2 tbsp. water, to glaze
1 tsp fennel seeds

METHOD

1. Mix the yeast with warm water in a small bowl and let it stand for 15 minutes. Beat the honey with the egg, salt and spices in another bowl. Warm up the milk with the melted butter.

2. Place the flour in a large bowl or the bowl of a standing mixer with the dough hook attachment. Add the yeast, the honey mix, the milk and butter and mix it all together to a soft dough.

3. Knead by hand on a floured surface or in the standing mixer – it will take a while as the dough will at first be impossibly sticky. It’s ready when it becomes smooth, stretchy and silky and stops sticking to your hands or bounces off the walls of the bowl in the standing mixer. Cover the bowl and leave it in a warm place to double in volume, for about 90 minutes.

4. When risen, turn it out onto a well-floured surface. It can be shaped into a round loaf and baked just like that, or plaited. To make a plaited loaf, divide the dough into three pieces and shape them into ropes about 25cm long. Bunch them together at one end and plait the lengths, tucking the ends underneath the loaf when finished.

5. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6. Dabo can be baked straight on a baking tray but it helps keep the shape if it’s contained in a round tin or a clay cloche. In either case, place the plaited loaf into a well-floured container, or dip it in flour before transferring into the tin or cloche, otherwise it will stick awfully.

6. Mix the water with salt for the glaze and brush over the top of the loaf, making sure it doesn’t run down the sides and underneath (sticking hazard again). Sprinkle the fennel seeds over the top and let it prove for about 15-20 minutes.

7. Place the bread in the oven (with the cloche lid on, if using, taking if off to let the bread brown after 30 minutes). Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until it’s nicely brown all over. Cool on a wire rack.