Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: Ka’kat
May 5, 2015 at 6:57 am | Posted in BWJ, groups, savory things, snacks, tuesdays with dorie, yeast breads | 11 CommentsTags: baking, bread
¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Maybe you are getting a tres leches soaking or quadruple checking a mole recipe to make sure you didn’t miss an ingredient. If you are thinking about flatbreads today, you’re probably thinking about tortillas, but put Ka’kat on your radar for later. I had never heard of ka’kat before, but Dorie says they are a very typical Eastern Mediterranean street food. You can find them everywhere apparently, just like soft pretzels here in New York. They’re made with a really straightforward yeast dough. If you make it in the morning after breakfast, you can easily have fresh, warm bread snacks by lunchtime!
Although this is another recipe in the flatbread section of the book from Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, my ka’kat (at least) came out round and chubby. With sesame seeds on top, they did not look unlike mini bagels. Ka’kat are often flavored with ground mahleb (also mahlab), which are little tiny cherry kernels. This spice has a bit of that bitter almond flavor and is used in Middle Eastern, Greek and Turkish baking. You probably won’t find it at your standard grocery store, but you can get it online (at Penzeys, for example) or in a Middle Eastern market. I found whole seeds at Sahadi’s here in Brooklyn (I love that place!) and ground them to powder in a spice grinder. All that said, the mahleb is totally optional. It gives a very subtle aroma and taste, and I always like to buy an interesting new ingredient, but you can leave it out, no probs.
These were so tasty warm and soft from the oven. I ate four– no kidding! But they are little, yeah? I dipped them into olive oil and dukkah (like I did with the Pebble Bread)…they’d be good with salty butter, too. I made half a recipe and divided the dough into fifteen ka’kat to fit neatly on one sheet tray. I have about half of them left in the freezer and I’ll definitely warm them up a bit before eating them.
For the recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
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a whisk and a spoon 
They were so good! I had three out of the oven haha!! I made half with course salt on top and they tasted just like a soft pretzel!!
Comment by isthisakeeper— May 5, 2015 #
I can not find the recipe?
Comment by Roxysnewblog— May 5, 2015 #
These look great! I can see how these could be really good with salty butter!
Comment by Ryan— May 5, 2015 #
Mahleb and dukkah! I am jealous of your spice cabinet. I had neither, but still enjoyed these. I think my husband was a little bit disappointed. After seeing them he thought I made bagels!
Comment by jora— May 5, 2015 #
Ohhhh – I like the dukkah idea.
The mahlab was nice in these – I’ve used it in desserts, but this is the first time I’ve tried it in bread.
Comment by Cher— May 5, 2015 #
Yummy! Are these very similar to bagels?
Comment by The Gourmet Gourmand— May 5, 2015 #
I scarfed three immediately, and yes, they are good with salty butter! You got holes to stay holes!! They are adorable!
Comment by Karen @ Karen's Kitchen Stories— May 5, 2015 #
These turned out so well!! I really like the duke addition – have never tried mahleb, looking forward to checking it out.
Comment by saffronandhoney— May 6, 2015 #
These look great! I tried salty butter which was delicious… now I want to try dukkah! I need to take a page from your book and halve my recipe next time…although my family didn’t complain about the sudden mass amount of bread!
Comment by MaddiCakes— May 6, 2015 #
Looks so good!!!
Comment by justagirl— May 6, 2015 #
looks amazing
Comment by tayler@candidcalico— May 6, 2015 #