Taboon: Sweet & Savoury Delights from the Lebanese Bakery, written by Hisham Assaad, features over 80 recipes from across Lebanon and the surrounding regions alongside beautiful photography and personal memories. A few highlights include Taboon (Palestinian Flatbreads), Kibbet Samak (Fish Kibbeh), Halawet el Shmayse (Rice Sweets with Ashta from Tripoli), Burnt Basque Baklava Cheesecake, and Tamriye (Beignets filled with Semolina Pudding). I will also be sharing his recipe for Ghraybe (Crumbly Butter Cookies) following the review.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Smith Street Books in exchange for my honest review. All comments and opinions are my own.
Hisham Assaad
Hisham Assaad is a food stylist, graphic designer, photographer, and chef. He created the blog, cookin5m2, in August 2013 as a way to share his passion for food with others from a tiny home kitchen in Beirut.
His work has been featured in print and online media, and on television and radio including a weekly show giving culinary tips and recipes.
He has also worked as a guide for Taste Lebanon with a focus on boutique food tours of Beirut and the surrounding countryside, as a guest chef at local restaurants and festivals, and as a humanitarian clown with Clown Me In.
This is Hisham’s second book. He is also the author of Bayrūt: The Cookbook.
Taboon
Hisham begins Taboon with memories of his family and how they have shaped him from a young age. His grandparents were expelled from Al-Bassa in Palestine during Al Nakba and settled in the Dbayeh refugee camp in Lebanon.
He grew up in Dbayeh and “brings his heritage as part of the Palestinian diaspora to bear on recipes in danger of being lost to history, preserving them for future generations.”
These memories and stories live across the pages with a focus on the people behind the food. Hisham has even shared a few notable bakeries in Lebanon in case you are able to visit in person and his gorgeous location photography can be found between the recipes.
Chapters are divided according to the following: Breads & Topped Breads, Savoury Snacks, Bakery Sweets, Cookies & Cakes, and Sweets & Desserts.
The food photography is provided by Haarala Hamilton with food styling by Valerie Berry and prop styling by Max Robinson. Most of the recipes are paired with at least one photo, generally of the finished dish.
Measurements are listed in Metric and US Customary. Titles are written in Arabic (romanized) and English. Each recipe has a headnote with background information, personal memories, yield, serving ideas, and helpful tips.
Ghraybe (Crumbly Butter Cookies)
To pair with the review, I made Hisham’s Ghraybe (Crumbly Butter Cookies)! These delicate, buttery cookies are perfect for celebrations. They have a distinct crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth texture and are decorated simply with halved pistachios for quite the elegant contrast to their pale color.
The dough comes together with a combination of ground mastic, powdered sugar, butter, all-purpose flour, and orange blossom water.
After a short rest in the refrigerator, the dough is shaped into individual rounds or coils, decorated with the pistachio slivers, and baked just until set.
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet before moving as they will be fragile while still warm. Once cooled, store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
Notable Ingredients
Mastic Gum is an aromatic resin (hardened sap) from the mastic tree. In addition to its medicinal and cosmetic uses, it is also added to food for the elastic texture it produces and is popular as a chewing gum.
You can find Mastic Gum in small jars in the form of tear-shaped crystals in Mediterranean/Middle Eastern markets.
Orange blossom water (orange flower water) is made by distilling fresh bitter orange flowers. It is often used in Middle Eastern and French cuisines to flavor cakes, pastries, and other desserts. It adds a floral and slightly bitter taste.
I have seen orange blossom water in the spice section of some larger supermarkets next to the extracts or in markets featuring Middle Eastern ingredients.
For those in Northern Virginia, I was able to find the mastic and orange blossom water at Cozmo One in Chantilly.
A Few Ghraybe Tips
Make sure the butter is softened to room temperature before blending with the other ingredients.
Add just enough orange blossom water to form a light, cohesive dough. Too little and the dough will crack and fall apart when trying to form into the thumbprints/coils. Too much and it will be too sticky to handle and lose that light texture.
Hisham mentions two ways to form these cookies. You can either shape the dough piece into a ball with a thumbprint indentation in the center or roll the dough into a rope and form a coil. I did a mixture of each.
Bake the Ghraybe just until set and heated through. They shouldn’t take on any color.
Other Dishes
I also made Manouchet Za’atar (Za’atar-Topped Breads), Rqaqat Jehbne (Cheese Rolls), Sambousik Lahme/Jebne (Meat or Cheese Hand Pies), and Mwara’a (Lazy Walnut and Almond Baklava).
The Manouchet Za’atar is one of the more basic manouche recipes with the flatbread topped simply with a combination of za’atar and olive oil. It was a wonderful addition to breakfast alongside tea. I can’t wait to try some of the other toppings such as cheese and pepper paste or Lahm Baajine (with Lebanese, Armenian, Pomegranate Molasses, and even vegan options).
My kids requested the Rqaqat Jebne (Cheese Rolls) after enjoying them recently at a local Lebanese restaurant. They were such a hit with the whole family and perfect for making ahead since the rolls need to be frozen before frying anyway. Spring roll wrappers are filled with a seasoned Czech Akkawi and Mozzarella mixture, then frozen for a couple of hours before frying (or baking) until golden.
The Sambousik Lahme/Jebne (Meat or Cheese Hand Pies) were another favorite with the family. After bringing together the dough, it is filled with either a spiced beef mixture or a cheese filling (with Czech Akkawi, Mozzarella, Feta, and Labneh!). The pastry is braided/twisted to seal, then deep-fried until golden and the filling is heated through. Hisham has also included instructions for baking the Sambousik.
Loosely translating to layered, this Mwara’a has a homemade dough that is coiled with layers of a lightly sweetened almond walnut mixture. After forming the pastry, it is brushed with butter or ghee and baked until golden. I dusted the Mwara’a with powdered sugar, but it can also be drizzled with honey. Hisham’s recipe was inspired by the bakery Furn Al Sabaya (The Ladies’ Bakery) in Amchit, a coastal town in northern Lebanon.
Taboon is an amazing pick for those interested in regional baked goods from Lebanon and nearby countries along with the people who have shaped the food. Hisham has shared the authentic ways of making and preserving the included recipes along with a few improvisations developed with the home cook in mind. There is a diverse mixture of yeast-based breads, covered flatbreads, pies, parcels, baklawa, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, and more for every occasion.
Many of the ingredients are starting to become more available in larger American grocery stores. Having a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern market nearby will be helpful in locating items such as ground mahlab, nigella seeds, awarma, red pepper paste, pomegranate molasses, Czech Akkawi cheese, Lebanese 7-spice blend, ground fenugreek, kataifi dough, soapwort root, carob molasses, and qizha.
Ghraybe (Crumbly Butter Cookies) Recipe
Excerpt from Taboon
Ghraybe (Crumbly Butter Cookies)
Ingredients
- 5 small pieces of mastic
- 80 grams (2/3 cup) icing (confectioners') sugar divided
- 125 grams (4 1/2 ounces) butter softened, I used unsalted
- 200 grams (1 2/3 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1 teaspoon orange blossom water or more as needed
- 15-20 pistachios soaked and split in half
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 150˚C (300˚F/gas 2).
- Pound the mastic with a teaspoon of the icing sugar in a pestle and mortar until well ground. Set aside.
- Cream the remaining icing sugar and butter in a large bowl with an electric beater until very pale and creamy, around 5-7 minutes.
- Add the flour and mastic and beat to incorporate.
- Add the orange blossom water and knead by hand until the dough is cohesive but very slightly crumbly (you may need a little more orange blossom water if the dough is too dry).
- Roll into a log, wrap in cling film (plastic wrap) and refrigerate for 15 minutes. If not baking immediately, you can store it for longer, but when ready to bake, rest at room temperature until less stiff to handle.
- Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Cover the rest while working with one piece.
- Roll into a 1 centimeter (1/2 inch) thick rope, then cut it into 6-7 equal pieces.
- Roll each piece into a ball shape, then press lightly with your thumb to make an indentation. Alternatively, coil each piece into a ring shape.
- Place on a lined baking sheet.
- Top each piece with a pistachio half. Repeat with the other pieces of dough.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, making sure they don't take on any colour.
- Cool completely before moving as they will be fragile.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Leave a Reply