How to Milk an Almond Stuff an Egg And Armor a Turnip A ...

Preparation of Qursas
Andalusian p. A-70
Take very white flour and knead it with milk,
salt and yeast. And when you have kneaded it
considerably, leave it until it rises. Then take one
egg or several, according to the quantity of the
dough. Break them in a bowl and beat them.
Moisten the dough with them little by little and
knead it until it slackens. Take a new frying pan
and shower it with clarified butter or fresh oil.
Take a handful of the dough and spread it in the
pan. Put over it a layer of almonds and
pistachios, or whichever one you have. When the
almonds cover the dough, put another dough on
the almonds, and so on, layer on layer. In this
way you fill the frying pan up to two fingers
[from its rim]. Put it in the oven with the bread
and when it is done, prick it with a knife and take
it out as it is. Heat honey and clarified butter
and pour over, and when it has soaked them up,
throw it on a platter and sprinkle over it Chinese
cinnamon and cinnamon and serve it, if God
wishes.
Yeast version (Different from the sourdough
version in other ways as well)
2 t yeast more flour
¼ c warm water 1 egg
1 ¼ c milk 1 t olive oil
4 c flour 10 T honey
½ t salt 10 T ghee
½ to 1 c more flour ¼ t cinnamon
2 c chopped almonds and/or pistachios
Combine yeast and warm water and let sit
until it gets bubbly, then mix with the milk.
Mix 4 c flour and salt, then stir the liquid
ingredients into the dry ingredients and knead
smooth. Knead in up to another cup of flour,
continuing until you have a dough that doesn’t
tend to stick to you. Cover with a damp cloth
and leave about an hour to rise.
When it has risen, chop the nuts and grease
an 8 ½" diameter frying pan with the olive oil.
Get a small bowl with flour in it. You do these
things before the next step, because after the
next step your hands will be covered with
sticky dough.
Beat one egg and gradually knead it into
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the dough. Take about one eighth of the
dough. Flour it so that it isn't too sticky to
handle. Press it between your hands to a disk
about 6" across. Put it in the middle of the
frying pan. Spread about ¼ c+ of chopped
nuts on it, as evenly as you can. Take another,
similar handful of dough. Flour it. Repeat.
You may want to press each sheet of dough
down a bit on the one before, which will
spread the whole thing a little, so that by the
time you are finished it will just about fill the
frying pan. You may also find, if you are
having a hard time getting the handfuls into
wide enough disks, that it helps to stick one
edge of a not quite large enough disk to the
layer below and then stretch it so that you can
fasten the rest of its edge to the rest of the
edge of the layer below.
Sourdough version
1 c milk 2 eggs
1 ¼ c sourdough 2 T ghee
1 t salt ¾ c honey
4 c white flour ½ c ghee
⅔ c pistachios ¼ t cinnamon
⅔ c almonds ¼ t true cinnamon (p. 4)
Mix milk, sourdough and salt. Stir into flour,
knead smooth, leave to rise 2 ½ hours. Chop
the nuts coarsely. Beat the eggs briefly and
gradually knead into the dough. Grease an 8
½" frying pan with 2 T ghee. Take about one
sixth of the dough, spread it over the bottom
of the frying pan, sprinkle over it about a fifth
of the nuts. Repeat until you have five layers
of dough and nuts, with a sixth layer of dough
above—you may end up with a layer or two
more or less, which is fine.
(Both Versions) Bake for 50 minutes at
350°. Remove from oven. Cut lots of slits
with the point of a sharp knife—in ornamental
patterns if you are feeling ambitious. Heat the
honey and ghee (use butter if you can't find
ghee), mix them, pour them over the loaf,
letting them soak in through the top and the
bottom. Let stand a little so it can absorb the
honey and butter. Remove from the pan,
sprinkle with cinnamon, and serve.