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Iflaghun

Iflaghun is a traditional Syrian recipe (from the 13th century) for a classic savoury bread topped with mixed seeds, eggs and cheese and finished with a poppy seed, saffron and pistachio paste. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Strian version of: Iflaghun.

prep time

30 minutes

cook time

60 minutes

Total Time:

90 minutes

Additional Time:

(+cooling)

Serves:

8

Rating:

Tags : Spice RecipesBread RecipesCheese RecipesBaking RecipesSyria Recipes

Original Recipe

This recipe originates in the 13th century Syrian cookbook Kitab al-Wusla ilà al-Habib fi Wasf al-Tayyibat wa al-Tib" ("Book of the Bond of Friendship in the Description of Good Dishes and Perfumes")
where its mentioned as a specialty of the Armenians settled in Cilicia (southern Asia Minor) and in the neighbouring Crusader kingdoms of northern Syria.

A translation of the original recipe follows:
The fourth kind, a bread which the Franks and Armenians call iflaghun.
Take finest white flour. Knead with clarified butter as in kneading ka’k, and allow to rise. Make into a slack cake with a high edge. Take eggs, break into a bowl, and add a little pounded salt, ginger, pepper, peeled sesame, hempseed, anise, toasted caraway and a bit of cumin seed, all whole, and poppy seed. Mix with the eggs, increasing the pepper until you can taste its heat, mixed spices, fresh rue leaf, and pieces of cheese pounded small. Put some finest white flour in the eggs so that they will spread on the bread. Top with a good thick layer of saffron, poppy seed, and pistachios, then bake.

Modern Redaction

A rising agent is mentioned in the recipe, so I assume this is either a yeast starter or natural yeast from the kitchen is employed. I used a sourdough starter as a result. My reading of the recipe is that it's baked in a high-sided baking dish, which prevents the filling from sliding off as the bread base rises. I replaced hemp seeds with flax seeds.

Ingredients:

250g (2 cups) flour
pinch of salt
125ml (1/2 cup) sourdough starter
3 tbsp olive oil
enough warm water to form a loose dough

For the Filling:
2 eggs
4 tbsp flour
white sesame seeds
50g cheese, grated (a sheep or goat cheese would be appropriate)
caraway seeds, toasted
cumin seeds, toasted and crushed in a mortar
anise seeds
flax seeds
ground black pepper
sea salt
dried ginger
2 tbsp mint leaves, finely chopped (instead of the )

For the Topping:
generous pinch of saffron
2 tbsp warm water
50g poppy seeds
50g pistachios, chopped

Method:

Begin with the bread base. Sift together the flour and salt into a bowl. Work in the sourdough starter and olive oil then add enough warm water to form a loose (almost pourable) dough. Knead for 10 minutes, cover with a clean tea towel and set aside to rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in volume.

In the meantime, grease a large springform cake tin and pre-heat your oven to 180C (160C fan/355F). Mix together the saffron and warm water in a small cup and set aside to infuse. Pour the bread batter into the pan, place in your oven and bake for 20 minutes, until the bread is almost cooked.

In the meantime, mix together the eggs and cheese in a bowl. Work in the flour then add the seeds to taste (I used 6 tbsp seeds in total). Season with the ginger and salt then add enough ground black pepper to your liking (I added 1 tsp). Spread this mixture over the top of the bread.

For the topping mix combine the saffron water and poppy seeds in a mortar. Pound to taste then add the pistachios. Spread this over the top of the bread.

Return to the oven and bake for 15 minutes, until the egg and cheese mixture is set. Allow to cool slightly, unmould, cut into wedges and serve.

This is by far best served warm.