Khobz Marquq

I love to try out bread recipes from different parts of the world whether the bread is leavened or unleavened. Khobz is bread in Arabic and there are a lot of varieties of bread in the Middle East. This Lebanese bread is called the khobz marquq and it is roasted on a convex pan. The texture I got is similar to what I have seen in pictures but I got a darker colored khobz due tot he darker whole wheat flour that I used. This is a leavened bread and we were happy for the change from our regular poli.


I did not have a convex pan so I inverted my old, now unused, chapati tawa. It is a half inch thick aluminium pan that I brought with me when I got married. My mother had bought me a cast iron pan but it was too heavy to carry. The tawa is concave when set upright. Inverted it made the perfect convex pan.


The bread is placed on the pan using a cushion but I used my hands. The khubz is patted flat with the hands and then thrown from palm to palm to thin it out. I used a rolling pin.

Recipe adapted from here

You will need for 6 khobz
180 g whole wheat flour.
75 g bread flour
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp. yeast
125 ml lukewarm water
a few drops orange blossom water

Mix all the dry ingredients and the extract together. Add the water. Depending upon your flour you may need additional water. Form a soft dough and knead it well. Place it in a covered bowl and let it rise for an hour or two.

Transfer the dough to a work surface and divide it into 6 portions. Let the portions rest for 20 minutes.

Heat a khobz convex pan or inverted tawa. Take one portion of dough and flatten it with your knuckles. Pick it up and throw it from palm to palm to make it bigger. When it reaches the desired size place it on the heated pan. Turn it over once when the first side browns a little, When cooked through take it off the heat. Repeat for the other portions.


Enjoy!

Comments

  1. looks like a our khakras...nice color on the bread

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  2. Nice bread. Even my mom bought couple of cast iron pans for me but did not bring them as they were so heavy. Inverting the tawa to bake the bread is a nice idea.

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  3. Very interesting bread, looks yummy.

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  4. I enjoy checking out all the breads and this one surely needs to be tried!..very nicely done..

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  5. What if we do not use bread flour..what is the other option...would love trying it.

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    1. The strong flour is recommended to develop gluten. You could try with regular whole wheat. The end result may not be as soft though.

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  6. Thank you for posting this recipe.
    I have been looking for a recipe of the type of flat bread that we used to eat in Homs & Hama in Syria when I was doing charity work before the civil war. It was definitely NOT pita! This looks like what we ate. When we bought it on the street from the bakery in Homs, it looked like the guys were baking it on a large round flat hot plate. (I may be wrong). I was wondering why you need a convex plate or tawa?

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    Replies
    1. Ian, I am originally from South east Asia, not the Middle east I make a variation of this flat bread everyday using a flat Lodge cast iron pan. It works just as well as the convex plate. If you have the tawa, use it. If not, a flat hot plate would work just as well.

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