If you’ve never heard of jachnun you might have missed out on what they were eating in the first scene of the second episode of Fleishman Is In Trouble. It’s a flashback to when the three friends were in Israel together during college and enjoyed a jachnun and a strange interaction with an old Israeli woman. Now you can learn more about this incredible Yemenite pastry.
The Jewish Yemeni jachnun demonstrates how the long, overnight baking can transform even the simplest ingredients, flour and butter, into a true delicacy. The jachnun rolls come out of the oven in a deep brown color, full of flavor, a bit sweet, ready to be served with a fresh tomato sauce that’s mixed with the Yemeni spicy salsa called z’houg. It is also traditional to serve the dish with overnight cooked hard boiled eggs, as explained in the recipe below.
In Yemen, cooks used clarified butter (called samneh), similar to the Indian ghee, as fat. You can use the readily available ghee, butter or even oil (don’t use a strong flavored one) if you want to keep the dish pareve.
In Israel you can find a special jachnun pot, which is a very simple tin pot with a tight lid. Some of the kosher stores in the U.S. carry it, as well as Amazon, but any ovenproof pot with a lid, about 2.5 quarts in size, will do the job. Some kosher markets may sell frozen jachnun, so all you need to do is heat it.
Ingredients
- 2¼ lb. all purpose flour
- 6 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 ½ to 3 cups lukewarm water
- ¼ cup vegetable or corn oil
- 2-3 slices day-old bread to pad the pot, optional
- 8 tablespoons soft butter or clarified butter ghee or more oil
- 6-8 eggs one per person
For the tomato salsa
- 2 ripe tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon z’houg or chopped Serrano pepper to taste
- Kosher salt to taste
Nutritional Facts
Instructions
- Put flour, sugar and salt In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook and mix a little using a spoon. Turn mixer on low, and slowly add honey and 2½ cups water, then increase mixer speed to medium and knead until dough is created. If It seems too dry, add 1 tablespoon water at a time, until dough is created. Knead for 5 minutes.
- Remove bowl from mixer, cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 1 hour. After 1 hour, knead again for 5 minutes. And let dough rest again for another hour, covered with plastic wrap.
- Put ¼ cup oil in a small bowl. Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, dip in the oil to cover, and let rest on a baking sheet. Cover dough balls tightly with plastic wrap and let rest for 3-4 hours (although 1 hour may be enough, if you’re in a rush.)
- Turn oven to 225℉. Grease an ovenproof pot, put a layer of day-old bread at the bottom (optional, to prevent the bottom layer from being crispy), top with parchment paper. Have two more pieces of parchment paper, about the size of the pot, ready for use.
- Lightly grease your work surface. Using your hands, stretch to open each ball into a very thin, almost transparent 12-15 inch square. Do it slowly by lifting the sides of the dough and stretching again and again until you can almost see the countertop through the dough. Spread about 2 teaspoons of the butter all over the dough. Fold the left third of the rectangle inside, and then fold the right third on top, like an envelope. Stretch the dough a little more and start rolling into a cylinder shape. Put in the pot. After the bottom of the pot is filled with jachnun (do not crowd them too much), put parchment paper on top of the first layer and continue with the rest of the dough, separating each layer with parchment paper.
- You can freeze half the rolls for later use. Simply wrap each roll individually in plastic wrap and put in a freezer bag. Bake it next time straight from the freezer.
- Cover the jachnun pot with its lid. If the lid is not tight enough (or if there’s no lid at all), cover the whole pot with a double layer of aluminum foil.
- Ideally, you should put the eggs in a separate small lidded pot next to the jachnun pot. Cover eggs with salted hot water, cover the pot. You can also just arrange the eggs inside the jachnun pot, but try to put them on the sides, do not disturb the jachnun itself too much (it will just change its shape because of the eggs.)
- Transfer both pots to the oven and bake overnight. Serve for breakfast with the spicy tomato salsa (recipe below.)
To make the tomato salsa
- Grate the tomatoes and mix with the rest of the ingredients. Add salt to taste.
