This sesame bread is a typical Ramadan bread, served at futari or iftar, the daily breaking of the fast at sunset. It is usually baked at home, although you also see it for sale in markets, where it will have often been made at home by the women selling it. While walking through the narrow streets of Stone Town in Zanzibar, I came across a mother and daughter cooking right on their doorstep. The mother was frying various goodies such as kaimati or l’geimat (Saffron-Flavored Fritters) and bhajis while the daughter was making sesame bread, having put her young child in charge of brushing the baked loaves with vegetable oil once they were done. Both women were supremely unfriendly and would not let me photograph them or even the food they were cooking until they finally relented when I went back the next day with Farid Bawazir, a wonderful guide, who knew everyone in Stone Town. He talked them into letting me snap the daughter as she was baking the bread. The way the daughter was kneading the dough was fascinating. She beat it really hard and for quite a long time, every now and then stretching the dough up with her fingers and letting it drop until it became smooth. The way she baked the bread was also very interesting. She had a special aluminum pan that she only used for this bread. She first heated the pan over the charcoal fire then sprinkled it with a little water before thickly spreading the very wet dough over the bottom of the pan with her moistened fingers. She then placed the pan over the embers and left it for a few minutes until the bottom of the bread was done, after which she lifted the pan and turned it over the fire to expose the top of the bread to the heat. There was no danger of the bread falling off as it was stuck to the pan and she needed to loosen it off the sides and bottom with the help of a knife. It is a little like how pizza is made, where the pizzaiolo moves the top of the pizza along the roof of the oven to blister the sides, but instead she was moving the inverted pan over the embers until the top crust of the bread
became charred in places and golden in others. She then set about loosening the loaf off the pan and placed it on a cloth where her child brushed it with a little oil. I don’t think many cooks will have either the right aluminium pan or the possibility of cooking this bread over embers, so this recipe uses a heavy cast-iron pan on the stovetop to cook the bottom of the bread, and then goes under a hot broiler to color and crisp the top of the bread. Serve with stews or drizzled with honey for a sweet snack.

MAKES EIGHT 8-INCH (20 CM) LOAVES

INGREDIENTS

• 3⅓ cups (400 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon instant (fast-acting) yeast
• 1½ cups (375 ml) coconut cream
• 2 organic eggs, beaten
• Toasted sesame seeds, for sprinkling over the breads
• Vegetable oil or ghee, for brushing the breads

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix the flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add the coconut cream and eggs to the well and gradually bring in the flour until you have a loose, sticky dough.
2. Hold the bowl with one hand while you start beating the dough with the other, quite hard, stretching the dough up every now and then until the dough is smooth. You can also do this with a whisk. Either way it will take a few minutes.
3. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 30 to 45 minutes, until the dough has risen.
4. Preheat the broiler to high. Place an 8-inch (20 cm) cast-iron skillet over medium heat.
5. When it is hot, sprinkle the bottom with a little water, which should sizzle as soon as it touches the pan.
6. With your wet hand, grab enough dough to spread thickly over the pan.
7. Sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds over the top of the bread and leave over the heat for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the bottom has crisped up and become golden—the top of the bread will cook better if you cover the pan.
8. Quickly slip the pan, uncovered, under the broiler and move it around to color the top all over. Don’t worry if a few spots char.
9. Use a spatula to loosen the bread off the pan and lay it on a clean kitchen towel. Brush the bread with a little oil or ghee.
10. Scrape the pan clean and return to the heat. Sprinkle with a little water and repeat to make the remaining breads.
11. Stack the cooked breads and keep warm. Note: This recipe yields 8 loaves.