Sabaayad Bread

See Gallery for more details and photographic steps. These breads weigh about 4.4 ounces each. Figure they will take about 5 minutes each.

1. Select a large mixing bowl. I use an 11-1/2 inch medium depth stainless steel bowl.
2. Place all Dry Ingredients in the mixing bowl and whip together until evenly distributed.
3. Bring Milk up hot in a saucepan, just until you see a few bubbles form at the edges of the pan.
4. Stir in Milk, then 2 T Oil. Stir until you have a kneadable dough. Adjust by slowly mixing in warm water or additional flour as necessary. You should be able to handle it without it sticking to your hands.
5. Dust a work surface with a little Flour and turn out the dough onto it. Knead the dough well, 10 to 15 minutes by hand or 5 minutes in a stand mixer with dough hook. Finally, mold it into a roughly spherical lump.
6. Clean your mixing bowl and coat with 1 T Oil. Place the lump of Dough in the bowl and tumble it around to coat with the oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and set in a comfortably warm place for 45 minutes to an hour. An oven with just the pilot light on is a good place. It should become a little soft and perhaps just a trace puffy.

7. Place the Dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into 8 equal pieces. Mold the pieces into balls.
8. Working one at a time, use a rolling pin to roll Dough out to into a 1/4 inch thick oval about 9 inches long. Use a brush to coat the top side of the oval with a thin coating of Oil.
9. Fold the Oval in half, end to end. Now use the brush to coat the top side of the folded oval and fold in half again.
10. Using a rolling pin, roll the Folded Dough to about 1/4 inch thick. I didn't like the elongated shape I got, so I oiled again, folded again, and rolled back out to 1/4 inch thick. Repeat until all 8 pieces are done.

12. Make sure everything is ready to go.
13. Bring your griddle up to about 400°F/200°C and give it time to stabilize. I recommend an Infrared Thermometer to confirm temperature.
14. Wipe the surface of the griddle with a lump of paper towel soaked with Oil. I do this even on my non-stick griddle.
15. Place one or more Sabaayad on the griddle, depending on how much space you have. Let cook until the top layer has mostly bubbled up from the rest of the bread. The steam that forces the bubble up shows it is nearly cooked through. The bottom side should be splotchy with brown spots, medium dark. This will be about 3 to 4 minutes.
16. Turn it over and press it down to squeeze out the bubble(s) so the whole top side touches the griddle. Continue to cook until the other side is attractively splotchy brown, as in the photos, another 3 minutes or so.
17. Lift the cooked Sabaayad from the griddle and place aside to cool a bit. A straw mat is a good place to let them cool down before stacking.
18. Re-oil the pan and repeat until all the Sabaayad are done.
19. Serve warm - see Serving. Bagged in plastic, this bread will keep a day at room temperature, or for several days in the fridge. It can be revived by briefly heating on the griddle, 2 or 3 minutes per side.