Sourdough Ekmak with Spelt and Fig Jam

This Sourdough Ekmak with Spelt and Fig Jam, a delightful sweet bread shaped like a boat, is made with an enriched dough filled with ricotta cheese and topped with jam.

Karen, of Karen’s Kitchen Stories, is the host kitchen for the Bread Baking Babes this month, and she chose Ekmak as the monthly bake.  She found this delicious bread in the July/August edition of Bake from Scratch Magazine.

According to the article, Ekmak means “sweet bread with cheese” in old Assyrian, and has origins in Raqqa, Syria, a city that before it became war-ravaged, was the home of 200,000 people and a vibrant agricultural center with wonderful food traditions.

The recipe in the magazine is from Riyad Al-Kasem’s grandmother.  Riyad is originally from Raqqa, but currently resides in the United States.  He owns a restaurant in Hendersonville, Tennessee called Café Rakka.

About the sweet bread dough

Instead of making a yeasted version of this bread, I converted it to sourdough using a 20% starter-to-flour ratio.  To make things even more interesting, I used sourdough discard rather than refreshed and active starter.  I used 100 grams of 100% hydration sourdough discard from a starter that had been fed a couple of weeks prior and was resting in the refrigerator.  I also incorporated 30% (150 grams) of home milled wholegrain spelt flour.  I used regular all-purpose flour for the remaining 70%, but you could use all-purpose (white) spelt instead.

I omitted the apple cider vinegar (included in the original recipe) because the jam I used had balsamic vinegar in it, and I didn’t want to overpower the ekmak.

After the bulk ferment, I gave the dough a cold ferment in the refrigerator for a couple of days.  I had planned to cold ferment the dough for a day, but it ended up being closer to 36 hours due to my schedule.  I was concerned the longer ferment would make the dough too tangy, but it wasn’t sour at all.

I enjoyed working with this dough.  It likes to snap back when shaping, like pizza dough, but letting it rest between each shaping phase helps.

The jam topping

For the topping, I used Fig and Thyme Jam made with figs from one of the trees in my yard and one of the fig trees at my local community garden.

Taking care of the fig tree(s) at the community garden was one of my pet projects this year so it was nice to be able to use some of the figs in this jam.

The jam is a little potent on its own due to the inclusion of balsamic vinegar, but it worked well when baked with the sweet dough and ricotta cheese filling.  In hindsight, the Ekmak could’ve used more jam, but I chose to use a light hand when spreading the jam on top to keep it from being overpowering.

Shaping the Ekmak

For the first batch, I concentrated on shaping the breads into 6-inch rounds and then a 10×4-inch oval as the directions indicated in the original recipe.  I ended up with narrower boats which didn’t hold as much ricotta filling.

So, for the next two batches, I focused on getting a wider oval.  I had a hard time getting past 9 inches for the oval so I didn’t worry about it.  I made sure it was wide enough to hold the ricotta, then I stretched it out longer after adding the cheese.  This, along with moving the baking sheets around in my oven, seemed to produce a better boat.  Although some opened up a lot to reveal more cheese and less jam.

Baking the Ekmak

I didn’t add an egg wash so I had a little trouble getting the Ekmak to brown.  I ended up baking them a little longer than the original recipe suggested, but I think they could’ve used a little more time in the oven.

I baked the first batch of three in the upper third as directed in the recipe, however, this didn’t work as well for my new oven.

For the next two batches, instead of baking in the upper third, I figured out I needed to start on the upper middle rack, bake the ekmak for 7 minutes, then move the baking sheet up one rack, bake another 7 minutes, turn the baking sheet around and bake another 2-3 minutes.

Even though the breads didn’t brown very much without the egg wash, they tasted great.  And the wider boats with the extra filling … divine!

Using a Cold Ferment and Baking Schedule

Making Ekmak does require some time, but it is worth it. Karen had warned us that we would need several hours to shape and bake the cheese-filled boats.

Making the dough ahead of time and letting it cold ferment in the refrigerator worked quite well for me.  I didn’t get overwhelmed trying to do everything in one day.

I recommend making the dough on Saturday and spending a lovely Sunday afternoon baking the breads.

I had planned to stagger the baking by making a few one day and the rest another day, but because I had let the dough cold ferment longer than I had planned, I baked them all in one afternoon.  They stayed fresh for several days.

I enjoyed them for breakfast.  I didn’t reheat them.  I guess you could equate it to eating cold pizza although these are sweet instead of savory.

Karen’s Notes

The dough starts super wet but it’s pretty easy to work with. Just add more flour to your mixer by tablespoon until you have a super tacky dough.

Making these takes some time, and there is more active time than you might be planning on because you stagger your baking as you are shaping the dough. All in all, I think the whole process was about three hours.

Once you’ve made the dough and allowed it to rise, shape it, fill it with the ricotta mixture, and top it with the berry mixture. After you remove it from the oven, sprinkle it with confectioner’s sugar and serve it with honey, which is traditional.  I didn’t add any honey or confectioner’s sugar, but either would be great with these breads.

In the article in Baked from Scratch, Riyad talks about how this bread brings back memories of his beloved Raqqa, before it was destroyed.

“I take a bite and I can almost hear my family laughing. When I copy a recipe from my memory, I copy everything with it, the experience that comes with it too. It is more than just food. It is laughter, memories, a picture, and the smell of the air…. all of that comes together when I do things like this.”

Sourdough Ekmak with Spelt and Fig Jam

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• Author: Bread Experience
• Yield: 9 sweet breads 1x

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Description

This Sourdough Ekmak with Spelt and Fig Jam, a delightful sweet bread shaped like a boat, is made with an enriched dough filled with ricotta cheese and topped with jam.

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Ingredients

Units MUS Scale 1x2x3x

For the cheese filling:

• 567 grams (20 ounces) full fat ricotta cheese, preferably double cream
• 63 grams (1/2 cup) all purpose flour
• 2 large eggs
• 28 grams (4 tsp) honey
• 2.24 grams (3/4 tsp.) kosher salt
• If you want a sweeter filling, you can add some sugar to taste

For the topping:

• Several tablespoons of your favorite jam (I used fig jam)

For the dough:

• 45 grams (3 Tbsp.) organic granulated sugar
• 100 grams (~1/3 cup) sourdough starter (sourdough discard works well)
• 290 grams (~1 1/4 cups) warm water, divided
• 350 grams all purpose flour
• 150 grams whole grain spelt flour
• 57 grams (1/4 cup ) butter, room temperature (super soft)
• 9 grams (1 Tbsp.) kosher salt

For the egg wash:

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 Tbsp. water

Garnish:

• Confectioner’s sugar
• Honey for serving

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Instructions

Make the Filling

1. Mix the cheese filling ingredients thoroughly. Refrigerate at least three hours, while you are making the dough.

Make the Ekmak:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the sourdough starter and half of the water (145 grams). Mix on low speed until combined.
2. Mix in the all-purpose and whole grains flours, 3 tablespoons sugar, and 125 grams of water. Reserve 20 grams of water to add with the salt. Mix on low speed until thoroughly combined and there are no bits of flour. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
3. Gradually mix in the butter and incorporate using the dough hook on low speed until the butter is evenly distributed, about a minute. Cover and let the mixture rest for 20-30 minutes before adding the salt.
4. Add the salt, and 20-25 grams of water, and mix on low speed until thoroughly incorporated. If the dough is dry, you can add more water, a little at a time.
5. Turn the dough out onto your work surface and form into a ball. Place the dough into a large bowl, cover, and let rise 2-4 hours, at warm room temperature. Stretch and fold the dough 2 times during the first hour, every 30 minutes. Then, let the dough rest for 1-3 more hours.
6. After the dough has rested for several hours, proceed to baking or cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator to cold ferment overnight.
7. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F with a rack in the upper third of the oven.
8. Line three baking sheets with parchment and lightly sprinkle each with flour. Deflate the risen dough and let rest for 10 minutes.
9. Divide the dough into 9 pieces and cover the pieces with plastic wrap. Let rest for 15 minutes.
10. Roll each piece into a round and place each onto a lightly floured work surface. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes.
11. Stretch each ball into a 6 inch round, re-cover with the plastic wrap, and let rest for 10 minutes.
12. Stretch each round into a 10 inch by 4 inch oval and spoon 1/3 cup of the cheese filling onto the dough.
13. Fold the dough to create “boats” and stretch the dough to about 12 inches long. Place the “boats” on the parchment lined baking sheets, 3 per sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes.
14. Spoon a tablespoon of the jam mixture in the middle of the cheese mixture. Brush the dough with the egg wash.
15. Bake the ekmak for 15 minutes one sheet at a time, turning the baking sheet half way through.
16. Let cool on the pan for 10 minutes on a rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm with honey, if desired.

Notes

I let the dough bulk ferment on the counter for 3 ½ hours before placing it in the refrigerator. The dough cold-fermented for about 36 hours, but overnight will work fine. If you give the dough a cold ferment, let it warm up to room temperature for a couple of hours. This will make it easier to roll out.

When rolling out the dough, work with dough in stages so that you can prepare three ekmak at a time and continue to shape, fill, let rise, and bake, in stages.

This is an amazing breakfast or dessert.

Refrigerate leftovers and reheat in a 325 degree oven for about 5 to 10 minutes.

• Category: Sweet Bread with Cheese & Jam
• Cuisine: Syrian

Happy Baking!
Cathy