Esfira, esfiha, esfira, sfira, sfirra, sfiha… so many writings for yet another delicacy from Levantine cuisine. Which doesn’t matter so much, it’s delicious regardless of how you write it. The only unanimity among those who like it. Another recipe of the oldfrom the same period as kibbeh.
I adopted writing sfiha because that’s how it is on wikipedia, tastespotting and flickr. You know how it is… man Arabic It’s not good at all! I leave these orthographic and adaptive issues to the community. The meaning of the name couldn’t be simpler: meat with pasta.
The credits go to Benjamin Abrahão (may Vatel have him) from the bakeries in São Paulo. Just curious, I passed in front of the Jardins branch… so aristocratic (whatever that means, hahahah)! If I tried to enter the way I was, I would be blocked, for sure! The store had security guards, did I say that? The ones that look like bodyguards… okay, right.
You can already see that the recipe is very good. old skool. Very good and relatively quick, even with organic yeast dough. And it was with her that I learned to roll with both hands (turn the dough into balls)! 😀
The ingredients listed are as I have always done, but this time I was forced to make some substitutions regarding the oil. Basic, classic and stupid mistake! I know. I checked all the ingredients before making, except the oil. Exactly, it was the only one I didn’t have at home… I never imagined there wasn’t any oil at home. So, I used part olive oil (100mL) and melted butter (100g).
This time I used Fleischmann wheat flour. I’m saying the brand because I thought it was more suitable for breads (it’s “sold” like that). However, the website says that you can make other products as well. However, when working the dough I noticed that the texture was different.
It seemed to be more elastic, more malleable, good to work with… and comparing the composition between it and other flours (Dona Benta or Renata) they are practically identical. Here’s a warning 🙂
Homemade Esfirra
Makes: 30 – 50 spoons, depending on size
Meat filling
- 500 g duckling (or hard, ground drumstick)
- 1 onion (big, chopped)
- 2 tomatoes (ripe, without seeds and skin; chopped)
- 1 tahitian lemon (juice)
- refined salt (August)
- ground black pepper (August)
- Syrian Pepper (or cinnamon powder; to taste)
- cinnamon powder (August)
Basic dough
- 30 g fresh organic yeast (or 10g of dry instant)
- 1 soup spoon crystal Sugar (or muscovado)
- 700 g wheat flour
- 250 mL vegetable oil (neutral flavor)
- 375 mL water (free)
- 1 teaspoon refined salt
1 cup: 250mL | 1 tablespoon: 15mL.
Mode: FILLING
- Mix all the ingredients and add salt. For this amount I used around 1 teaspoon of both salt and cinnamon powder. But as always, it depends on your taste buds.
- Place the filling in a sieve to drain the excess liquid, let it rest for at least 30 minutes. After this time, I also like to press the filling with my hands to remove even more liquid. All of this so that the dough doesn’t come together. And yes, the filling goes raw inside the dough.
Mode: MASS
- Mix the yeast, sugar, oil and salt in a bowl. Add the water and wheat flour little by little, you may need more flour (+/- 50g). Because it has a lot of oil, it doesn’t stick, it stays smooth and very shiny.
- Knead for 10 minutes. So, separate into balls, the size depends on how you want it to be crushed. Remember that the dough “rises”.
- And I did! Which is nothing more than taking an unshaped piece of dough and turning it into a smooth, almost perfect ball. Do this with everyone.
- Once done, start filling with the first ball and so on. To close… I took the photos, I don’t know if you can see them very well (taking photos with just one hand is not easy). At least an idea of how, this time I wasn’t able to record. The camera battery didn’t help much.
- I know two ways to close. The first resembles a cone and the second is faster, just “pinch” the dough.
- So, the closed part of the dough stays down. In other words, the joining of the sides becomes the bottom of the esfirras. This way, there is less chance of it opening and it looks more presentable! This time I added a beaten egg to give it a more interesting color.
- Bake in the oven (preheated) at 200ºC for 20 minutes or until golden. Depending on the size, it makes 30-50 spoons.
