Dabo is a traditional Ethiopian bread often served for breakfast or at coffee ceremonies. Ethiopian Jews traditionally serve it during Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath). Unlike injera, the spongy teff bread that's usually associated with Ethiopia, dabo is a thick, spiced wheat bread. There are many variations, some including cardamom, rosemary or other spices.
Yemarina yewotet dabo is a wonderful bread traditionally baked for Ethiopian festive occasions. Dabo means ‘wheat bread’ and the full original name of this wonderful loaf is yemarina yewotet dabo: honey and milk bread. That is a beautiful name for a bread. It reminds me of the biblical 'land of milk and honey' so dabo is the promised land bread.
Dabo served alongside Injera
This dabo is a rich bread: with egg and butter, milk and honey, and fragrant spices. Honey is apparently plentiful in Ethiopia but the use of it in everyday baking is not common; neither is use of eggs, spices and milk, so this is a truly special, festive product. In a word - gorgeous.
Dabo is round and crumbly with a touch of sweetness. It is an Ethiopian bread that is served by Ethiopian Jews during Shabbat and holidays as a challah. It is round, crumbly and a tad bit sweet, similar to the Yemenite-Jewish overnight sabbath bread kubaneh.
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To break the fast on Sigd, Ethiopian Jews feast on lamb or chicken stew with potatoes and eggs, all served with dabo. Dabo is also served during Shabbat and holidays, and is considered a staple of Jewish Ethiopian Shabbat breakfasts as well.
A Brief History
Beejhy Barhany was born in Ethiopia, raised in Israel, and moved to New York 20 years ago. She is also the founder of the annual Sheba Film Festival, a showcase of films portraying Beta Israel life and other aspects of Jewish and African cultures.
Sigd is a Jewish-Ethiopian holiday that symbolizes the renewal of the union between God and the people of Israel marked 50 days after Yom Kippur. The holiday serves for communal self-examination, similar to the individual self-examining during Yom Kippur, and includes fasting and prayer. The idea behind the holiday is that in order to leave the diaspora and move to Israel, the community as a whole needs to repent. In Ethiopia, members of the Beta Israel community used to gather on high mountains resembling Mount Sinai where the Kessim (religious leaders) read from the Bible. These days in Israel, the community congregates in Jerusalem on a mountain facing the Old City and Temple Mount.
In Ethiopia the bread was baked in a round clay pot over embers in a fire pit in the ground. It was wrapped in banana leaves to prevent it from sticking to the pot and to keep the bread moist. Upon moving to Israel, Ethiopian Jews changed their baking technique. Now the bread is baked on a burner or in the oven, and the bread is either wrapped in lettuce leaves, or in parchment paper, which serves the same purpose as the banana leaves.
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የውሃ ዳቦ ወይም ቀላል የህብስት ዳቦ አሰራር | Easy Ethiopian Traditional Homemade Hibist Dabo Recipe
Recipe
Adapted from Pnina Agenyahu.
Ingredients
- 2¼ teaspoons instant dry yeast
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1¼ lb (3½ cups) all-purpose flour (you can replace 1 cup of flour with farina)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon honey or sugar
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon nigella seed (optional, but delicious!)
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast in ¼ cup lukewarm water mixed with 1 teaspoon sugar, stir and let stand 5-10 minutes, until yeast foams vigorously.
- Mix flour, honey and oil in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook.
- Add yeast and the rest of the water and knead for 2 minutes.
- Add salt, baking powder and nigella seed and continue to knead on medium-high speed for 5 minutes. If dough is too stiff, add a couple of tablespoons of water at a time.
- Remove bowl from mixer, cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place for 2-3 hours, until dough doubles in volume.
- Grease a tall oven-proof pot 7-8 inches in diameter, or layer it with parchment paper.
- Pour dough in, cover with towel and let stand for 30 minutes more until it rises again.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
- Put a round piece of parchment paper on top of the dough, to prevent not from touching the aluminum foil.
- Cover pot tightly with greased aluminum foil and top with a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
- Now flip the pot over onto the baking sheet (so the challah is upside down) and bake for another 30 minutes.
Baking Dabo Bread
Yemarina Yewotet Dabo simply known as the Ethiopian spiced honey bread will leave your kitchen smelling wonderful. This was one of the breads that was chosen for the alphabet Y long before the Mega marathon started. Finally, I baked the Yemarina Yewotet Dabo bread last evening and my whole house was just smelling awesome.
This was the first time, I had formed a free loaf and I was very anxious until I baked it. I was hoping that it would not lose its shape and become flat when rising or baking. The major spice in the bread was coriander powder. I did not have any coriander powder in hand. The flavor of coriander powder with ginger, cinnamon, and cloves worked great in this Ethiopian spiced honey bread.
The dough is easy to work with so even if you knead by hand, it won't be back-breaking. The crust is thin and dainty, shiny with salt glaze and studded with bursts of fragrance from the fennel seeds. Challah is usually baked straight on a baking tray but dabo turns out better if the shape is contained somewhat. You can use a large cake tin or a roasting dish. If you have one of those clay bread baking domes or cloches - it will be ideal.
Read also: A Taste of Ethiopia in South Carolina
It is traditionally a festive loaf, and I said I baked it often for Christmas. But there's no reason why you can't bake it and enjoy it more often. It's delicious fresh from the oven, but it makes a great toast as well.
Alternative Recipe
Here's another way you can make Dabo:
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp. yeast
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. coriander
- 1 tsp. cardamom
- 2 tbsp. oil
Instructions:
- Mix the yeast with warm water in a small bowl and let it stand for 15 minutes. Beat the honey with the egg, salt and spices in another bowl.
- Place the flour in a large bowl or the bowl of a standing mixer with the dough hook attachment.
- Knead by hand on a floured surface or in the standing mixer - it will take a while as the dough will at first be impossibly sticky. It’s ready when it becomes smooth, stretchy and silky and stops sticking to your hands or bounces off the walls of the bowl in the standing mixer.
- When risen, turn it out onto a well-floured surface. It can be shaped into a round loaf and baked just like that, or plaited. To make a plaited loaf, divide the dough into three pieces and shape them into ropes about 25cm long.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6.
- Dabo can be baked straight on a baking tray but it helps keep the shape if it’s contained in a round tin or a clay cloche.
- Mix the water with salt for the glaze and brush over the top of the loaf, making sure it doesn’t run down the sides and underneath (sticking hazard again).
- Place the bread in the oven (with the cloche lid on, if using, taking if off to let the bread brown after 30 minutes). Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until it’s nicely brown all over.
Place ½ cup of warm water into a small bowl, add the yeast and stir. Add the yeast mixture, oil, and egg to the dry ingredients and mix well with a spatula. Gradually add ½ cup of warm water to the dough, and knead the dough by hand until it is combined, smooth, and soft, about 3 minutes. If needed to bring the dough together, add up to ¼ cup more water. Knead for about 6 minutes more, until the dough springs back on itself after poking it with your finger.
Apply ½ teaspoon of oil to your hands, and shape the dough into a loose ball. Place the dough into a large bowl and cover it with a towel. Set aside and allow the dough to rise for 1 hour.
Knead the dough again by hand for just a moment to release any excess air. Transfer the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Ethiopians, like the woman in the photo cutting dabo outside a Compassion center, bake the bread in large round pans or cooking pots lined with foil.
Ethiopian Woman Cutting Dabo Bread
