Ka'kat

I've never heard of ka'kat before this week's Baking Beauties assignment. Unlike some folks thought, this was not something a cat coughed up. According to Julia this is an Eastern Mediterranean street food, much like a soft pretzel.

There's something lovely about this packaging:


I think it's the word "traditional" on there... twice.

Have I mentioned how much I love my prep bowls? It means that I don't have piles of crap laying on every surface while I try to find my measuring spoons for the 756th time.


Julia is nothing if not specific in her directions. My favourite? "Stirring in one direction with a wooden spoon, add 2 to 3 cups of flour, a cup at a time, mixing until incorporated."

She seriously just told me what kind of spoon to use and to only go in one direction. For about 100 strokes. I like that because then if I fuck up, I blame Julia Child personally for not telling me that it should have been 110 strokes.


After all that stirring, we had the first rise. Which I got to punch. Awesome.


Now comes the part where I have to cut it into 32, that's right THIRTY TWO, pieces. Roll out each piece into a rope 6 - 7 inches long and make a circle:


That dough scraper thingy is coming in handy. Not only does it scrape dough (which is excellent all by itself), it is exactly six inches long.

There were two baking sheets that looked like this:


There was a brief second rise and then all this glorious Ka'kat goodness



I liked them, but they weren't totally fantastic. I basically ate them like a dinner roll. I didn't add the mahleb as it said it was optional and I had no idea what it was. Perhaps that would have elevated from tiny bagel like thing to something incredibly popular on the streets of Lebanon.


Tina's posted the recipe here.