The Breads of Egypt: Barley Battaw - بتاو شعير

In the book The Pharaoh’s Kitchen by authors Magda Mehdawy and Amr Hussein, a collection of recipes, old and modern, is presented in chapters; the first chapter is about bread. Thin crispy Battaw bread, which was covered much earlier on this blog, is included in the bread chapter and some regional variations are mentioned; one of which found in Qena is only made with barley flour while further north in Asyut, a mixture of wheat and barley is found.

Regional varieties of Battaw, according to The Pharaoh’s Kitchen

Unfortunately though, no recipes where given for these regional varieties. So the only way forward for me was to rely on trial and error once again. My attempts at reproducing this bread with 100% barley flour failed miserably. Barley flour has no gluten which meant the dough was never strong and cohesive to hold its shape during rolling. The 100% barley dough was cracking easily and not responding well to rolling. Battaw is supposed to be thin and crispy which requires rolling it until it’s thing enough that you see the shape of your hand through the dough when held up to the light.

Dough rolled out thin enough

I then decided to move my recipe further north so to speak and try adding some wheat flour. One quarter wheat flour and three quarters barley flour gave the dough enough cohesiveness so I could roll it thin enough. The dough was then baked at 230 degrees C which very quickly creates steam from the water in the dough. The steam creates lots of small bubbles that enhance the texture of the bread and give it some much-needed lightness. Since this bread does not contain any yeast, the high baking temperature is necessary to produce satisfactory results. Otherwise the bread will be too hard and unpleasant to eat.

Crispy Battaw with lots of little brown spots and steam holes

Bread like this keeps for a long time can be made in large batches and kept for several weeks. It works really well with mashed cheese with tomatoes (top picture) or spread with Labna and topped with some za’tar or even Labna and apricot or fig jam for a crunchy sweet treat. Try it with your favorite dip or spread and you might just discover a new combination.

Estimated time:

Mixing and kneading: 5 minutes

Resting and shaping: 30 minutes

Baking: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

300 grams barley flour

100 grams all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon (5 grams) salt

270 grams water

Steps:

1- In a large bowl, add the barley flour, all-purpose flour and salt. Mix well then add the water and mix everything until a uniform dough is formed. Knead the dough for about five minutes then set it aside to rest for twenty minutes to allow it to fully absorb the water.

2- Divide the dough into four equal pieces, around 165-170 grams each.

3- Preheat your oven to 230 °C and place a baking stone or a regular baking tray in the middle of the oven to preheat as well. Then start rolling the first piece of dough until you have a roughly circular shape that is around 25-30 cm in diameter, or as thin as you can roll it without tearing.

4- Place the thin piece of dough directly onto your baking stone or tray then bake (without flipping) for 5-7 minutes or until lots of bubbles appear on the surface and the dough takes o a light brown color. Roll the next piece while the previous one is in the oven.

5- Remove the bread and allow to cool completely before eating. Repeat with the rest of the dough.