John Myers
Ingredients for 1 servings:
- 3 cups semolina (soft wheat)
- 1 cup wheat flour (type 405)
- 250 g butter, melted, cooled
- 300 g powdered sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tsp dry yeast
- 150 ml milk, warm
- 1 tsp sugar
- 350 g walnuts, very finely chopped, but not ground
- Orange blossom water
- rose water
- Powdered sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
Working time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 3 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 4 hours 50 minutes
Lebanese shortcrust pastry made from semolina. Makes about 60 pieces
Form a crumbly dough from semolina, flour, salt, butter, and 100g of powdered sugar. Rub it between your hands for about 5 minutes (use a large 250ml coffee mug as a measure). Dissolve 1 level teaspoon each of dry yeast and sugar in lukewarm milk and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of orange blossom water and 1 tablespoon of rose water. Pour this liquid into the crumbs and quickly knead into a smooth dough. Cover the dough and let it rest in a cool place for at least 2-3 hours, or overnight (not necessarily in the refrigerator, except in summer). The consistency should then be similar to that of regular shortcrust pastry. If it’s still too sticky, add a little more flour. Divide the dough into about 60 balls. For the walnut filling, mix the finely chopped walnuts with the remaining powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of orange blossom water, and 1 teaspoon of rose water. Flatten the dough balls in your hand or form them into small “shells.” Fill with approximately 1 heaped teaspoon of walnuts, and shape them with your hands or using traditional molds, enclosing the filling. Line two baking sheets with baking paper and spread the mamoul on them. Bake the mamoul in a preheated oven at 180°C for approximately 15-20 minutes. Make sure the pastry doesn’t overcook. Dust thickly with powdered sugar while still hot and, once cooled, store in a sealed container. Unfortunately, the required molds are very difficult to find in this country, often only through online shops from abroad, making them relatively expensive due to shipping costs. However, they are said to be available directly from oriental food stores, so city dwellers shouldn’t have any problems. The required orange blossom and rose water are also available there in good quality and at fair prices. Food-grade orange blossom and rose water are also available in numerous German online shops or pharmacies (usually only by order). I searched in vain for the ingredients and molds in the Turkish grocery stores near me, so you should really go to an Arabic shop. Since I really wanted to try the recipe and didn’t think the hand-formed mamoul were ideal, I simply used the inside of a plastic citrus juicer and formed the dough balls in it. I was very pleased with the result.
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