Khaliat Nahal (Honeycomb buns/ Beehive Buns)

I loved these beehive like looking buns....Well I loved the taste tooo....I even went ahead and used the savoury version without filling for a grand Pav Bhaji breakfast this morning....

I was happy my buns came out fine....Since my oven is a small one I had only a small honey comb shaped Khalait Nahal .....Well like how Aparna's blog says Khaliat Nahal means bee hive in arabic as suggested by its appearance.They are baked close to each other in a round pan where they form a honeycomb like pattern.They are usually made sweet with slightly sweetened dough filled with cream cheese.After they are baked they are covered with sugar syrup/ glaze which is typical of many Middle eastern confectionery.



This bread is served for Iftar and its shape lends itself to be torn apart easily to serve oneself.Though they are made sweet usually they can also be made with savoury fillings without glaze....
This recipe makes 18 small buns or you can halve the recipe and make 9-10 buns in a6''or7'' round pan.



Source:My diverse kitchen

Ingredients

Milk-1 cup lukewarm

Instant yeast-11/2 tsp

Sugar-1 tsp

All purpose flour-2 1/2 cups

Sugar-3 tbsp(for sweet bread)

Salt-3/4-1 tsp (for savoury bread)1/4 tsp(sweet bread)

Butter-40 gms

Milk-2 tbsp

White sesame seeds-2 tbsp

For filling

1 cup of filling (approximately) of your choice, either sweet or savoury

Savoury - cream cheese OR crumbled feta cheese OR crumbled paneer/ cottage cheese

Sweet - cream cheese (traditional filling), or any other filing of your choice like chocolate,   dried fruit like dates, apricots or raisins, chopped nuts, chopped fruit , sweetened coconut filling, etc.  

Sugar syrup/glaze

Sugar-3/4 cup

Water-1 cup

Saffron-one pinch

Honey-1 tbsp

Lemon-1 tsp

Method


Make sure your melted butter has cooled down a bit before using it. Put 2 cups of the flour, salt,sugar (if making the sweet bread only) and melted butter in the bowl of your processor. Run a couple of times to mix well.

Combine the milk, sugar and yeast in a small bowl and keep for 5 minutes. Add this to the processor bowl and knead until you have a smooth and elastic dough which is not sticky. Add as much of the remaining 1/2 cup of flour as you /need to get this consistency of bread dough. 


Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a well-oiled bowl, turning it to coat completely with the oil. Cover and let it rise till double in volume, for about an hour.

Turn the dough out onto your work surface. You won’t really need to flour it as the dough is quite manageable as it is. Cut it into 2 halves. With your palms, roll out each half a “rope”  about 9” long. Cut each rope into 1” pieces so you have a total of 18 pieces.

Take each piece and flatten it out a little and place half a teaspoon of filling in the centre. Pull up the sides and wrap the dough around the filling, pinching it closed at the top. Smoothen it into around ball. Place this in a well-greased round 9” cake tin. Repeat with the remaining 17 pieces and the filling. Arrange the filled balls of dough in concentric circles, filling the base of the cake tin.

Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rise for about 30 to 40 minutes. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle the sesame seeds over this. Don’t use the sesame seeds for sweet bread, only for the savoury one. Bake the buns at 180C (350F) for about 25 minutes, until they’re done and a nice golden brown on top.
Let them cool in the tin for about 5 minutes and then on a wire rack.

If you’re making the sweet version, make the sugar syrup/ glaze during the first rise of the dough. For this put the sugar, water and saffron in a small pan and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for a few minutes until it starts thickening a bit. Take it off the heat and add the honey and the lime/ lemon juice. Mix well and let it cool. Keep aside till needed

When the sweet buns come out of the oven, pour the syrup all over the top of the “Honeycomb”.  The bread should be hot and the syrup/ glaze should be cool. If you want your Honeycomb Buns to be less sweet, just brush the syrup/ glaze over the top.Let it sit for a while for the syrup/ glaze to set a bit. Serve them warm with tea/ coffee.