Dabo 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. 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 even in the oven, and the bread is wrapped in lettuce leaves. The leaves function basically as parchment paper, preventing the bread from sticking to the pan.

Dabo was blessed by religious leaders and served during shabbat and holidays, and was considered a staple of Jewish Ethiopian Shabbat breakfasts. Pnina Agenyahu, an Ethiopian Jew whose I interviewed for this article, suggests crumbling the dabo into a bowl, add chopped salad, sour cream or cottage cheese, salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Read all about the biblical roots of the dabo right here.

Ethiopian Shabbat bread (dabo)

Recipe by Vered GuttmanCourse: Pastries u0026amp; BreadsCuisine: Ethiopian, JewishDifficulty: Easy

Yields

round bread

Prep time

minutes

Baking time

hour

Resting time

hours

Total time

hours

minutes

Dabo is an Ethiopian bread that is served by Ethiopian Jews during Shabbat and holidays.

Adapted from Pnina Agenyahu.

I highly recommend using SAF Instant yeast (it’s available online and can keep for months in the fridge.)

The traditional way is to use some farina instead of the flour. Instructions below.

INGREDIENTS

2¼ teaspoons instant dry yeast (* see note above)
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!)

DIRECTIONS

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. Remove challah from oven, flip challah out of the pot, let cool and serve warm or at room temperature.