Why our family eats sweet flatbread before sunrise this Ramadan

Ba'at (also called ka'ak) is a sweet, aniseed-flavoured Middle Eastern flatbread that cook and food writer Lina Jebeile and her family like to eat before dawn during Ramadan.

Ba'at is a family favourite of Lina Jebeile. Source: Supplied

Ramadan shouldn't just be about food. However, we can't deny that breaking the fast at the end of the day (iftar) and sharing that experience with friends and family is one of the most special things about the month. 

I can list so many dishes that have for me become synonymous with Ramadan. Many of them are simple, like dates, lentil soup, crispy fattoush salad and what's known as ba'at. 

Ba'at is a sweet-spice flatbread that our family loves. It contains aniseed and I make batches of it all the time during Ramadan, not necessarily for iftar but for suhoor (the pre-dawn meal). Dipped in some labneh and a hot cuppa, ba'at is the perfect quick eat. My kids have grown to love ba'at too and often refer to it as "the bread that tata [grandma] always feeds us".

Lina Jebeile loves to eat ba'at before fasting begins each day during Ramadan. Source: Supplied

I love that they associate it with her because it's food for me that evokes so many wonderful Ramadan memories from my childhood. I remember walking home from school with the sweetest smell of dough and hints of aniseed drifting through the air. You could smell it through the neighbourhood and it stood out in Lebanese bakeries. Then, I'd come home and see a stack of ba'at on the kitchen bench, ready to eat before dawn the next day.

Dipped in some labneh and a hot cuppa, ba'at is the perfect quick eat.

We never ran out of ba'at. My mother would often make it and when she didn't, we could always count on a neighbour, relative or friend to drop over a batch. We had an open-door policy you see. In fact, one of the most exciting (yet sometimes surprising) memories of childhood was never knowing which neighbour or relative would appear in the lounge room, unannounced, with their wrists strapped with bags of bread or their hands full of a plate of something they'd just cooked.

I never got used to it though. There I would be, probably in my pyjamas, lounging in front of the telly. Suddenly, a voice would bellow: "Where's mum!?" I'd sit up and freeze before I registered that it was someone I knew. All was forgiven if they brought ba'at. 

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Ba'at

Makes 14

Ingredients

• 4 cups plain flour
• 1 cup milk, warm
• ½ cup warm water
• 7 g of dry yeast (one sachet)
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tsp daka (see Note)
• Olive oil
• Sesame seeds (optional) 

Method

1. In a bowl, combine the warm water and yeast and set aside until it activates and becomes frothy.
2. Sift the flour into a separate, large bowl. Add the sugar, spices, milk and the yeast-water mixture to the flour. Combine until it begins to resemble a dough. You can use an electric mixer with a dough attachment or your hands until it becomes a soft, smooth dough (about 10 minutes).
3. Set aside in an oiled bowl, cover and leave to rest for about 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 170ºC.
5. Once the dough has rested, knead it for a few minutes to expel air bubbles. Roll it out into a thick log about 40cm long and 3cm thick. Then divide the dough into 14 one-inch thick pieces.
6. Flatten each dough piece onto an oiled wooden mould to create the traditional patterned flatbread. Sprinkle each with sesame seeds if you wish.
7. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Note

• Daka is a spice with aniseed notes that is used to make this bread. However, it isn't easy to find. Alternatively, you can use 1 teaspoon of mixed spice and a pinch of aniseed powder.