May Babes Open the Lover's Window

I had every intention of making the May bread bake just as posted by our lovely Kitchen of the Month Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories. Really, I did. The Shubak el-Habayeb is a wonderful bread to make, with the fragrance of flower waters and the exotic taste of mahleb. Here is what she says about it:
"Shubak el-Habayeb is an Iraqi bread, and the name, translated, means The Lover's Window.

I found this bread in the book, The Book of Buns, from Jane Mason. To quote Jane: ".. The Lover's Window, which kind of makes me want to cry every time I think about it - it's just lovely! I would love to know who named it and whether they ever found their true love."

This is a fragrant bread, with orange blossom water, rose water, cardamom, and mahleb. Mahleb (or mahlab) is a powder made from the seeds of the St. Lucy's cherry. I had a jar in my pantry, which I had hunted down from when I made Ka'kat, so when I spotted this recipe, I knew I had to make it! "

But, as often is the case, life had other plans for me. My lover has kept me guessing this month. After Sweetie rolled the tractor over and narrowly avoided consequences much greater than the cracked ribs and massive bruise that he did get, time really got away from me as I tried for a few weeks to be two people for all the usual chores, plus as I did my best to take good care of him and keep him from overdoing.

Then, yesterday, he was told by a medical professional to avoid eating foods with small seeds. Aaakk.The tops of these rolls are supposed to have sesame seeds. So I made the rolls as seed-less long oblongs and filled them with Italian turkey sausage links,

but with no seeds, just a little sea salt after I brushed on the glaze. The spaces that I cut into the rolls didn't seem to hold, either, but then the rolls had great oven spring! I measured them at 1/2 inch when they were first shaped, but they did puff up some during the rise before baking, and then a lot in the oven.

These were delicious rolls, moist, exotic in flavor, only a little sweet, and really lovely to look at, too. Very nice, tight crumb, perfect for soaking up the sausage juices.

I found the dough very easy to work with. I only used half the dough because I plan to mix some currants into the rest and make pan rolls. Thanks you Karen for a great recipe. Use this link to go to Karen's page for the full recipe.

You know you'll want to be a Buddy and do better than I did, which won't be all that difficult, really. Bake the rolls, take a snap and send Karen a short description of your bake, the photo, and a link. She'll send you a Buddy badge and include you in the round up.

Do, also, check out the lovely buns of my fellow Babes...wait, that doesn't sound right...erm, check out their Shubak el-Habayeb rolls.

• Blog from OUR Kitchen – Elizabeth
• A Messy Kitchen – Kelly
• Judy’s Gross Eats – Judy
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen
• Notitie Van Lien – Lien
• My Diverse Kitchen - Aparna
• Bread Experience - Cathy
• Thyme for Cooking - Katie
• My Kitchen in Half Cups - Tanna
• Bake My Day - Karen

Happy May!