Egypt's love of bread
Bread is an essential part of the Egyptian cuisine and enjoyed during nearly every meal. During Ancient times, it had its place on the table, and was illustrated on temple drawings and in tombs.
Taste the sun
Eish Shamsi is a bread common only in upper Egypt. Literally meaning 'sun bread' in Arabic, and while it may resemble the sun, its name is due to the fact that it is processed under the midday sun.
Eish shamsi breads ready to rise on mud disks (magras) (2020-09-29) by NawayaNawaya
Honoring the son god Ra
Eish Shamsi was shaped as a round loaf to honor of the sun god Ra. It is represented as a disc in ancient carvings, or the fact that the portioned dough is left to rise in the sun.
How to make Eish Shamsi in 8 steps
Making Eish Shamsi is a craft in itself and requires many steps you will have the most delicious bread.
Kneading the dough to make eish shamsi by hand (2019-09-29) by NawayaNawaya
Step 1: Adding yeast
Yeast is not store bought, but a culture kept from the previous bread batch. This means it takes more time to make, than flatbreads like eish baladi that most bakeries today make using fast rising yeast.
Sifting flour to make eish shamsi (2019-09-29) by NawayaNawaya
Step 2: Adding flour
Similar to sourdough bread, the flour is added to the starter which is still alive from the last baking day. This dough for the new bread batch is left overnight.
Portioning the dough to fit the clay disks (magras) to let the dough rise in the sun (2019-09-29) by NawayaNawaya
Step 3: Shaping the discs
The next steps required an outdoors space, where the dough is portioned and placed on round disks made from mud called madras.
Adding the radaa to the madras - mud disks (2020-09-29) by NawayaNawaya
Step 4: Adding wheat bran
The baker adds wheat bran to the madras disks so that the rising dough does not stick to it. The bran also helps the crust develop.
Turning the eish shamsi dough on the magras (2019-09-29) by NawayaNawaya
Step 5: Rising sun
The dough is left to rise again for at least another hour in the sun, and is turned one to two times. A thick crust develops on the dough, which is what gives the eish shamsi its final consistency: a soft thick bread on the inside with a thick crunchy crust.
Eish shamsi - dough has risen and starts to break (2019-09-29) by NawayaNawaya
Step 6: Cooling down
Once the loaf crust starts to crack, it is transferred to a shaded area to cool and harden.
Using the matraha to insert the eish shamsi loaf (2020-09-29) by NawayaNawaya
Step 7: Shaping ears
In the meantime the baker heats up her traditional oven, where the rising loaves will be baked. Before they enter the oven, the loaf is shaped with ‘ears’ that are typical to the sun bread. Using a bread peel, the loaves are carefully placed in a traditional mud oven.
eish shamsi in clay oven (2020-09-29) by NawayaNawaya
Step 8: Baked in mudbrick
The mud oven is shut and the baker waits to hear the bread “hissing”, indicating that the loaves are ready to remove from the oven. Some women believe that counting the loaves lessen their blessing. So they never count how many loaves are made in a batch.
Eish shamsi & Medida saedi
Eish shamsi is enjoyed with most foods in Upper Egypt, but it is also the star of its own dish: medida. Medida Saedi a simple food that families make as a quick snack or energizer.
Cutting up shamshi bread (2020-09-04) by NawayaNawaya
Making Medida Saedi in two steps
The bread loaf is cut into small pieces.
Medida saedi (2020-09-04) by NawayaNawaya
Creamy sauce
The bread is covered in a creamy sauce made with milk, flour, salt and pepper and sometimes spices like fenugreek or cumin powder.
Making medida saedi (2020-09-04) by NawayaNawaya
Delicious Medida Saedi!
Medida Saedi is a family favorite energizer and has a taste like no other!
Curator: Laura Tabet
Research: Mustafa Karim
Photography: Mustafa Karim
