Egyptian Fayesh (Tea Rusks) Recipe

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted in my Recipes From Mom category and it’s definitely long overdue! With the holiday season approaching, I figured this is the perfect time to learn and adapt as many of my mom’s Egyptian recipes as possible. This is baking season after all! And what better way to reintroduce this beloved category then by my mom’s incredibly fluffy Egyptian Fayesh recipe! 

A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON FAYESH

For those of you who are not familiar with Egyptian Fayesh, it is basically bread that’s baked, sliced, and then re-baked in order to turn them into hard tea rusks. Think of them as an Egyptian Biscotti. In Egypt, dried Fayesh is usually eaten during tea time (growing up, I remember my parents had tea about 3 times a day!!) Since the bread is so hard after it’s re-baked, many people like to actually dip it into their tea kind of like dipping your cookies in milk.   

TURMERIC & MAHLAB

You’ll find a couple ingredients in this recipe that you might not be familiar with. You can USUALLY find these spices at your regular grocery store or any middle eastern supermarket. First there’s turmeric which is a root plant (in the same family as ginger). Ground Turmeric is actually pretty common in foods such as curry or mustard. In this recipe, we use a small amount to give the Fayesh its trademark yellow color. Next there’s mahlab which is a sweeter spice derived from cherry seeds. Again, we use a small amount to help bring out the sweet flavor of the bread.

SOFT BREAD OR HARD TEA RUSKS

This recipe is very easy to make! But just like with any bread recipe, the most time-consuming part is waiting for the raw dough to rise. One thing to note is that this bread is so incredibly soft when it first comes out of the oven. It will be one of the best rolls you’ll ever taste. If you prefer the bread to remain soft, make sure you store it in an air tight container at room temperature! Or if you want to go the traditional Egyptian route and turn the bread into hardened tea rusks, then you should slice the bread into long pieces and re-bake it.

EGYPTIAN FAYESH

I’ve outlined the full recipe for you down below and I am so excited to finally be sharing it with everyone! I love introducing new and uncommon recipes such as this one and I look forward to doing it more often in the months to come. Check out the full instructions for this Egyptian Fayesh Recipe below. Enjoy!

TRY THESE OTHER EGYPTIAN RECIPES NEXT!

1. Baklava with Homemade Syrup
2. Egyptian Kofta Meatballs
3. Egyptian Holiday Butter Cookies

Egyptian Fayesh (Tea Rusks) Recipe

Course: Breakfast, Sides & SaladsDifficulty: Easy

Servings

12

bread rolls

Prep time

1

hour 

30

minutes

Bake time

25

minutes

Calories

139

kcal

A traditional Egyptian bread that can be twice-baked to turn into tea rusks. Perfect for tea-time munchies!

Ingredients

• 2 cups warm water (not hot and not cold! Just lukewarm)

• 1 ½ tsp ground turmeric

• 1 ½ tsp yeast

• 1 tsp ground mahlab

• 1 Tbs sugar

• 1 Tbs oil

• ½ tsp salt

• 3 ¼ cups flour

Directions

• In a large bowl mix the warm water, turmeric, yeast, mahlab, sugar, and oil. Whisk until well combined 
• Add the flour and salt to the bowl. Mix until well combined. You can use a mixer but you will eventually have to knead with your hands as dough will get thick. Continue kneading until it forms a big, smooth ball of dough 
• Cover the dough and let sit for about 30 minutes at room temperature. Dough should rise a lot in that time frame 
• Cut the dough into 12 pieces of round shaped dough balls that are about 4 inches in diameter 
• Place the dough balls side by side on baking pans (I used 2 large baking pans with 6 pieces of dough on each) 
• Let the formed dough sit for another 30-40 minutes to allow them to rise again 
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for about 20-25 minutes 
• Remove from oven and let cool 
• If you want to keep the bread soft, store in an airtight container at room temperature. Otherwise, if you want to turn them into traditional Egyptian tea rusks, you can harden the bread using the following methods: 
• Slice the bread into long pieces and let them sit out uncovered until they harden OR you can re-bake the sliced bread pieces in the oven on low heat (about 200-225 degrees) for about an hour 
• Serve with hot milk tea! 

Notes

• Calories & Nutritional Info may vary based on different brands and ingredients used. Nutritional Info below was calculated using Very Fit Well’s Nutrition Calculator.