The Indian subcontinent · Volume 17, The Sealed Pot, the Ember and the Roasted Flour
Sheermal
Lucknow
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 3 hours
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
A mildly sweet, saffron-cardamom flatbread made much like naan but with warm, sweetened, saffron-infused milk replacing water in the dough, yeast-leavened and traditionally tandoor-baked. The name is Persian, sheer, milk, plus malidan, to knead, and the bread reached North India via the Mughals before becoming especially strongly associated with Lucknow. During Muharram specifically, sheermal paired with shami kebab is repeatedly named the standard tabarruk, blessed food offering, at Lucknow's majlis gatherings, with demand reported to double or triple across the month.
As tradition built it
Makes 6. About 3 hours, including proving.
Ingredients
- 200g maida (plain white flour)
- 200g whole wheat flour
- 60g fine semolina
- 60g ghee, melted, plus more for brushing
- 120g khoya, crumbled
- 30g milk powder
- 100g caster sugar, powdered
- 0.5 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 large pinch a large pinch of saffron
- 1 tsp fast-action yeast
- 2 tsp sugar (to activate the yeast)
- 250ml warm milk
Method
- Bloom the saffron in 2 tablespoons of the warm milk. Activate the yeast in the remaining warm milk with the 2 teaspoons of sugar, 10 minutes.
- Combine all the dry ingredients, the maida, whole wheat flour, fine semolina, milk powder, caster sugar and ground cardamom, with the ghee, khoya, activated yeast mixture and saffron milk into a soft, smooth dough. Knead well.
- Cover and prove in a warm place until doubled, 1.5 to 2 hours.
- Divide into 6 portions, roll each into an oval roughly 1cm thick, and prick the surface lightly.
- Bake at 240 to 280°C, 5 to 8 minutes, until golden with dark leopard-spotting.
- Brush generously with melted ghee while still hot.
What a modern chef changes
Radiant heat, not just a hot oven
Rung 1, adapted
Method
- Bake on a preheated pizza steel or stone rather than a tray, for a burst of radiant bottom heat closer to a tandoor's than a domestic oven shelf gives.
- Bloom the saffron properly, in warm milk for a full 15 minutes before use, rather than adding the threads dry, for a fuller colour and aroma throughout the dough rather than streaked patches.
- Rest the shaped ovals a final 15 minutes before baking, uncovered, so the surface dries slightly and takes the leopard-spotting more readily.