SOFRAMIZ: VIBRANT MIDDLE EASTERN RECIPES FROM SOFRA BAKERY AND CAFE PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Ana Sortun,Maura Kilpatrick | 264 pages | 17 Oct 2016 | TEN SPEED PRESS | 9781607749189 | English | Berkeley CA, United States Middle Eastern Cookbook Review of Soframiz, by Ana Sortun and Maura Kilpatrick | Epicurious I'm standing on Atlantic Avenue in front of Damascus Breads, feeling like my life is in order. I've already ordered most of my ingredients online, so the only grocery shopping I have to do is for specialty ingredients like rose petal jam, nigella seeds, good feta, Maras pepper, and something called Yufka dough. I've never heard of Yufka dough, but according to the book, it's "a thin, almost phyllolike pastry" that's widely available online. I figured I'd find yufka on this strip of Middle Eastern groceries, but they'd just sold their last package at Damascus Breads a few days before, and I struck out at every other shop. Shoulders slumped in defeat, I bought Damascus' super-fresh phyllo instead, planning to double-layer the sheets to mimic the thickness of yufka. The striking out continued: I found the hawaij curry powder for the shakshuka, but Sahadi's didn't have nigella seeds, those oniony little black seeds that I was absurdly excited about sprinkling on my cheese borek. The two types of Turkish pepper prominently featured in the book, Urfa and Maras, where also nowhere to be found. Soframiz offers plenty of online resources for these ingredients in the back of the book, but it's a little daunting that I struck out on a street filled with Middle Eastern specialty stores even though most of the places on Atlantic are Lebanese and Syrian, and the Soframiz ingredients are Turkish. Still, I took comfort in the fact that Sahadi's lets you choose between two kinds of super-fresh pine nuts, that the pine nuts I chose from Italy were insanely pricey, and that I was expensing them. I headed to my sister's place to cook. After all that searching, shopping, and shlepping, I'm ready for breakfast. Problem is, I have to make it. Sortun and Fitzpatrick's shakshuka isn't the casual, simmer-eggs-in-tomato-sauce, breakfast crutch that me and many other people have come to lean on. I simmer canned tomatoes with olive oil, garlic, hawayej a Yemenite spice blend that's "usually a mixture of cumin, caraway, turmeric, peppercorns, cardamom, and cloves". Maras pepper is on the ingredient list too, so I sigh and throw in a bit of red-pepper flakes instead. After a quick simmer, I puree the sauce to silky smoothness, transfer spoonfuls to ramekins, and crack eggs in. While they bake, I blend together a mildly spicy green sauce called zhoug to spoon on top. The whole time, I'm wondering why I don't just crack the eggs straight into the skillet like I normally do. Feeling resentful of the fussiness standing between me and my breakfast, I scoop some pita through the fudgy baked eggs, spiced tomato sauce, and sharp zhoug, and then I stop bickering with the book in my head. The whole dish snaps into focus with a logic it's never had before. Baby's first real shakshuka. Mollified by the shakshuka triumph, I turn my attention to lunch: A big pile of cheesy, biscuit-like Feta and Dill Pogaca rolls. The recipe calls for a stand mixer, a pet peeve of mine since plenty of people don't own a hulking KitchenAid. So I improvised, pulsing the dry ingredients in a food processor until combined, then pulsing in the butter and then the egg and yogurt mixture. Then I mixed the feta in by hand because it's smooshy and fun that way. They baked up tender, salty, and a little gritty from the cornmeal, but I only had time to eat two of them before it was time to start on the avalanche of mezze recipes for dinner. First, I fired up a trio of legumes: Soaked chickpeas for hummus, yellow split peas for another dip, and black-eyed peas for a carrot dish. Then things got really pretty. To make the za'atar-spiced almond topping for the split pea dip, I filled a bowl with sliced almonds, drenched them in olive oil, and poured in various quadrants of aromatics, from grated lemon zest to za'atar to sumac to sesame seeds. Folding it all together with a rubber spatula made me inexplicably happy. I couldn't find organic dried rose petals, which I needed to make a Persian Spice blend also called "advieh" used in the recipe. I grudgingly added a tiny drop of rosewater to the carrots instead. Between the hawaij and the za'atar and the advieh, I was annoyed by the fact that I didn't just need a wide range of spices to make this food, but a slew of spice blends, too. And yet. My brother-in-law's mother, who came from a Jewish community in Iraq, cooks this way all the time, using a few insanely delicious spice blends to add instant depth to her food, without having to open half-a-dozen jars every time. Maybe I just need to cook Persian carrots more often. Being used to chewy, not pebbly bulgar, I had to add some boiling water to improve the dish. Unless the desired texture result was pebbles, I would have to say this is a fail. The taste was average. The Yellow Split Peas with Za'atar Spiced Almonds again using the exact measurements came out as a fluid dip rather than the lusciously thick and fluffy result from the photograph. The taste was great, but the consistency was like creamy salad dressing. The ingredients and dishes are beautifully photographed. I wish I lived near the bakery, so I could sample the pastries and breads, and meals how they are really meant to be served. With the success rate that I had, I can not recommend this to people not familiar with preparing similar cuisine styles. Dec 14, DB rated it it was ok. Really great food from a great chef, but a poorly thought-out cookbook. Ana's a great mind in the kitchen, but could have used a more experienced guide in creating this book. Jul 25, Ilana rated it it was amazing. It is very hard to describe how I feel about reading this book: hungry, curious to try some of the recipes featured, unhappy that I cannot go to visit the restaurant whose creative take of Middle Eastern - especially Turkish - cuisine is served every day Sofra is 'a feeling as much as it is a place. It's a gesture of hospitality, inviting and evolving. It can be influenced by the weather, the mood, the guests, and the occasion. No two sofras are the same, but behind every sofra is a host hopin It is very hard to describe how I feel about reading this book: hungry, curious to try some of the recipes featured, unhappy that I cannot go to visit the restaurant whose creative take of Middle Eastern - especially Turkish - cuisine is served every day No two sofras are the same, but behind every sofra is a host hoping to give guests a memorable meal'. This is exactly the way in which I felt while reading every single recipe in this book: invited to be part of a meal, shared a couple of home secrets and - unfortunatelly - sent home way too early with a stomach filled of - imaginary - great meals. The writing is equally entincing and the photography is more than inviting. It adds that delicious note that may be missing when you read about food, without tasting the meals and products the book it is talking about. I would personally try a couple of recipes for the time being, especially those that recommend the use of tehina for cookies and other sweets. Therefore, would have more than one reason to read again this beautiful book. Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review Jan 13, Lora Milton rated it it was amazing Shelves: cookbooks. They've shared some of their most popular recipes in this book. The insight into what makes a typical breakfast in Turkey was interesting from a cultural perspective and the use of ingredients like peppers, tahini etc give a real flavor of the sort of food that is typical of that part of the world. I'll have to admit that my biggest interest was in the baked goods, some of which I will definitely try! The book is nicely presented with color pictures and clear instructions, even a photo diagram of how to assemble Flower Pogaca Rolls which is one of the recipes I will definitely be giving a try. I love cookbooks like this because they give you the feeling that you've actually visited the country, or in this case perhaps the cafe. Highly recommended to those who enjoy exotic food. Jan 08, Mary rated it really liked it. So there is a traditional baklava, which mentions that Turkish baklava usually does not have honey, and a milky walnut version. Both look good, but the savory recipes are quite interesting and combine flavors like pomegranate and cucumber and tomatoes with lamb and lentils. Lots of flatbread versions. Most of the recipes are time consuming, particularly for a novice like me, and many require special ingredients including Maras pepper and grape molasses for example. Worth buying for those who want an eclectic Middle Eastern cookbook in their collection.