Goghal
Azerbaijan's spiced flaky pastry: laminated dough layered with butter and a heady mix of black pepper, caraway and saffron. Eaten with sweet tea.
Overview
A spiced flaky pastry from Azerbaijan's tea table, traditionally baked for Novruz alongside pakhlava and shekerbura, eaten with strong sweet tea any time of year. You make a yeasted milk-and-egg dough and let it rest for an hour, while you build a savoury-sweet spice mix from black pepper, caraway, fennel, saffron and a hard cheese-like crumble (Azerbaijani gurut, or a substitute). The dough rolls thin, brushes with butter, gets a scatter of spice; folds, rolls, sprinkles again, repeated three times in the same lamination motion you'd use for puff pastry. The final dough rolls to a centimetre thick, cuts into rounds with the rim of a glass, takes an egg wash for shine, and bakes at 180°C for twenty-five minutes until deep golden. Eaten with sweet black tea and a small dish of jam on the side.
Ingredients
Dough
- 500 g plain flour
- 7 g instant yeast (1 sachet)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon caster sugar
- 250 ml warm milk
- 2 eggs (large)
- 50 g unsalted butter (melted, plus extra for laminating)
Spice paste
- 80 g unsalted butter (softened)
- 1 tablespoon coarse-ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds (lightly crushed)
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds (lightly crushed)
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 pinch saffron threads (steeped in 1 tablespoon hot water)
- 50 g aged sheep's cheese, grated (or pecorino as a substitute)
Glaze
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon black caraway (or nigella seeds, kalonji)
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
Method
Stage 1 - Dough
- In a wide bowl, whisk the flour, yeast, salt and sugar.
- In a jug, combine warm milk, eggs and melted butter.
- Pour wet into dry; mix to a shaggy mass.
- Knead 8-10 minutes (or 6 in a stand mixer) until smooth and elastic.
- Rest in a lightly oiled bowl, covered, 1 hour or until doubled.
Stage 2 - Spice paste
- Mash the softened butter with the black pepper, caraway, fennel, turmeric, saffron infusion and grated cheese.
- The paste should be spreadable.
Stage 3 - Laminate
- Punch the dough down; turn onto a lightly floured surface.
- Roll to a rectangle 40 × 30 cm, 5 mm thick.
- Spread a third of the spice paste over the rectangle.
- Fold into thirds like a letter (long-side fold).
- Roll out again to 40 × 30 cm; spread another third; fold.
- Repeat once more with the last of the paste.
Stage 4 - Cut and shape
- Roll the final folded dough to a rectangle 1 cm thick.
- Cut into 12 rounds with a 7 cm glass or cutter.
- Place on a parchment-lined baking tray, spaced 3 cm apart.
- Rest 15 minutes (the layers relax).
Stage 5 - Bake
- Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan).
- Whisk the egg yolk with milk; brush the tops.
- Scatter nigella and sesame seeds.
- Bake 25 minutes until deep gold; the layers should visibly puff and separate at the edges.
Stage 6 - Serve
- Cool 10 minutes on the tray.
- Serve warm with strong sweet tea.
Notes
- Cold butter for lamination: if the butter softens too much during folding, chill the dough 15 minutes between turns.
- Crushed pepper, not ground: the cracked pepper gives little nuggets of heat that ground pepper lacks. Use a mortar.
- Aged sheep's cheese gives goghal its bite: pecorino romano works well as a substitute for Azeri gurut.
Storage
- Keep 3 days at room temperature in an airtight container.
- Warm briefly in a 150°C oven 5 minutes before serving to revive the flaky layers.
- Freezes 2 months in a sealed bag; thaw at room temperature, then warm as above.
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