This Honeycomb Bread is made of a soft dough, filled with cream cheese and drizzled in a delicious honey syrup.
March has been filled with baking and I've enjoyed every minute of it. Every weekend this month I've baked at least one dough recipe, and I'm gonna be honest, they've all been delicious. You could say I've been on a dough-making kick! It will ease up soon, I'm sure.
I'm so happy I get to share another delicious recipe for my Ramadan Series and this one is a delicious Honeycomb Bread recipe.
What is Honeycomb Bread?
Honeycomb Bread is a delicious Middle Eastern appetizer that is made of a soft and luscious dough, filled with cream cheese, and drizzled with a honey syrup. It is typically served in Ramadan at Iftar (breaking of the fast) time and cherished by many Arab countries. Every country has their own version, and this recipe is mine.
To be completely honest, I didn't grow up eating this, and when I made it, my husband had no idea what it was. I had even called my dad up that day to ask if he wanted some and he asked me several times what I was talking about and even asked for an explanation. Both my husband and my dad loved it!
The very first time I ever made Honeycomb Bread was back in 2015 at the start of my baking journey. I distinctly remember making it for my family (my dad does not remember this!) and we gobbled it up so quickly.
Ingredients for Honeycomb Bread
- Flour
- Yeast
- Milk
- Sugar
- Salt
- Melted butter
- Cream Cheese
- Honey
The ingredients are pretty basic for a dough. I highly recommend using milk instead of water because it yields a softer dough.
How to Make Honeycomb Bread
Making the Dough
Making the dough is pretty simple. In a bowl, combine the warm milk, yeast, and teaspoon of sugar and let activate and foam.
Meanwhile, combine the rest of the ingredients together and stir, then add the yeast mixture and knead for 5-10 minutes. Transfer to an oiled bowl and let it rise for an hour.
Shaping the Honeycomb Bread Dough
- Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces. I highly recommend using a scale so that they're all the same size.
- Roll all pieces into a ball and cover with a towel or saran wrap so that they don't dry out.
- Start with one ball at a time and flatten it out into a round circle.
- Add a cube of cream cheese to the center.
- Start pinching opposite corners of the dough to meet each other (like the image below).
- Bring the remaining sides to meet each other and pinch for all sides to meet and merge together.
- Pinch and then start to flatten it out to the bottom of the ball, and then roll the ball into the palm of your hand so that the seem is flat. You want to do this to avoid any cream cheese leaking out of the Honeycomb Bread while baking.
Baking the Honeycomb Bread
Once the balls are prepped, place them all in the prepared 9 in. pan, cover, and let rise.
While rising, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Once risen, brush with an egg wash or milk, then drizzle with sesame or nigella seeds and bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.
Making the Honey Syrup
Add water and honey to a pot, stir and bring to a boil, then set aside to cool just a little.
When the Honeycomb Bread is done baking, remove it from the oven and pour the syrup on top immediately.
If you try this recipe, let me know your thoughts by leaving me a review below!
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📖 Recipe
Honeycomb Bread
Ingredients
Yeast Mixture
- ⅔ cup warm milk 110° F.
- 1 package active dry yeast (7g, or 2 ¼ tsp)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Dough
- 2¼ cup (270g) all purpose flour see notes
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoon butter melted
Filling
- 6-8 oz. cream cheese cubed into 16 pieces
Topping
- 1 egg or tablespoon milk
- Sesame or nigella seeds
Honey Syrup
- ⅓ cup honey
- 2 tablespoon water
Instructions
For the Dough
- In a bowl, add warm milk and sugar and stir until combined, then sprinkle the package of yeast on top and set aside to for 5-10 minutes for the yeast to activate and foam.
- While yeast activates, combine flour, brown sugar, salt, and melted butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and stir until they're all combined.
- Add the yeast mixture to the dough ingredients and using a hook attachment knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to an oiled bowl and cover and let rise for an hour.
- Prepare a 9in round pan and brush with melted butter and set aside.
- Once dough is ready, divide equally into 16 round balls.
- Flatten each round ball into a small circle and add a cream cheese cube to the center and close the dough from all sides into each other and form a ball. Roll the ball into your hands and smooth it out (see post for images).
- Place all 16 pieces in the prepared pan, starting with the center ball and moving out into the shape that resembles a honeycomb. Cover the pan and let rise for 45 minutes to an hour until the balls have puffed up.
- Preheat the oven to 375° F.
- Once the Honeycomb bread is done rising, brush with egg wash or milk, then sprinkle with sesame or nigella seeds. Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.
Honey Syrup
- While the Honeycomb Bread bakes, prepare the syrup by bringing honey and water to a boil, then setting it aside.
- Once the Honeycomb Bread is done baking, remove from oven and immediately pour the honey syrup all over.
- Enjoy warm
Notes
- It is highly recommended to weigh ingredients. If you choose to use cup measurements for flour, properly measure your flour:
- Fluff the flour with a spoon
- spoon flour into a measuring cup, one spoon at a time
- scrape with a butter knife to level
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