Indulge in those sweet and savoury middle eastern flavours with this vegetarian kibbeh recipe.

I love middle eastern food and flavours. I regularly make hummus, flatbreads or kofta. Couscous is a staple in our household. Kibbeh is a wonderful middle eastern bulgur dish. It is traditionally made with meat. After some research I found a couple of vegetarian kibbeh recipes and adapted them to create my pumpkin kibbeh. Now, I'm no expert in traditional middle eastern food and traditionalists among you might say this is not how it's supposed to be. And you are probably right. So let's call this 'kibbeh inspired'.


About the spice mix: I raided my spice cupboard and went crazy. If you don't have all of those readily at hand, cumin and cinnamon or coriander will do. I like the addition of smoked paprika as it gives the dish a hint of smokiness. The best way to find out what you like best, is to try out different variants of the spice mix. It's very important to taste the mix as you go and to adjust seasoning and spices until you achieve the perfect balance of flavours.

If you cannot find pumpkin, I reckon you can also be make this kibbeh with sweet potato. I chose to steam the pumpkin to keep all flavours in but you can also boil it or bake it until very soft and tender.

Baked pumpkin kibbeh

This recipe is for a 100% whole spelt sourdough loaf.

I wrote in another post that a few weeks back I ordered way too much whole spelt flour. Hence I keep my eyes open for whole spelt flour recipes all the time. In fact, I pretty much make everything with spelt flour these days. Pizza crust, for example, or bread rolls.

I found this recipe for whole spelt rolls and the rolls came out fantastic. I've added pumpkin seeds, fennel seeds and ground cumin to my first batch. It inspired me to try the same dough but as a loaf and with a different flavour combination.

Spelt flour has an earthy and nutty flavour which, in my opinion, pairs particularly well with dried fruit and nuts. The addition of fennel seeds just gives this little bit of extra depth to the flavour. In Austria we traditionally spice bread with a mixture of anise, coriander, caraway and fennel seeds.
Blue cheese and thyme-blueberry jam are perfect with a slice of this bread.


When folding in the nuts and figs, make sure they are well distributed but be careful as not to squash the figs too much. You want large-ish bits of fig and nut in the finished bread. As with every bread containing dried fruit it is important to make sure that non of the fruit stick out before baking. Otherwise they will burn and are not very nice to eat. I baked the loaf in a cast iron pan, but a dutch oven works as well. If you want a harder crust, remove the lid a little earlier.


After a friend mentioned to me that he was keeping a baking journal, I recently started to do the same and keep track of kitchen temperature, humidity, rising times and such things for each bake. It's especially useful when working with sourdough as all of these parameters have an influence on the outcome. My notes on how the whole spelt rolls came out greatly helped me to work out rising times and how much spices to add. I can highly recommend this practice.

Whole spelt fig, walnut and fennel seed sourdough loaf

Autumn is here and here is my approach on an autumn salad

Salad with roast butternut squash and brussel sprouts and honey, balsamic and sage dressing

I'm Austrian and - cliché! - strudel is my favourite sweet in the world. It reminds me of my childhood when my granny spend hours teaching me how to make the perfect strudel dough.

Apple and pear strudel

For the dough
150g all purpose flour
15g  (about 1 tbsp) neutral tasting oil e.g. canola or sunflower
1/2 tsp white vinegar e.g. apple cider or white wine
a pinch of salt
80ml lukewarm water
milk or eggwash

For the filling
7 medium sized apples and pears
a handful of mixed berries, I used raspberries and blueberries (optional)
1/2 - 3/4 cup brown sugar
1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
juice of half a lemon
2-3 tbsp butter, some more for the baking tray

Start by preparing the dough. It needs about an hour of rest which gives you enough time to prepare the filling.
Combine flour and salt in a small bowl. Pour the flour on a clean surface and use your finger to make a little well in the middle. That's where the oil goes. Use a spatula or knife and, while slowly adding water, mix the liquids with the flour. Thoroughly knead the dough until it doesn't stick to your hands anymore and has a very smooth texture. It's important to make it really really smooth. Otherwise you won't be able to stretch it out properly. Pick up the dough and throw it hard onto the working surface a couple of times to further smoothen the dough.
Shape into a ball, cover with oil and wrap it in cling film. Allow to rest for about an hour at room temperature. The longer the better.

While the dough is resting, prepare the filling. Peel and cut the apples and pears in small pieces. Mix with sugar and cinnamon and add some lemon juice so that they don't go brown. I usually use a bowl with a lid so I can just close it and shake the whole thing. Or just use your hands.

Grease a baking tray generously with butter or line with a silicone baking mat or baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

To stretch out the dough, it's easiest if you have a working area you can walk around such as a dining table. Cover the surface with a table cloth and lightly dust with flour. The table cloth will help with rolling up the strudel once filled.
Keeping the dough elastic is crucial. I found it helpful to iron the table cloth to smooth it out and warm it up before rolling out the dough on it.
Roll out the dough as much as you can using a rolling pin. Turn it over several times while doing this and sprinkle on more flour as needed. Pick up the dough on one side so it is hanging down over the back of your hands. Slowly move the dough in a circle over the back of your hands. It's weight helps with stretching it out. Once it's getting quite thin, put the dough on the table cloth. Reach underneath the dough and use your fingers to gently pull and stretch it from the middle until the dough becomes paper thin. Be careful not to make holes in it. It's thin enough when you can 'read a paper through it'.
When you can't stretch it anymore with your hands put it down and gently pull around the edges. Cut off the thick bit around the edges using scissors. Make sure you work really fast as the dough dries out very quickly.

Melt the butter and spread it over the dough using the back of your index finger. Spread the apple-pear-sugar-cinnamon mixture over one half. Add a handful of frozen or fresh berries if you like.
Fold the dough over the filling on the sides. Start rolling up the strudel starting at the half with the apples on it. To do that, pick up the cloth, lift it up a bit and the strudel basically starts rolling up.

Transfer the strudel to the buttered baking tray. It's probably not gonna fit on in a straight line so you will have to make a half circle or something with it. Brush the top with milk or egg wash.
Put in the preheated oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve warm with whipped cream or custard.