Griwech | Algerian Pastry For Daring Cooks

~ Tandy

The reason I joined the Daring challenges was so that I could learn more about different types of everything. I like to research what we are meant to be making, and find an unusual or different recipe to the one we are presented with in the challenge. This is so that the world is not inundated with the same recipe from hundreds of people, all in one day. While researching griwech I discovered that these sweet treats form part of a group of pastries including baklava. Griwech are deep fried, and it is the shape that gives them their name. One site I found informed the reader to shape the griwech by watching someone do it in front of you! Well, I don’t have any Algerian friends living close to me and in South Africa, our deep fried pastry treats are koeksisters. But, I gather you can make any shape and as long as the pastry is fried, and then soaked in honey, they can be called griwech. I might be wrong about this, so please if someone knows better, feel free to correct me. I chose to use a cookie cutter to make my griwech shapes as this was the easiest option for me. These sweet treats were enjoyed by everyone who tried them.

Griwech
Print Recipe
5 from 3 votes

Griwech | Algerian Pastry

Recipe Category: Baking
All Rights Reserved: an original recipe from Lavender and Lime

Ingredients

for the pastry

  • 15 mls orange flower water
  • 3 strands saffron
  • 500 g flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 1.25 mls fine salt
  • 5 mls baking powder
  • 25 g sesame seeds, finely ground
  • 125 g butter, melted
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 60 mls cold water

for frying

  • 500 mls canola oil

for soaking

  • 280 g honey
  • 5 mls orange flower water

Method

for the pastry

  • Place the orange flower water and saffron into a small container and set aside
  • Place the flour,salt, baking powder and ground sesame seeds into a food processor
  • Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
  • Add the egg, orange flower water and water
  • Mix until a dough forms
  • Turn out onto a lightly floured surface
  • Knead lightly into a ball and divide into 4
  • Roll out each portion until nice and thin
  • Cut out shapes - traditionally you cut a rectangle, and then 3 slits into the rectangle and shape them, but I used a cookie cutter

for frying

  • Place the oil into a heavy bottomed sauce pan
  • Heat to 150° Celsius on a medium to high temperature
  • Fry the pastry in batches for 2 minutes, turning them over half way through
  • Remove from the oil and dry on paper towel

for soaking

  • Place the honey and orange flower water into a small sauce pan
  • Heat over a low temperature
  • Soak the pastry in batches in the honey
  • Remove and allow to drip dry on a wire rack
  • Remove from the rack before cold

Notes

To grind your sesame seeds, place them into a clean spice grinder. If you don't have a thermometer to measure the temperature of the oil drop a small ball of the dough into the oil. If bubbles form around it, the oil is hot enough.

Click on the links for conversions and notes.

Blog checking lines: For the July daring cooks challenge, Kouky from “Cuisine à 4 mains“, challenged us to make Griwech, a popular Algerian dessert that is a full flavoured delicacy that has both a melt-in-the-mouth and a crispy texture

What I blogged July 14:

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