Eish shamsi

Eish shamsi

A rural breakfast accompanied by eish baladi and eish shamsi
Type	Sourdough
Place of origin	Egypt
Region or state	Upper Egypt

Eish shamsi (Egyptian Arabic: عيش شمسي) or Al-Shamsi, is a thick sourdough bread eaten in Egypt made with wheat flour.^[1] In Upper Egypt it replaces eish baladi as the local staple,^[2] although the latter is common as well. The name, which translates to "sun bread", is thought to derive from the practice of letting the dough rise in the sun.^[2] The bread is traditionally baked at home in domed clay ovens with openings at the top, although this tradition is fading with pre-made bread becoming increasingly common.^[1]

Shape

The shape of the bread is determined by the pattern of the scoring, which is done with a needle.^[1] The common way to do it is making slits all around the top-edge for a round bread.^[1] Another common way to do it is making crescent-shaped slits in the dough which results in a triangle-shaped bread.^[1] Christians tend to score the dough in a way that achieves a rough cross-shape.^[1] These bread shapes resemble those on depictions of bread offerings on tomb paintings dating back to ancient Egypt.^[1] Although it is uncommon in Lower Egypt, some bakeries in Cairo make it especially for their Upper Egyptian clientele.^[2]

See also

• Egyptian cuisine
• Sourdough

References