Hello friends! Hope you’re all hanging on during the roller coaster of spring. There’s the blissful sunshine and warmth, the sharp icy rains, and everything in between. We’ll get there! But enough of that. Let’s move on from the forecast. It may be the most superficial all-encompassing force that connects us, but it sure does get dull. In other news, I’m really digging this and this and getting back on track with goals by spring cleaning my time, space, and mind. Very millennial, but very much needed. Anyone else view the springtime as the perfect time to collect yourself and get your butt in gear?

Let’s move on to these shakshukas. Because they’re so darn adorable and delicious too. Warmer weather not only brings its own variety of water, but it basically has its own brunching culture as well. Long, lazy days spent sucking up the sun with friends, mimosas, and eggs. I think these shakshukas are reason enough to skip the expensive price tag and long lines on Sundays to come.

Shakshuka is generally a tomato-based sauce that, near the end of cooking, gets an egg plopped into it to poach the egg in the sauce itself. It’s full of flavors like cumin, onion, and generally a mild green herb like cilantro or parsley. Kind of similar to this, but less soupy.

Anyway, these are special shakshukas, because we do the same thing but in personal pillows of dough that bake up around the tomato sauce into the most perfect vessel. We add in feta, red pepper flakes, and, of course, avocado because what is a trendy-ish brunch without avocado?

These personal pillows of bread are simple in ingredient listing. It’s a basic dough of flour, salt, water, and yeast. Yeast is a dear frenemy of mine because of its ability to do amazing things, but tendency to sometimes stubbornly refuse to do what I want it to do. But here, we’ve got it all figured out.

Last year I made these espresso cinnamon rolls to celebrate a blog anniversary, but I think I summed up yeast best thus far in that post.

We’ve visited yeast before in terms of steps of yeast utilization and “oven spring” for full activation—mostly in terms of sweet, fatty doughs such as Hawaiian rolls, donuts, and another extra-swirly chocolate roll. However, to sum up yeast’s role, we’ve got two important rising steps followed by the final rapid rise in the oven.

A first proof is when you give yeast time to jumpstart in the dough. It begins to eat those sugars and produce carbon dioxide and alcohol. The carbon dioxide creates a bunch of air pockets in the dough which the gluten network traps—AKA why you begin to see leavening in your dough balls when left to rest. That also helps to develop the gluten network by stretching it and so on. Secondarily, the alcohol helps to develop those “yeasty” flavors which you definitely start to notice if you’ve ever had over-proofed dough.

Anyway, we knock some of that carbon dioxide out and redistribute the nutrients in the dough a bit after the first proof once we begin to play with it—such as when we roll it out. Then once we have shaped the rolls, we set it aside for a second rise. That second rise picks up where we left off and the yeast gets to work on rising the dough in its final shape—no disruptions this time. Finally, the oven gives yeast its final productive bout before killing it off (Remember? Oven spring?). Voila! Breakfast for all!

Now that you’re all hyped up on the magic, sorry, science, of yeast, let’s get to it! Also, I highly recommend you sip on this bellini when you surely whip up these shakshukas for you and your pals. Cheers!

Ps: this no-knead bread features said-yeast as well as trendy brunch toppings for toast 5-ways. Oh and a rosé pick. Brunch = handled.

Individual Breakfast Shakshukas

Adapted from Bread Toast Crumbs

Makes 6

Print Recipe

For the Dough

2 cups (255 g) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon instant yeast

1 cup warm water

For the Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ cup diced red onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

Pinch kosher salt

Pinch crushed red pepper flakes

½ teaspoon cumin

¼ teaspoon oregano

¼ teaspoon sumac (optional)

6 roma tomatoes, skins removed and diced or 1 ½ cups diced tomatoes, canned

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

For Assembly

All-purpose flour, for countertop

6 teaspoons olive oil

6 teaspoons sesame seeds

6 eggs

For Serving

Avocado

Feta cheese

Red pepper flakes

Flaky salt

Cilantro

1. Make the dough. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and instant yeast. Add the water. Using a rubber spatula, mix until the liquid is absorbed, and ingredients form a sticky dough ball. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and set aside in a warm spot to rise for about 1 ½ – 2 hours, until the dough has nearly doubled in bulk. I like to set mine in a turned-off oven with the oven light switched on.
2. Meanwhile, make the sauce. In a medium pan, heat the oil over medium heat. When it begins to shimmer, add the red onion and sauté until it begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute more. Sprinkle with the salt, pepper flakes, cumin, oregano, and sumac. Stir to coat. Add the tomatoes, stir again, cover the pan, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the tomatoes are breaking down. Uncover the pan and cook for 5-10 minutes more, until the juices have evaporated, and the sauce has thickened. Stir in the cilantro. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt or pepper flakes as needed. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
3. Assemble the shakshukas. Position two racks in the upper and lower thirds of your oven and preheat it to 350° Line two sheet pans with parchment paper. Spread a handful of flour over a clean surface on your counter. Make three 1-teaspoon oil puddles on each sheet pan, evenly spacing them. Sprinkle ½ teaspoon of sesame seeds into each puddle.
4. Using two forks, deflate the dough by releasing it from the sides of the bowl and pulling it toward the center. Rotate the bowl quarter turns as you deflate, turning the mass into a rough ball.
5. Using your two forks and working from the center out, separate the dough into two equal pieces. Use the forks to lift one half of the dough onto your prepared clean surface. Use a bench scraper or knife to cut the dough half into three equal pieces. With floured hands, roll each portion into a ball, using the pinkie-edges of your hands to pinch the dough underneath each ball. Use flour as needed. Place each directly on top of one prepared puddle of oil and sesame seeds. Roll to coat. Repeat with the remaining dough on the second sheet pan. Let the dough sit without touching it for 20 minutes.
6. With oiled hands and working from the center out, gently stretch each dough ball into a 6- to 7-inch round. As soon as the dough begins resisting, stop stretching it, let it rest for 5 minutes, move onto another dough ball, then stretch again.
7. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of sauce over each round of dough, leaving a ½-inch border, pressing down lightly in the center to create a slight cup. Brush the edges of the dough with water and sprinkle with the remaining sesame seeds.
8. Transfer the sheet pans to the oven and bake for 15 minutes, switching and rotating the sheet pans halfway through. Remove the pans from the oven and crack an egg into the center of each round. I find that I have the most control when I crack the egg into a shallow dish and pour the egg into the center. If your round is too shallow and the egg runs out over the edge, gently nudge the yolk back to the center of the round. Much of the white should follow, but don’t worry too much if some of it runs onto the parchment sheet. Return the pans to the oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes more, until the egg whites are just set and the yolk is slightly runny. Serve immediately with fresh cilantro, feta cheese, avocado, and a sprinkling of flaky salt and red pepper.