Thursday, February 26, 2009

Score!

Most successful outing downtown today at breakfast time! Cheese bread!!! Delicious. Just. Delicious.

I got a car and driver, first thing, and said, "this is where I want to go - but first to Farm Five in Doha to get cheese bread." When we arrived there was quite a little stack of bread ready and waiting and only a few men milling about either as customers or conversing. [By the time we were ready to leave there was quite a little line forming. We got there before the rush.] I asked if it would be alright if I took some pictures and the three men [there is a fourth that works out back that I had never seen until today] were all most pleasant, accommodating and willing to let me snap away. Even allowed me to move in behind their counter to get a better photo of the inside of the oven. How sweet is that!

Mr. Customer Relations on the left, Mr. Bread Baking Oven Expert in the center, and the man who controls the magically tasty ingredients - Mr. Baker, on the right. Thank you Gentlemen, for allowing me to take photographs.

So it was a score. Sco
re for the pictures so that I can share them with y'all. And a score for me, because I got cheese bread. [Trust me on this one - I am getting the better deal, here...] In return for me taking pictures all that was requested was that I please e-mail the photos to one of them. I am happy to oblige. The photos were e-mailed to the gentleman who requested them before I started this post. I will also be making color copies and delivering them in the next week or so - at the earliest possible opportunity I have to get downtown to indulge in more cheese bread. [Saturday!] The bread, alone, can't possibly be that fattening. But, if you could see the amount of cheese that goes into one of the "loaves" then it would be pretty easy to figure out how it is that I've managed to put thirty pounds onto my frame that I did NOT have when we arrived years ago.

Cheese bread is not the only option. There is bread with za'atar and plain bread and they have a sauce the will serve with the bread if you ask for it. I have had the za'atar bread. Yes. It is tasty. Much, much less caloric and much, much less fattening. Thanks, anyway, if I'm going to go there, I'm having the cheese bread. Eat it while it is hot! [If you have the man slice it and bag it for you, to carry home, I guarantee you that you will NOT be able to resist the aroma that fills your vehicle, and you'll start by just pulling off a little bite, and then another, and then a couple of more, and which point you may as well just eat the whole quarter-piece. As filling as it is, it is also very, very easy to eat a second quarter-piece. I know I said yesterday that one piece could feed a family of four. I lied. It will only feed a family of two. The cheese bread goes great with orange juice!]

The oven where the baking yumminess takes place. [Top photo - oven opened; bottom photo - oven closed.]

See that little hunk of dough back there on the counter? It is FILLED with cheese. Just filled with it. And, it's mine.

The baker preparing my order of bread. Cheese for me, please. And, my driver would like a piece of za'atar bread.

The bread on what looks like a nylon foam-covered cushion, about to be tossed into the oven.

In the oven. Look closely at the opening. You can see a loaf of bread - stuck to the wall of the oven - baking. There were probably four or five pieces in the oven when I took this picture - I'm glad that at least one of them can be seen - my photography skills do not do this process any justice. Click the photo to enlarge it. You can just barely see another loaf baking directly underneath...

Bread's done!

This bakery is located in Doha, in the Farm Five shopping center. Enter as though you were going to Farm Five - but don't park in the front - continue through the parking lot like you were going to go around back - past Starbucks - keep going, around the corner. There is what looks like a little "strip mall" area of shops - with plenty of parking. There is a barber shop there, and a cleaners, a couple of other shops and "the cheese bread shop." The bakery is two stores down to the left of the barber shop if you were facing that direction. You'll see it. There will be men waiting in line for their daily bread fix... And one blonde-haired, crazy American woman with her camera!

27 comments:

  1. Here's my FAX number, send me one! No, TWO!

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  2. YUM! about covers it, Tanya. No. Wait. It is more a "nom, nom, nom" because you can say that while you're chewing. I know. I know. Not polite to talk with your mouth full...

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  3. I would share this delicious delight with everyone if I could, Vermindust! It will be some of these things that I will especially miss, when we finally leave here.

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  4. That's good that they let you take pictures. I have been researching taking pictures in Saudi Arabia and I keep finding stories where people's cameras are taken away by the matawa. Your pictures are great and the bakers seem to be posing enthusiastically. So it seems as though you can take pictures of people if they give permission.

    What nationality are the bakers? Are they Saudis or are they from some other country?

    Does this bakery also make the puffy pita breads?

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  5. You just have to be careful about taking pictures, Netlander. A couple of years ago - no picture taking was allowed - but then those new-fangled fancy camera phones were all the rage [look at the trouble they are causing!] and taking pictures was suddenly okay. If you ask - very few would say no to someone taking a picture. There are certain subjects totally off limits - women, mostly. You do NOT want to be snapping photos of women, here. I am not sure what nationality these men are - but they are not Saudis. And if there is puffy pita bread, I've not seen it there.

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  6. OMG Sabra, that's what I'm talking about. This, "A day in the life", series is a great look into your world.

    Also, yesterday's post about domestic help was hystarical. No wonder so many of them are abused, LOL.

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  7. Thanks, Janice! [I got some other pretty good photos today, I'll post them next week. Not sure if I'm done with them or if I need more.]

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  8. Tamis with honey and sesame seeds:-)
    The BEST and a Sunday mornin (shopping day)staple.

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  9. Wow! My mouth is watering! Tell your bakers the next time I'm passing through their hood, I'm there!

    Great pics and great reporting, Miss Sabra. It's so great to have a little window into your world. Looking forward to your next report.

    Thank you!

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  10. Will have to try it, Linda. May continue to like the cheese bread best, but I am open to trying new things.

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  11. Something tells me that they are not going to appreciate increased business, DL. They are already pretty busy. Can you even imagine working at this little shop in all but our three winter months? The heat here is already bad enough. It has got to be deadly in their bakery. Thanks for the generous compliments, DL.

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  12. Only comment I have is that that place has to be one of the cleanest Ive ever seen...by the pic standards anyhow. Thats always a good thing.

    Always smells good around those places....uhmmmmm!!!

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  13. Thank you for sharing this. That bread looked yummy.

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  14. Funny, Coolred, it is almost as though someone was there to tidy up the place before I got there. Perhaps, because I've been there at much odder times than first thing in the morning, I'm seeing what happens in the "middle" as opposed to the end of the day when all is straightened back up, and then at the beginning of the day when they start fresh. If the smell alone of this little bakery isn't enough to lure you to check it out - something is very, very wrong with your olfactory sense!

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  15. The looks of the fresh bread cannot even compare to the taste, Findalis. It is really something that has to be experienced. And - until just this moment - I hadn't even considered just how fabulous a piece of cheese bread would be with a good bottle of fermented grape drink. Oh my gosh. That would be a little slice of pure paradise.

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  16. That looks really good - no wonder you're addicted!

    Out of curiosity, how long have you lived there now? How much longer do you expect to stay?

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  17. I clicked on the oven photo to see the bread and was amazed at your camera quality. What kind of camera did you use to get the clear, crisp shots?

    My first digital was a Sony CyberShot 7.2. It was good starter camera to learn about digital photography.

    I've always had 35mm Olympus cameras. 2 years ago I purchased an Olympus Evolt E-510. It's the best camera I've ever owned.

    And I have a Nikon Coolpix L18 that I carry with me all the time because you never know when it'll come in handy.

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  18. Hi Sabra,

    Thanks for sharing a little 'slice' of of life. (Pardon the pun.)

    This may be a sore subject; but, I can't resist. The blue tiles on top of the oven appear to be very similar to the ones used by Rev for your, so called, pool steps.

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  19. We've been here for a while Shannon... If we stay here until DH is 50 [four more years], I will have spent more than ONE-FIFTH of my life here. Who, knows, though. Anything can happen. We could be home sooner. If it is longer than that I just cannot think about it, today. [One day at a time, here. That's the only way I can do it.] Another 20-something pounds on my frame if we leave in four years, and if I continue to eat cheese bread I don't see that being a difficult "goal." [Ha! I better not!!!]

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  20. It is the only digital camera we've ever owned, Janice. I was never able to get the 35mm one down... It is a Sony CyberShot 3.2 [and it is going on eight years old]. It is purely by accident / coincidence that some of my shots come out as good as they do. I am so "technically" challenged, I'm lucky I can operate the camera and then download and post pictures.

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  21. Ya, know, StDiesel, that occurred to me after I posted the pictures. The tile on the oven looks like our new smooth as glass tile for the "so called pool steps" that I am going to slip and fall and hurt myself [if not something worse!] on. [I almost posted a comment to that effect, as well - about it being the same blue tile. I think it is.] And, at this point, Rev IS a sore subject. Is the light in, as promised TWICE last week? Heck no. Is there water in the pool? Not a drop. Is it the end of the month? He's got one day. I will delay his payment and when he asks for it will simply say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

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  22. OK, it's deal time, Sabra. You send me some of that cheese bread and I will send you the best home made corn bread made from a cast iron skillet.

    I've been doing a lot of baking lately, and this new idea of mine works like a charm.

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  23. Steve, if I could, I would. You cannot imagine how good the stuff is - and I would happily share with everyone if it was possible.

    Oh, and the "deal," I'd do that too. Cornbread is one of DH's favorites and sadly, I've never mastered it for him.

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  24. Ahaa finally! Now that i know where i can get this bread.... expect not to find any cheese bread for the next 2 weeks at least (all mine). Nice going sabra. Im gonna pay them a visit soon. The men working there seem to be afghani if im not mistaken.

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  25. You will not be sorry that you visited, Hermit. Expect an immediate addiction. [I would have guessed Mr. Customer Relations to from Lebanon. I could be - and probably am - very wrong about that, though.] Let me know what you think after you try it!

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  26. Will do ma'am

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