Kaymakli Ekmek Kadayifi – Turkish Bread Pudding in Syrup
 
 
Ekmek Kadayifi is a traditional and very popular Turkish dessert made with the special (dehydrated) bread soaked in syrup. It is served with kaymak, the thick Turkish clotted cream and ground walnuts or pistachio nuts over it. Clotted cream or mascarpone cheese may be a good substitution, if you can't get kaymak.
Author:
Recipe type: Turkish Desserts
Cuisine: Turkish Cuisine
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • Half of ready, dried ekmek kadayifi (15 cm/ 6” in diameter) – Turkish dehydrated bread for kadayif
  • 1 lt /2 pints / 4 cups hot water
  • For the syrup:
  • 400 gr/ 14 oz./ 2 cups sugar
  • 625 ml/1 pint 4 fl oz./ 2 ½ cup hot water
  • ¼ lemon
  • Crushed walnuts to serve
  • Kaymak, Turkish clotted cream or clotted cream or mascarpone cheese to serve
Instructions
  1. Place the dehydrated ekmek kadayifi, the dried special bread in a large tray.
  2. Pour the how water evenly over the dry bread, making sure it’s all wet. Let the bread absorb the water for 15 minutes.
  3. After 15 minutes, the bread will be almost doubled its size. Get a clean kitchen towel and gently press and pat on the soaked bread to get rid of all the excess water in the soaked bread and in the tray. At the end of this stage, there should be no excess water remained. Take care not to press too hard, so that the bread won’t break.
  4. In a saucepan, stir in the sugar and hot water. Dissolve the sugar and bring to a boil. Then squeeze the ¼ lemon juice and the leave the lemon in the sauce pan.
  5. Turn the heat to low and simmer the syrup over 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then turn the heat off.
  6. Pour the syrup over the ekmek kadayifi evenly and cook for 25 -30 minutes on medium heat. Turn the pan occasionally so that all parts get to cook evenly. Spoon the syrup in the tray over ekmek kadayifi ; all syrup will be soaked at the end.
  7. Remove from the heat and let the ekmek kadayifi rest for 15 minutes. Slice and turn the ekmek kadayifi upside down to a serving dish. You can serve at room temperature or after chilled in the refrigerator.
  8. You can serve the ekmek kadayifi with Turkish thick clotted cream, kaymak and crushed walnuts over the slice. The British clotted cream or mascarpone cheese would also complement ekmek kadayifi well, if you can’t get kaymak.
Notes
You will need a large circle or square tray to make this bread pudding, bear in mind that the bread will almost double its size once soaked in water.
Recipe by Ozlem's Turkish Table at https://ozlemsturkishtable.com/2014/06/kaymakli-ekmek-kadayifi-turkish-bread-pudding-in-syrup/