Bint al sahn

Name: Bint al sahn
Prep time: 50 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 2 h 35 min
Ingredients: 450 g all-purpose flour; 1 dried yeast; 1 tbsp sugar; ¾ tsp salt; 3 eggs; 150 ml milk, lukewarm; 150 g ghee, melted; 150 g honey; 1 tsp nigella seeds

Contains egg (no meat or fish)

بنت الصحن · bint al-sahn

Dozens of paper-thin layers of rich yeasted dough brushed with ghee, baked into a tall golden round and soaked with honey and nigella seeds. Yemen's celebratory 'daughter of the plate'.

Bint al sahn is a Yemeni pastry, ready in about 2 hours 35 minutes and made with all-purpose flour, ghee and honey. It serves 8 and is rated advanced to cook.

Start cooking

No licensed photograph of this dish yet.

Prep: 50 min
Cook: 35 min
Rest: 1 h 10 min
Total: 2 h 35 min
Serves: 8
Level: Advanced
Calories: 474

Ingredients

8 servings

450 g All-purpose flour (opens in a new tab)Contains wheat, gluten
1 (7 g) Dried yeast (opens in a new tab)One 7 g sachet.
1 tbsp (13 g) Sugar (opens in a new tab)
¾ tsp (4.5 g) Salt (opens in a new tab)
3 (150 g) Eggs (opens in a new tab)Contains eggs
150 ml Milk (opens in a new tab), lukewarmContains milk
150 g Ghee (opens in a new tab), meltedSwap: ButterContains milk
150 g Honey (opens in a new tab)
1 tsp (2.5 g) Nigella seeds (opens in a new tab)Habbat al-baraka; black sesame seeds are a common stand-in.

Equipment

Method

1
Step 1
Mix the flour, yeast, sugar (opens in a new tab) and salt. Add the eggs (opens in a new tab), milk (opens in a new tab) and 2 tbsp of the ghee (opens in a new tab) and knead into a soft, smooth dough. Cover and leave until doubled.
- 10 min
- Stand mixer (opens in a new tab)
How it looks · Photo: Klaus Nielsen on Pexels
2
Step 2
Divide into 12 balls. Roll each as thinly as you can (almost see-through), brush generously with ghee (opens in a new tab) and stack the sheets in a greased 23 cm tin, 6 in each of two stacks, or all in one tall stack.
3
Step 3
Brush the top with ghee (opens in a new tab), scatter with nigella seeds (opens in a new tab) and leave to rise for 10 minutes while the oven (opens in a new tab) heats.
- 2 min
- 180°C
How it looks · Photo: Klaus Nielsen on Pexels
4
Step 4
Bake until deep golden and puffed. While hot, pour over the warmed honey (opens in a new tab) so it seeps between the layers.
- 35 min
- 180°C
- Oven (opens in a new tab)

About this dish

Origin: Yemen · Well documentedAlso popular in Saudi ArabiaMore food from Yemen
Dish: Dessert · Breakfast · Snack · Pastries · Desserts
Cooking method: Oven-baked
Taste: sweet, buttery, rich
Diet: Vegetarian (lacto-ovo) · No nut ingredients
All labels
Vegetarian (lacto-ovo) · Eggetarian · Pescatarian · Flexitarian-friendly · No nut ingredients · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free
Worked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for: Festive & celebration
Cook more with: All-purpose flour · Ghee · Honey · Dried yeast · Sugar · Egg
Techniques: Baking · Kneading · Fermentation

Allergens

Contains: Milkfrom milk, ghee
Contains: Eggsfrom egg
Contains: Wheatfrom all-purpose flour
Contains: Glutenfrom all-purpose flour

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

474 kcal per serving

Estimated

1 serving ≈ 135 g · recipe makes 8

Where the energy comes from

Protein 8%
Carbohydrate 51%
Fat 41%

Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
Nutrient	Per serving	Per 100 g*
Energy	474 kcal	351 kcal
Protein	9.2 g	6.9 g
Carbohydrate	61.4 g	45.5 g
Net carbohydrate	59.6 g	44.2 g
Sugars	18.2 g	13.5 g
Added sugars	16.9 g	12.6 g
Fibre	1.8 g	1.3 g
Fat	21.7 g	16.1 g
Saturated fat	12.7 g	9.4 g
Trans fat	—	—
Cholesterol	120 mg	89 mg
Sodium	256 mg	190 mg
Salt equivalent	0.6 g	0.5 g

Vitamins & minerals per serving

Potassium: 131 mg
Calcium: 43 mg
Iron: 3 mg
Magnesium: 17 mg
Vitamin A (RAE): 196 µg
Vitamin C: 0 mg
Vitamin D: 0.6 µg
Vitamin B12: 0.3 µg
Folate (DFE): 194 µg

How these numbers were made

Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
*Per 100 g of combined raw ingredients; the cooked dish may weigh more or less.
Not counted (tiny amounts or “to taste”): nigella seeds.
“—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

Some cooks cut a cross through the stack before baking so the layers fan open.

Common mistakes

Skimping on ghee between the sheets — the layers fuse into a dense bread instead of flaking apart.

Serve with

Serve warm, pulled apart by hand, with extra honey and Yemeni spiced tea or qishr.

Storage

Best on the day; keeps 2 days covered.

Reheating

Warm briefly in a low oven.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added 27 Oct 2026 · Updated 8 Nov 2026

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Compare with

Grouped by each ingredient’s role in the dish. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

All-purpose flour450 g
Egg3 piece · 150 g
Milk, lukewarm150 ml · 155 g
Ghee, melted150 g

Used in steps 1, 2, 3

Baker’s notes

Customise in Bread & Bakery

Timeline and readiness cues

Mix and knead · about 50 min
Weigh everything. Knead until smooth and elastic: a small piece stretches thin enough to see light through (the windowpane test).
First rise (bulk) · about 1 h
About doubled, domed, jiggly, with bubbles on the sides. A floured finger poked in leaves a dent that fills slowly.
Final proof · about 10 min
Poke test: the dent springs back slowly and only partly. Springs back fast = needs longer; doesn't spring back = over-proofed, bake now.
Bake · about 35 min at 180 °C
Deep golden; bread sounds hollow when tapped underneath, or reads 93–96 °C inside (enriched breads 88–90 °C).
Start to finish: about 2 h 35 min. Times are a guide — warmth changes everything; follow the cues.

The dough

The dough in baker's percentages. Flour = 100%.
Ingredient	Role	Weight	Baker’s %
All-purpose flour	Flour	450 g	100%
Milk	Other liquid	155 g	34.3%
Egg	Egg	150 g	33.3%
Ghee	Fat	150 g	33.3%
Sugar	Sugar	13 g	2.8%
Dried yeast	Yeast	7 g	1.6%
Salt	Salt	5 g	1%

Total flour: 450 g
Hydration: —
With milk, eggs…: 54.9%
Wholegrain: 0%

Hydration = water ÷ flour × 100. Milk is about 87% water and eggs about 75%, so they’re shown separately as “with milk, eggs…”.

Salt 1% — on the low side (1.8–2.2% is typical for bread).
Fat 33.3% — a rich, tender dough.

If something goes wrong

Pale crust
Likely causes
- Oven too cool
- Too little sugar or no milk/egg for browning
- Over-fermented (yeast ate the sugars)
What to do
- Check the oven with a thermometer
- Brush with egg wash or milk
- Shorten the fermentation
Burnt bottom
Likely causes
- Tray too close to the heat
- Dark tray absorbs more heat
- Too much sugar in the dough
What to do
- Bake on the middle shelf
- Double up trays or use a light-coloured one
- Lower the temperature 10–15 °C and bake a little longer
Dough didn't rise
Likely causes
- Dead yeast (expired or killed by hot liquid)
- Kitchen too cold
- Salt in direct contact with fresh yeast
- Starter not active
What to do
- Liquid should be lukewarm (no hotter than 40 °C)
- Proof somewhere warm (an oven with just the light on)
- Mix the salt into the flour, not onto the yeast
- Feed the starter until it doubles in 4–8 hours
Over-proofed (sour smell, collapses when scored)
Likely causes
- Too warm
- Too much yeast
- Left too long
What to do
- Knock back, reshape and proof again briefly (yeast doughs)
- Use less yeast or a cooler proof
- Set a timer and check early with the poke test

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

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