Made with Chef Mazen, whose family is known for Al Baba Sweets in Lebanon—this is how real knafeh is made, no mozzarella in sight. Just akkawi cheese, semolina, and the kind of method passed down for generations.
IngredientsPastry base:
• 500g kataifi pastry
• 100g melted ghee
• 75g atir (sugar syrup)
• 150g water
Cheese filling:
• 1.5kg akkawi cheese, shredded
• 40g ghee or butter
• 30g fine semolina
• 350g milk
• 45g cornflour
• 10g orange blossom water
Method (shortened)Start by soaking the shredded akkawi cheese in water for a few hours, changing the water a couple of times to remove the salt. Drain and set aside 300g.In a saucepan, cook the ghee, semolina, milk, cornflour, and orange blossom until thick and smooth. In another saucepan, melt the remaining 1.2kg cheese with a bit of water. Drain, then combine with the semolina mix. Spread into a tray and refrigerate to set. Also set aside those 300 grams in fridge. Slice it before you start cooking the pastry.
Loosen the kataifi strands, then pour over combined melted ghee and atir. Mix well by hand. Pass through a meat mincer once, then heat gently over the stove—just enough to soften. Add the water, mix through, then mince twice more. Sieve, then sieve again into a greased 39–40cm tray and press gently but firmly. Reserve a small handful of farkeh pastry for later.
Place the tray on the stove and begin rotating slowly over low to medium heat for about 20 minutes. Once pinkish underneath, layer the sliced cheese over the base, avoiding the edges. Add the reserved 300g of shredded cheese on top. Keep rotating the tray for another 30 minutes or until deep golden. Check underneath with a flat knife.
Once cooked, place a larger tray on top and let it rest for 5–10 minutes. Then gently spread the soft cheese to the edges, sprinkle the reserved farkeh on top, and flip. Pour over thick attir syrup and serve warm.
Ever wondered how chefs make the famous kafi? Kafi was chef mazin. His family known for their sweets in Lebanon and if your cheese stretches more than this traditional kafi does not use mozzarella. So let’s make it with mazin. Take the kafi and pull it apart by hand. This is key to getting an even texture. Pour in melted ghee combined with utter and it goes through a meat mincer. This is now fatic lickafi. It goes over the stove gently, just enough to take the rawness out, but not to toast it. Next, water goes in and you’re looking for this texture. Needs to come together and then crumble. What you’re seeing now is called Faraknafi. It’s now passed through the mincer two times until the strands are really fine and easy to work with. You grease the tray with ghee. Faracnafi has already been sieved once and now it’s sd again directly into the tray for an even layer. Gently smooth it out to level. Then cover with a sheet of plastic and press gently. Now it’s cooked over the stove and the tray is rotated slowly by hand. Chef Mazin actually has a setup made just for Kafi, but you can do this at home too. The cheese, it’s akawi shredded and mixed with a semolina binder to help it set. Full details are in the caption. Don’t take it to the edges yet. We’ll spread it by hand once it softens. Once done, turn the heat off and place a bigger tray on top and rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Smooth out the cheese to the edges and then add a handful of the fury on top and flip. Drench with Now that’s proper.
Dining and Cooking