A round, slightly sweet leavened festival bread from the Tigray and Eritrean highlands, enriched with oil and sugar and scented with cardamom, nigella seeds, and raisins. The top is scored in a decorative spoked-wheel pattern (a cross among Tigrinya communities) before baking, making it ideal to pull apart and share.
Traced to the early Christian communities of the Kingdom of Aksum, anbasha (himbasha/hambasha) is a Tigray-Eritrean celebration bread of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox tradition, baked for Christmas, weddings, and a first-birthday blessing in which the loaf is laid on the child's back and broken in two for strength and prosperity. It is sometimes served as a festive bread at the Oromo Irreecha thanksgiving as well, though anbasha's core lineage is Tigrinya rather than Oromo.
A round loaf with a deep-golden, slightly firm crust and a soft, springy crumb that tears along the scored spokes. Cardamom warmth leads, nigella seeds add a faint oniony bitterness, and raisins give pockets of sweetness — slightly sweet rather than fiery. Usually eaten on its own or with tea or coffee.
An enriched dough leavened with yeast and sweetened with sugar and oil, unlike Ethiopia's lean savory breads; the fat and sugar keep the crumb soft and moist while cardamom, nigella, and raisins are worked in during the knead. A long proof lets the yeast build an open, springy structure. The spoked-wheel scoring both marks the loaf and divides it into wedges for sharing, the radial pattern long read as a symbol of the sun and prosperity.
Variations
The Eritrean version leans sweeter and heavier on raisins; Tigrinya households score a cross for religious holidays. Common additions include orange or lemon zest, ginger, black sesame, and cinnamon, while plain versions also exist.
On the Palate
Where Anbasha sits in the Ethiopian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
4 steps · 1 hour active + 1 hour 30 min waiting
- 110 min
Mix 500 g flour + 7 g yeast + 60 g niter kibbeh + 250 ml warm milk + 1 tsp fenugreek + 1 tsp cardamom + 1 tsp cumin + 5 g salt + 1 egg.
- 270 min
Knead 10 min; first rise 1 hr.
Watch outKnead a full ten minutes until the enriched dough turns smooth and elastic — that gluten is what gives the loaf its soft, springy crumb.
- 330 min
Shape into round loaf in greased pan; score decorative cross on top; second proof 30 min.
- 445 min
Bake 200 °C 35 min until deep golden; cool 10 min before slicing.
Watch outBake to a deep golden crust — that color tells you the sweet, oil-rich crumb inside is set through.
Archive tool suggestions — not reviewed
These legacy suggestions have not been evidence-reviewed and are not presented as required tools.
