Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Yemarina Yewotet Dabo (Honey and Milk Bread)
A tender, lightly sweet loaf enriched with honey, milk and warm spices, Ethiopia's way of making the most of the honey it is famous for.
Ethiopian · medium · serves 8
prep 30 min · cook 40 min
~375 cal · 8g protein · 67g carbs · 8g fat · 2g fiber · 19g sugars · 5g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Yemar means honey and yewotet means milk in Amharic, and yemarina yewotet dabo is the soft, spiced honey loaf those two words promise. Ethiopia produces more honey than any country in Africa, and this bread is one of the ways households turn that abundance into something for the table, a gently sweet dabo scented with coriander, cinnamon, ginger and clove.
The traditional loaf is large and often baked for holidays and special occasions, sometimes in the leaves of the enset, or false banana, which keep the crust soft and lend a faint smoky note. Some cooks trace its milk and honey richness to the Beta Israel community, whose history in the highlands runs back millennia, which is why it is sometimes called Ethiopian challah.
Cut into thick slices once it has cooled, it is eaten with a little butter and honey and a cup of buna, the coffee that ends almost every Ethiopian gathering. It keeps well, and any that goes slightly stale is wonderful toasted or fried the next morning.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup honey
1 egg
1 cup warm whole milk
4 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
Instructions
1
Stir the yeast into 1/4 cup of warm water with a spoonful of the honey and leave it for 10 minutes until frothy.
2
In a large bowl beat together the egg, remaining honey, warm milk, melted butter, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and salt, then stir in the frothy yeast.
3
Work in the flour a cup at a time until a soft dough comes together, then knead on a lightly floured surface for about 6 minutes until smooth and elastic.
✎ Chef’s note
Resist adding much extra flour. A slightly tacky dough bakes into a far softer, longer-keeping loaf than a dry, stiff one.
4
Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours, until doubled in size.
5
Knock the dough back, shape it into a ball, and settle it into a greased deep round pan. Cover and prove again for about an hour until puffy and reaching the rim.
6
Bake at 325F (165C) for 35 to 40 minutes until deep golden and hollow-sounding when tapped underneath.
✎ Chef’s note
The low oven is deliberate. The honey browns fast, so a gentler heat lets the centre cook through before the crust darkens too far.
7
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack. Slice once cool and serve with butter and honey.
Amhara highland special-occasion baking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Amhara. Stews come in two registers, and the distinction is the first thing a cook learns. Wat is the red one, built on berbere and long-cooked onion with no added fat until the onions have collapsed; alicha is the mild one, turmeric-yellow and made without chilli, for children, for the ill, and for balance on a platter that already has heat on it.
🗺️
Ethiopia. Orthodox fasting rules bar animal products on a great many days of the year, which has quietly built one of the world's deepest everyday vegan repertoires: shiro milled from chickpeas, lentil stews, and boiled greens, set out together on a woven mesob basket. Coffee gets its own unhurried ritual, green beans roasted over charcoal in front of the guests, ground by hand and brewed in a long-necked clay pot.
🌍
Africa. Much of what reads as timeless African cooking is younger than the Atlantic crossings. Maize, cassava, groundnut, chilli and tomato all arrived from the Americas after 1500 and pushed older crops aside; millet, sorghum, teff, yam and fonio are the ones that were already here, and the map still shows the join.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Ethiopia
Misir Wot (Spiced Red Lentil Stew)Red lentils melted into a deep, chili-red stew built on berbere spice and slow-caramelized onions.
Doro WatEthiopia’s celebration dish: chicken slow-stewed in a mountain of caramelized onions and berbere, with whole eggs.
Shiro WotGround-chickpea flour whisked into a spiced, silky stew, the dish that feeds Ethiopia on fasting days and hard times alike.
Browse all Ethiopia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Best the day it is made. Wrap well and refresh in a warm oven, or freeze and reheat straight from frozen.
Make it a Ethiopia meal
Doro WatDinner
Ethiopian Coffee (Buna)Drink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Yemarina Yewotet Dabo (Honey and Milk Bread)?
A tender, lightly sweet loaf enriched with honey, milk and warm spices, Ethiopia's way of making the most of the honey it is famous for.
Where does Yemarina Yewotet Dabo (Honey and Milk Bread) come from?
Yemarina Yewotet Dabo (Honey and Milk Bread) is a Ethiopian dish from Amhara, Ethiopia.
Can Yemarina Yewotet Dabo (Honey and Milk Bread) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Yemarina Yewotet Dabo (Honey and Milk Bread) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Yemarina Yewotet Dabo (Honey and Milk Bread) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Yemarina Yewotet Dabo (Honey and Milk Bread) take to make?
About 70 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 8.
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