Rooti Farmaajo (Honeycomb Cheese Bread)

Thank you, Amanda S, for making the recipe and commenting on your results. I wanted to make this recipe VERY much, but found only your notes amongst the cheese-hysteria. I made the coconut version, and it was really delicious. No idea why everyone is so afraid of Laughing Cow cheese, it is sold everywhere in Europe as well as in the US. The rolls came out with a soft mild center with no separation of oil from the cheese. C'mon everyone, relax, Laughing Cow is not poison.

Wow, this is really good! I wanted to try both the condensed milk coconut version and the honey sesame version, so I did half and half and both were wonderful (I think the honey sesame was a little better). A real treat!

Is "farmaajo" from the Italian "formaggio"? I know there is a history of Italian colonialism in Somalia.

Hi there! Italian here. Yes there is, italian was even taught (i am not sure of today) in Somalia. Not a happy story, of course, and it left its mark.

For those asking about a cheese alternative, Lebneh would be pretty close texturally speaking. It is simply greek yogurt that has been strained in a cheese cloth. I think mixing with a small amount of cream cheese would dupe the texture and flavor of an original laughing cow cheese.

If I couldn’t use Laughing cow and wanted to make something my fridge hasn’t got as I also live 130K round trip from a supermarket I’d make my own ricotta and whip it maybe with a bit of feta? I mean the filling really is a license to create I think.

I don't see a honey sesame version with this recipe. Where would I find that?

Oh, wow, I thought this was amazing. So delicious and so easy. Dough came together with no trouble. I did use a scale to make the little balls (18g each) because I'm terrible at eyeballing things. I also cut each Laughing Cow wedge into five pieces which meant there was some cheese leftover, but I think more would have been too much. This also heats up well-- 20 seconds in the microwave the second day and it was lovely. Don't skip the topping! Oh, and it took 16 min at 350.

I had to look up the ingredients to Laughing Cow cheese. Among other things, it's made of emulsified cheddar, semisoft, and Swiss cheeses. I haven't made this recipe, and I'm spit-balling here, but an alternative could be cream cheese, cheddar, and Swiss cheeses mixed together and spooned into the dough. Or, like one commenter suggested, use creative license and fill with whatever you have in your pantry.

I suspect the intention is to repeat the process with the remaining dough. The recipe is unclear, though. Divide in half, roll it, cut pieces, make one ball - and then repeat with remaining dough. Syntax suggests that applies only the that first half. Poor editing.

Suzanne, once the ball of dough is flattened into a disk, put a dollop of filling in the center. Then gather the edges of the disk and pinch the top to seal the filling. It's similar to making wontons and other filled dumplings. Once sealed, rolled the ball in your hands until the pinched part is no longer visible. Use as much filling as you want, but make sure you are able to pinch the disk of dough close.

Use any filling you like since the filling really isn't cooked, only melted. You can use peanut butter, jam, Nutella™, etc. You can even make savory pastries with a meat or seafood filling, e.g. shrimp paste. For safety reasons, it's probably best to precook the meat before filling.

Laughing Cow is quite like spreadable cream cheese, but with a tad less proportion of fats. I suspect it would work fine, as would regular bricks of cream cheese, although that does have a considerably higher fat proportion

Recipe says to repeat with remaining dough.

In Europe: any Swiss spreadable creamy cheese will do. Choose one that will melt nicely. In the DACH countries, “Streichkäse”, the Gerber brand has a lactose-free version if required.