Baghrir

Pancakes cooked on one side only, where the holes open across the surface and are the point of the whole thing.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (butter), honey.

Ingredients

• 300 g fine semolina
• 100 g plain flour
• 1 tablespoon fast-action yeast
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 750 ml warm water
• butter and honey, to serve

Method

1. THEY ARE COOKED ON ONE SIDE ONLY AND ARE NEVER TURNED. The batter is poured, the holes open from the middle outwards, and the pancake is lifted off the moment the top has gone from wet to matt. Turned over, the holes are flattened against the pan and close, and the whole purpose -- a surface of open holes that soaks up butter and honey -- is destroyed.
2. THE BATTER MUST BE THIN, like single cream, and blended until completely smooth. Thick batter gives few holes and a heavy pancake; the single commonest fault is a batter that looks right and is too thick by half.
3. AND IT MUST BE PROPERLY RISEN AND FROTHY BEFORE IT IS COOKED. The holes are bubbles of gas escaping through the batter: a flat, unrisen mixture has none to give.
4. Semolina, flour, yeast, baking powder, sugar and salt into a blender.
5. The warm water added and blended on high 2 minutes. It should be completely smooth and as thin as single cream. Add a little more water if it is thicker.
6. Poured into a bowl, covered, and left somewhere warm 45 minutes to 1 hour until the surface is covered in bubbles and it has risen visibly.
7. STIRRED ONLY GENTLY after that, or not at all -- knocking the air out undoes the rise.
8. A heavy non-stick pan over a MEDIUM heat, dry, with no oil or butter at all. Fat in the pan stops the holes forming.
9. A ladleful poured into the centre and allowed to spread ITSELF into a circle. Not spread with the back of the ladle.
10. Within about 30 seconds holes will start to open from the middle outwards. 2 to 3 minutes in all.
11. LIFTED OFF when the surface is completely matt with no wet patches and the holes are set. The underside should be pale gold, not browned.
12. Stacked on a cloth, NOT on top of each other while hot -- they stick and the holes compress. Spread out until cool, then stacked.
13. Served with butter and honey melted together and poured over, which the holes take up.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Morocco · All recipes