Msemen

Square laminated flatbreads folded around oil and semolina, stretched on an oiled surface until the dough is translucent.

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

Ingredients

• 400 g plain flour
• 100 g fine semolina, for the dough
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon fast-action yeast
• about 320 ml warm water
• 150 ml flavourless oil, for the surface
• 100 g soft butter, for the layers
• 150 g fine semolina, for the layers

Method

1. THE DOUGH IS STRETCHED ON AN OILED SURFACE, NOT ROLLED ON A FLOURED ONE, and that is the whole technique. A ball is flattened with oiled hands and then pushed outwards from the centre until it is big enough to read through and thin enough to tear if you breathe on it. Flour would let it slide and shrink back; oil lets it stretch and stay.
2. IT IS SUPPOSED TO TEAR A LITTLE. Small holes do not matter -- they are folded inside. Anyone being careful enough to avoid them is not stretching it thin enough.
3. SEMOLINA GOES BETWEEN THE LAYERS AS WELL AS BUTTER, and it is what keeps them separate. Butter alone soaks into the dough; semolina stays as a physical barrier and bakes into the crisp grain between the sheets.
4. Flour, the 100 g of semolina, salt, sugar and yeast mixed. Warm water worked in to a soft, slightly sticky dough.
5. Kneaded 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. It should be softer than a bread dough.
6. Divided into 10 balls, rolled smooth, and set on an oiled tray with oil over them. Rested 20 minutes, covered.
7. A large work surface oiled generously -- a worktop, not a board.
8. One ball flattened with oiled palms, then pushed outwards from the centre with the fingertips, working round, until it is a thin sheet 40 cm or more across.
9. Soft butter smeared thinly over the whole sheet, then semolina scattered over.
10. The left third folded in, the right third folded over it, giving a long strip. More butter and semolina on that, then the top third folded down and the bottom third up, giving a square packet.
11. Set aside on the oiled tray and the rest made. Rested 15 minutes.
12. Each square flattened out again to about 15 cm with oiled hands -- gently, so the layers are not pressed together.
13. Cooked on a dry heavy pan over a medium heat, 2 to 3 minutes a side, pressing down with a cloth, until golden and crisp in patches. Eaten hot with honey and butter, or with tea.

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