Moroccan Breakfast calls for Moroccan Msemen
Last year my wife and I visited her home country of Morocco. I discovered one of my new favorite breakfast foods, Msemen. Msemen (pronounced Mmm-SiM-EN) is a traditional Moroccan bread made by thinly rolling out a stretchy, oil enriched dough, adding butter and some more folds and then cooking on a griddle until cooked through. This is a key part of traditional Moroccan breakfasts.
These are best enjoyed hot, and in some hotels (as pictured here at a hotel in Marrakech) it is prepared fresh right in front of you. This produces a flaky buttery dough that is just asking for some toppings. Msemen is often accompanied with a glass or two of Moroccan mint tea. This is typically a drink that combines green tea, mint, and a few tablespoons of sugar.
When we came home, we had the opportunity to make it during Ramadan. Ramadan is a holy month for muslims where practicing muslims will fast throughout the day up until sunset. This leads up to a large dinner or rather a breaking of the fast (breakfast) at sun down. This year, while we were both homebound during COVID-19, I tried fasting every day with my wife.
On one of the days we made some traditional moroccan msemen. This recipe used up the last of our flour, leading to the aforementioned order of 100lbs of flour. Check out my spelt bread and einkorn banana bread recipes for more on that!
Trust the process
The process of making Msemen is really fun and we had a blast doing it! Just don’t be afraid to get your hands messy as you will be working with very oily enriched dough and adding in scoops of butter by hand. Here is a video to help demonstrate the technique of rolling out the dough, folding it, and rolling again that lead to a great msemen.
These are typically made with just butter and the dough. However, we ended up sneaking in some gouda in the last couple that we made (added it inside during the folding steps) and it was delicious!
Verdict? A blank canvas when it comes to toppings
The verdict? Delicious! I mean what could go wrong with enriched dough, loaded with butter, layered and then cooked on a griddle. It is similar to a croissant in terms of butter to dough ratio. Now these are pretty tasty plain, but they really shine when you add a dab of either honey or jam which help cut through the fattiness. Another common topping (or filling) is cheese.
I really do hope you give Msemen a try and enjoy this delicious (albeit slightly hard to pronounce) Moroccan breakfast treat! If you try it out, let me know what you thought!
Moroccan Msemen
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- Baking Sheet
- Cast Iron Skillet or Griddle
Ingredients
Dough:
- 3 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup semolina
- 1.5 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon yeast
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
Used for Folding and Cooking the Msemen:
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup semolina
- 1/4 cup softened unsalted butter
Instructions
- Mix all dry dough ingredients in a large bowl and add warm water. Mix until combined and knead until the dough comes together and is smooth and soft which should take about 10 minutes. Alternatively you can mix in a stand mixer for 5 minutes.
- Using your hands tear off pieces of dough into small balls, about the size of golf balls. You should have 20 dough balls. Using your hands and some of the oil set aside, ensure each ball is lightly oiled to keep from drying out.
- Cover with plastic and allow to rest for 5 minutes while you prep your workstation for the stretching and folding of the dough.
- To make each Msemen you need to follow a series of steps.
- First lightly oil your work surface. Next place your Msemen dough ball on the surface and roll out until it is very thin and nearly see through. This can be done by hand or with an oiled rolling pin.
- Next take a bit of softened butter and rub it into the surface of your dough.
- The next step is folding. See the full instructional video for details. To fold the Msemen, fold the Msemen into thirds horizontally and then vertically. This will produce a small square.
- Repeat this step for all 20 Msemen.
- Heat up a cast iron pan or griddle over medium heat while you prepare your Msemen.
- To finish the Msemen preparation, take your small square and flatten the Msemen until it is about double the original size (about 3 inches by 3 inches).
- Now place your Msemen on the cast iron pan flipping occasionally until it is golden brown on each side and cooked through. This should take a few minutes per side. Repeat for the remaining Msemen.