Msemmen is one of the best Moroccan foods that exist – and of course it would be because essentially it’s Moroccan fried bread. Typically they are made two times a day; for breakfast or in the mid-afternoon for snack/coffee time. You will find both a sweet and savory version of these.
The sweet version is topped with melted butter and honey. While the savory version is stuffed with spices and fat and cooked making something akin to a pizza or Indian paratha. I have recently learned to make these exactly as my mother and sister in laws would do so and have taken to making a batch every other weekend for the freezer.
How to Make Moroccan Msemmen
I highly advise you to set aside some time to do this. The first time can be a little frustrating and this isn’t a great recipe to tackle if you’ve got a bunch of other things going on. Make sure to gather all of your ingredients first and prepare a large, clean workspace to spread out your work. I find that a large clean kitchen counter space works best – and then to work directly on the counter. It’s a little more of a hassle to clean up but having the big space makes the folding and flattening faster.
This recipe is not easy to master. In fact it takes a few tries to really get the process down. A few tips that might help you;
- don’t be afraid to use oil and butter. This is not a health food recipe. The oil and butter is what helps you make the layers very thin before folding. If the layers aren’t thin enough then you will just end up with a chunk of bread.
- Cut the recipe in half if you’re unsure. That way you will work with a smaller batch and won’t use up too many ingredients before you master the technique.
- There are different methods and variations of ingredients used to make this across Morocco. Feel free to mix it up based on the region you’re familiar with.
- You can try to make this using whole wheat flour but the texture will be much firmer so don’t knead it as much in the beginning.
Moroccan Msemmen
Ingredients
Bread Ingredients
- 3½ cups flour (340 g)
- ½ cup fine semolina (90g)
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- ¼ teaspoon yeast
- 1½ cups warm water (approx. ⅓ liter)
Ingredients for Folding Bread
- 1½ cups vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup fine semolina
- ¼ cup very soft unsalted butter
Instructions
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Add 1½ cups of warm water, and mix to form a dough. Add more water if necessary to make a dough that is soft and easy to knead, but not sticky.
- If the dough is too sticky to handle, add a little flour one tablespoon at a time.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead by hand for 10 minutes, (or knead the dough in a stand mixer with dough hook for 5 minutes), until the dough is very smooth and elastic.
- Set a bowl of the melted/soft butter and some oil aside. Cover your hands with oil. Begin by dividing the dough into golf ball size balls.
- Continue until all the dough is divided.
- Starting with the first ball you made, add more of the butter mixture to your hands and work surface. Flatten the ball to a very, very thin layer.
- Rub some oil on top, and fold into thirds.
- Add some more oil and sprinkle some semolina on the strip and fold again into thirds.
- You should now have a small square of dough. Continue through the remaining balls.
- Heat up a skillet and add a small amount of oil to the pan. Keep it on a medium heat. Starting with the first “package” that you assembled, oil your hands and begin flattening the dough. It should be thin and remain in a square shape. Do not overwork or the layers meld together.
- Place into the warm skillet and cook until golden brown and slightly crunchy on he outside. If it does not turn to a golden color, you are not using enough oil.
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Salwa says
at 2:03 pmHey,
So have you come up with a way to make msemen glutenfree? I have celiac disease and seriously miss msemen (???). Can you instead of semolina used polenta (mais), and use glutenfree flour instead of the regular?
Hope you can help.. I would almost sell my soul to taste msemen again.
Amanda Mouttaki says
at 9:39 amI’m afraid I haven’t yet – it’s really hard to get the elasticity that you need to make msemmen without gluten. The gluten is what gives it the stretchy properties. I’m still trying!
Samm says
at 4:59 pmHi i tried making this but it was dry and hard….
Amanda Mouttaki says
at 3:11 pmHi Samm – I can’t be 100% sure what you did but my feelings are either you didn’t knead the dough long enough or you didn’t use enough butter and oil when rolling them out. Also was it white flour or whole wheat flour because that will make a difference too.
Odette says
at 8:49 pmI tried making msemmen this weekend. They turned out…okay. Edible, but not particularly pretty or as tasty as what I had in Morocco. How do you reheat them? Microwave makes them a little tough. Thanks for the video — it was a big help!
Amanda Mouttaki says
at 2:58 pmMy guess is not enough oil and butter, these use so much! The first handful of times I tried mine fell flat. Lots of practice to get them thin enough. To reheat I only do it on the stove or in a toaster oven, the microwave will ruin them.
Kate says
at 4:43 pmHi I was wondering if you’ve converted this recipe to a gluten free version? My kids have celiac and really miss eating msemmen. Any help would be amazing!
Amanda Mouttaki says
at 10:55 pmHi Kate. I’m still working on it :(. My Moroccan sister in laws are helping me now so I’m hoping I will have something soon!
Kate says
at 1:44 amI hope you find a way! My Moroccan husband likes paratha better than msemmen and my kids used to like it just as much so I’m going to try to use a recipe for it with cup4cup because I’ve success with that flour blend with other breads. I thought about trying msemmen with cup4cup but I don’t know what to use for semolina? Maybe finely ground corn grits?
MarocMama says
at 7:27 amThe times I’ve experimented I used fine round corn grits instead of semolina. The problem is creating a dough that has enough elastic (which the gluten provides) to roll out into layers. I’ll keep working at it!
marocmama says
at 5:37 pmHi Calista! The video is now up! http://marocmama.com/2012/01/msemmen-tutorial-video.html
Calista says
at 5:23 pmOh! And its the tribeca whole foods market store in nyc. They order them from a small bakery
Calista says
at 5:24 pmThe bakery is called Hot bread Kitchen. They employ immigrant women which may explain the price.
Calista says
at 5:20 pmThank you for your help! The dough is still sticky when I do it. I add flour to it and continue kneading but after a while it becomes sticky again. I rub so much butter oil mixture on it but the butter is semi liquid by that time. Does that make a difference? I would be so grateful if you could do a video! Thanks again!
marocmama says
at 3:43 pmI’m not sure how I missed this comment! The butter and oil should be liquid — but I will do a video soon – hopefully this week and will be sure to send you an email when it’s live.
Calista says
at 3:51 pmAwesome! I’m looking forward to it!
Calista says
at 1:38 pmHelp! I’ve tried this recipe twice and my msemmen is never flaky and its always thick. Am I doing somehting wrong? I followed the recipe to the “TT”. Some recipes require 30 min of kneading, others require 10 minutes. I’ve tried both methods and its just not coming out like its supposed to.
Please help! Whole Foods started carrying them in the bakery and I’ve been resorting to paying $2.79 each for them–so expensive. I would much rather make them myself.
thanks!
marocmama says
at 1:45 pmCalista – I’m so sorry you’re having problems! I will say this is a tricky recipe. It sounds like you’re not using enough butter and oil between the layers. Is your dough still a little sticky after mixing up? It should be elastic enough so that when spreading out with the butter and oil it is almost see through before folding. Another trick to keep the layers separate is to sprinkle a small amount of fine semolina between the layers when folding. You’ve inspired me to do a video of this process – I think it might be easier to see!! (PS where are you that Whole Foods carries them?? Awesome but very expensive!)