My Rough Khoubz -- Moroccan Flat Bread.

Hajar Elizabeth's Note:

This is a flat bread that we use for meals, sandwiches and breakfast. It is our daily bread here in Morocco and is rarely made at home unless rurally as it is so inexpensive and available on every street corner; small or large. This bread is good for soaking up the sauces,broths and for pushing the food onto and sort of dragging from the communal platter to eat. This bread is our knife and fork! This recipe makes 2 loaves and is easily cut in half for one loaf c.2005

• Total Time: 42 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 12 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups unbleached white flour or 2 cups barley flour
• 3 1/2 tablespoons dry active yeast
• 2/3 cup cornmeal
• extra cornmeal, for dusting top and placing on tray under bread
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 1/2 cups water, tepid 110-115 degrees F
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. This bread should not be "dense" with no air bubble pockets inside. You will need to flatten it as much as you possibly can; pull, stretch and flatten to no more than 1/2 inch. Should it come out dense, then next time cut the dough in three and make 3 loaves. Please don't go by my photo as this batch "over-rose.".
3. Combine 1/2 cup flour, sugar, salt, yeast and water in bowl. Stand, covered, in a warm place until bubbly.
4. Add remaining flour, and cornmeal into a large bowl. Add the oil. Add yeast mixture to the flour in the bowl.
5. Mix with hands well to form a firm dough.
6. Knead until smooth.
7. Stand, covered, in a warm place 20 minutes.
8. Shape into 2 rounds (depending on the diameter you desire as Moroccan bread comes in many sizes right down to little ones for sandwiches). Score the top with a sharp knife 1/8" deep into 4 (cutting an X shape), or using your thumb make a dent in the center nearly deep enough to be a hole, though not all the way through.
9. Place on a baking sheet dusted with corn meal and dust the top also with the corn meal gently pushing it into the dough a bit.
10. Stand, covered, until nearly doubled. This being so flat and the amount of yeast, it may not exactly double for you in size and that is fine.
11. Bake 12-18 minutes.
12. If you are making a Moroccan meal and will use bread to eat with you will need at least 2 loaves for 4 people. Cooking time includes standing and is an approximation as flours and temperatures differ.
13. This bread freezes well. Simply freeze as you would any bread and defrost at room temperature. I freeze mine in tied white translucent plastic bags, similar to grocery plastic bags.

Reviews

[Chef #755933]

I have just returned from Morocco!! I had the amazing adventure of getting to stay in Taza with my friends family and really got to experience the life style. The mom of the house made her bread from scratch at least 2 times a week. I actually helped knead the bread in attempt to learn. When i was making this bread from your recipe, It was really sticky which made it very hard to "pull, stretch, and flatten. I'm sure it was something i was doing wrong (i have never made bread before) but i think it turned out pretty good. I think it will be even better next time.

[L. Duch]

First off, I was a bit confused to what, "flatten as much as possible" meant. As flat as pizza dough or thicker? But noticing that scoring was needed I patted it down to about 1 1/2 inch. It baked up nicely, but a bit dense (which was fine with me), although I wasn't sure if it was the way it's suppose to be. The taste was very nice. Not 'yeasty' at all. It went very well with my Lamb and Pear Tagine (which I've submitted to Zaar and am currantly awaiting approval from the elves.) Perfect for sopping up the juices:-) This was my first time to make Moroccan flatbread and not my last. I'm submitting a photo's to let you know how it turned out. I hope I did it justice. Thanks Hajar, for an easy and tasty recipe. P.S.... I enjoyed reading your writings on your website. I wish you and Mohammad all the happiness in the world. :-)

[vfinn]

This was really good! Almost exactly like my Moroccan mother-in-law's bread! The taste was great but next time I will cook it at a higher temperature and make smaller round loaves like she does. Moroccans like more crust, less spongy inside, to be able to eat with it. I made this in my bread machine, the mixing, kneading and rising, and then just laid it out on a cookie sheet and rolled it out with a handheld roller. So easy! I always thought this bread was so time-consuming! Thank you for this version!