Meloui

Ingredients

Dough

• 300 gfine semolina
• 200 gplain flour
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• 1 teaspoonsugar
• about 320 ml warm water

To laminate

• 150 mlolive oil
• or vegetable oil
• 100 gmelted butter
• or smen
• fine semolina, for dusting

To cook

• a heavy griddle or pan
• a little oil

To serve

• honey
• or jam
• melted butter
• mint tea

Directions

1. Put the semolina and flour in a bowl. Add the salt and the sugar to them. Add warm water gradually as you work. Bring it together into a very soft dough. It should be soft and slightly sticky. Knead it for a good ten minutes. That network is what holds it together thin.
2. Cover the dough and let it rest. Give it at least thirty minutes. Divide the dough into even balls. Make them about the size of a small egg. Coat each ball generously in oil. Set them out on an oiled tray. Oiled dough does not dry out or skin over.
3. Cover them and let them rest again. Give them another twenty minutes. Oil the work surface generously. Put one ball on the oiled surface. Press it flat with oiled hands. Work with the flats of your hands. Keep everything well oiled throughout. Take your time over the stretching. Stretch it until it is almost transparent.
4. Brush melted butter over the stretched sheet. Scatter a little fine semolina over it. The semolina keeps the layers apart. Scatter it lightly rather than thickly. Roll the sheet up into a long rope. Start at one edge and roll it tightly.
5. Work along the whole length evenly. Pull the rope gently to lengthen it. Start at the centre and coil outwards. Keep the coil flat rather than stacked. Each turn should sit beside the last.
6. Press the end firmly underneath. Set the coils on an oiled tray. Cover them and rest them again. Give them at least fifteen minutes. Press each coil out with oiled hands. Work from the centre outwards. Press gently rather than forcing it. Aim for a round about a centimetre thick.
7. Heat a heavy griddle over a medium heat. Brush it with a very little oil. Medium heat is what this needs. Adjust it in between the pancakes. Griddling them takes a few minutes. Lay a coil on the hot griddle. Give it about three full minutes. Turn it over with a wide spatula. Give it another three minutes.
8. Press it down lightly with the spatula. Pressing helps the middle cook through. Press gently rather than flattening it. Judging them takes a careful look. Stack them as they come off the griddle. Cover the whole stack with a cloth. That keeps them soft and pliable.
9. Serve them with honey poured over. Brush them with more melted butter. Serve hot mint tea alongside them. They keep a day in a sealed bag. Warm them on a dry pan to revive them.

Technique

• Meloui and msemen start from the same dough, the same paper-thin stretching and the same oiling; the difference is entirely the shaping. Msemen is folded into a flat square giving sheet layers, while meloui is rolled into a rope and coiled into a spiral, coming out thicker and rounder and pulling apart in strands rather than sheets.
• The dough must be stretched almost transparent, and three things together make that possible: a very soft dough, a long rest that relaxes the gluten, and generous oiling of the dough, your hands and the work surface. Unrested or firm dough springs back and tears immediately.
• Roll the rope as tightly as you can and stretch it gently longer before coiling, since a tight rope and more coils both give finer layers; then rest the coil fifteen minutes before pressing, or it springs straight back.

Substitutions

• Ordinary melted butter stands in for smen, the aged Moroccan preserved butter, giving a milder cleaner result.
• Small tears in the stretched sheet are covered by the rolling and are not a disaster.

Variations

• A light scattering of fine semolina over the buttered sheet keeps the layers from fusing back together.
• It is thicker than msemen because of the coil, so press it only to about a centimetre.
• It is eaten at breakfast or afternoon tea with honey, jam and mint tea.

History

A cousin of msemen from the same griddle tradition, the dough rolled into a rope and spiralled before being pressed flat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Meloui?

Meloui is a bread & pastry from Morocco: coiled semolina pancake flattened and griddled in oil, eaten with honey or jam. A cousin of msemen from the same griddle tradition, the dough rolled into a rope and spiralled before being pressed flat.

How long does Meloui take to make?

Meloui takes 40 minutes plus resting of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 8 pancakes. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Meloui?

Yes, within limits. Ordinary melted butter stands in for smen, the aged Moroccan preserved butter, giving a milder cleaner result. Small tears in the stretched sheet are covered by the rolling and are not a disaster.

What is the most important thing to get right in Meloui?

Brush melted butter over the stretched sheet. Scatter a little fine semolina over it. The semolina keeps the layers apart. Scatter it lightly rather than thickly. Roll the sheet up into a long rope. Start at one edge and roll it tightly.