Beghrir
A Moroccan Ramadan and holiday breakfast, known as thousand-hole pancakes. The holes are the whole point — later the honey butter soaks into them. They come from three things: a very thin batter of fine semolina, both yeast and baking powder, and pancakes cooked on one side only, in a dry pan. Flipping them would close the holes.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Batter 10 min
- Rising 45 min
- Cooking one side 30 min
- Honey butter 5 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneBlend the batter very smooth
Blend the semolina, flour, lukewarm water, yeast, sugar and salt for a full 2 minutes, until completely smooth and as thin as single cream. Blending breaks down the semolina grains — without it the pancakes are gritty and form no holes.
Ingredients: 250 g semolina · 60 g plain flour · 600 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tsp salt
Two minutes' blending — thin and smooth as cream.Rest the batter 45 minutes
Pour into a bowl, cover and leave somewhere warm for 45 minutes, until the surface is covered in bubbles and the batter has risen slightly. The yeast forms the bubbles that later break through the pancake's surface.
Ingredients: 250 g semolina · 60 g plain flour · 600 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tsp salt
Add the baking powder just before cooking
Add the baking powder and blend briefly, 10 seconds. Added at the start, much of it would react during the rise. Added now, it gives a second wave of bubbles just as the batter hits the pan.
Ingredients: 250 g semolina · 60 g plain flour · 600 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tsp salt
Heat a dry pan over medium heat
Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat, with no fat. Fat would give a blotchy, uneven underside. Too hot a pan burns the underside before the holes can open.
Ingredients: 250 g semolina · 60 g plain flour · 600 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tsp salt
Pour a ladleful and leave it alone
Pour a small ladleful of batter into the centre — it spreads itself to a 12 cm pancake. Do not spread it. After 20 seconds dozens of small holes begin to appear on the surface.
Ingredients: 250 g semolina · 60 g plain flour · 600 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tsp salt
Cook on one side only
Cook 2 minutes, until the whole surface is covered in holes and no longer wet. Do not flip — the underside should be pale gold and the top matt and dry to the touch. A flipped beghrir loses its holes. Cook them one after another — the whole batch takes about 30 minutes in total.
Ingredients: 250 g semolina · 60 g plain flour · 600 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tsp salt
One side only — the holes must stay open.Cool singly, not stacked
Lift the pancakes onto a cloth one by one, holes up, and do not stack them until cool. Hot ones stick together and the holes close.
Ingredients: 250 g semolina · 60 g plain flour · 600 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tsp salt
Pour over honey butter
Melt the butter with the honey and orange blossom water until pourable and spoon it over each pancake, letting it sink into the holes. Serve with mint tea.
Ingredients: 80 g butter · 100 g honey · 1 tsp orange blossom water
Honey butter sinks into the holes — that is what they are for.
Before you start
The semolina must be fine
Coarse semolina will not blend smooth and the pancakes come out rough. Moroccan shops sell a special fine semolina for beghrir. Ordinary semolina works too with longer blending.
A pan without fat
Beghrir is cooked without fat, so use a good non-stick pan. If the first ones stick or form few holes, the pan is too cool — raise the heat a touch and wait a minute.
They freeze beautifully
Beghrir freeze very well layered with paper. Thaw at room temperature and warm 20 seconds in a dry pan, holes up, before pouring over the honey butter.
