That One Pan Moroccan Lemon Olive Chicken I just made was incredible! And I’m still in the mood for Moroccan food (no surprise there). But what? I didn’t need a side to go with that chicken, and I couldn’t find any Moroccan cocktail recipes on my Pinterest boards. Dessert was the only option. That led me to Baghrir (Thousand Hole Crepe). I’ve made crepes once before, so I’m pretty sure I can make these. But there’s only one way to find out, and that means I need to get cooking.
Baghrir is a Moroccan crepe prepared with semolina flour that features tiny holes at the top. It can be served plain or with butter and honey.
The Ingredients
The ingredients list for this recipe was nice and short, just the way I like them. I had the sugar, salt, and an incredible organic raw honey on hand, so I only had to buy a few more items.
My usual grocery store had everything I needed: semolina flour, butter, and active dry yeast. I did have to buy the yeast in a strip of three packets, but the extra will keep. One packet was just enough for this recipe.
The only thing they didn’t have was the orange blossom water. It’s listed as optional, but I decided to order a bottle. This recipe only uses a couple of tablespoons, but there are plenty of other uses for orange blossom water, so the extra won’t go to waste.
The Process
Can you make pancakes? Then you can make baghrir. The process is slightly more complex, but the cooking part is almost exactly the same. Here’s how my time was spent:
- 6 minutes to prep the batter
- 30 minutes for the batter to rest
- 36 minutes to cook the baghrir (including sauce)
- 1 hour 12 minutes total
Prepping the Baghrir Batter
First up is proofing the yeast. Don’t worry if you don’t know what proofing is, because it’s super easy. All you need to do is add some warm water, sugar, and yeast to a bowl, then wait for the yeast to foam up. I used hot tap water and let the yeast proof while I prepped the rest of the ingredients.
While the yeast did its thing, I got started on the rest of the batter. Unlike pancakes, this involved a blender to mix everything. I used my food processor because it has a dough blender attachment, but it sounds like any old blender will do.
This part is almost as simple as the last. Just add everything to the blender (including the yeast mixture) and blend away. I had to add some extra water to get the dough to the right consistency. I’d say I added at least 1/2 cup, maybe more, but it was hard to measure exactly—I was more concerned with getting the consistency right.
Once the batter is mixed up to the right consistency, I put the lid back onto the food processor bowl and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Cooking the Baghrir
Now it as time to get cooking! This is the part that almost exactly like making pancakes, but there’s no flipping involved. I go out a 10-inch non-stick skillet, measuring cup (1/4 cup), and a large spatula. It’s not listed in the recipe, but I also used a bit of canola oil spray on the pan.
I preheated the pan on 5 out of 10, and then I got started. All I did was spray the pan, pour in 1/4 cup of batter, and wait. I noticed that the top of the baghrir hadn’t cooked after two minutes, so I increased the time to 3 minutes. That was perfect, and I could see the top of the crepe was cooked (the batter gots slightly darker).
I continued along like that for several baghrir, and then I got impatient. It couldn’t possibly hurt to increase the heat to 6, right? I gave it a try, and the baghrir started cooking up in 2 minutes. I was onto something! Or so I thought.
Even such a slight increase in the heat burned the bottom of the crepes a little. It wasn’t terrible, but I could taste it. Lesson learned: it’s better to wait a little longer for unburned baghrir.
The sauce was the easiest part of this recipe, and I did it while the baghrir cooked. Just add the butter to a small pan, let it melt, add the rest of the ingredients, and stir. It only took a couple ofminutes, and the sauce was just amazing. You do not want to skip it!
