It’s been months since I’ve had a proper Pancake Sunday so I’m fixing that STAT with these Moroccan Semolina Pancakes.
For one reason or another, my usual Sunday morning favorite time ritual has become more un-usual and taken a back seat for one reason or another. No more. It’s time to resurrect it, and what better way than with a new pancake recipe?
I’ve admittedly been struggling with breakfast foods, interesting ones at least, so this was a welcome treat (if you have ideas, they’re always welcome, so throw me a comment below).
These are a bit different than normal flapjacks for a lot of reasons. First, they’re really thin, almost crepe-like and very amenable to just eating with ones hands, tortilla-like. Other differences: they’re semolina rather than all-purpose flour based and have yeast (and thus, require a rise). Also, unlike the norm, they’re not flipped, leaving them full of craters akin to those famous Thomas English muffins. Perfect for trapping all the glorious orange honey that we’ve got going here. A prize worth trapping.
This reminded me a lot of the injera from Ethiopia though with only an hour to rise, a much quicker project for early morn.
Oh, and back to that honey: Honey + orange zest = perfection. Make some extra for your tea, or granola, or anything. I assure you, you will want to do so.
A couple recipe notes:
The batter will be runny. Very. When putting them on the skillet, sort of drizzle it in to form a circle. If you just pour it, the batter will gush everywhere.
I have a handle electric flat skillet thing (one of my few extraneous gadgets) that I use for pancakes and it actually does worse with adding butter. If you don’t have one, use a regular cast iron, and generously butter the pan each time to prevent sticking.
Do yourself a favor and use good honey. I mean it. Really.
Finally, a serving suggestion is obviously not ALL the pancakes. However, so much prettier than showing just one. This recipe will make about 14-silver dollar size pancakes (each using 1/4 cup batter).
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cup + 2TB semolina (see Note)
- 2 1/2 TB All-purpose flour
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Vegetable oil or butter, for cooking
- 1/2 cup good honey
- 2 tsp orange zest
- In a bowl, combine 2 TB of the warm water with the baking powder.
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine the semolina with the flour, yeast, sugar cinnamon and the warm water; process for 30 seconds, until smooth. Add the salt and baking powder mixture and process for 30 seconds longer.
- Pour the batter into a large bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile in a small saucepan, combine the honey and orange zest. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat off. Let it sit and meld and do its thing.
- Heat a 10-inch nonstick skillet and coat it with a thin layer of vegetable oil or melted butter.
- Whisk the batter until creamy. Ladle 1/4 cup of the batter into the skillet, tilting the skillet to distribute it evenly (if you want it larger) or drizzle the batter into smaller rounds (if you want them smaller).
- Cook the pancakes over moderate heat until bubbles appear all over the surface and the bottom is pale golden, about 3 minutes. Loosen the pancake, with a flat spatula, and continue cooking until the bottoms are golden brown, another minute or so.
- Drizzle with the orange honey and serve right away. Repeat with more oil and the remaining batter.
Written after a busy morning and exciting event. More later…
Moroccan Semolina Pancakes
Yeast-based Moroccan semolina pancakes are a bit different than your traditional American flapjacks, made with semolina flour and cooked on one side.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cup + 2TB semolina (see Note)
- 2 1/2 TB All-purpose flour
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Vegetable oil or butter, for cooking
- 1/2 cup good honey
- 2 tsp orange zest
Directions
- Step 1 In a bowl, combine 2 TB of the warm water with the baking powder.
- Step 2 In the bowl of a food processor, combine the semolina with the flour, yeast, sugar cinnamon and the warm water
- Step 3 process for 30 seconds, until smooth. Add the salt and baking powder mixture and process for 30 seconds longer.
- Step 4 Pour the batter into a large bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
- Step 5 Meanwhile in a small saucepan, combine the honey and orange zest. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat off. Let it sit and meld and do its thing.
- Step 6 Heat a 10-inch nonstick skillet and coat it with a thin layer of vegetable oil or melted butter.
- Step 7 Whisk the batter until creamy. Ladle 1/4 cup of the batter into the skillet, tilting the skillet to distribute it evenly (if you want it larger) or drizzle the batter into smaller rounds (if you want them smaller).
- Step 8 Cook the pancakes over moderate heat until bubbles appear all over the surface and the bottom is pale golden, about 3 minutes. Loosen the pancake, with a flat spatula, and continue cooking until the bottoms are golden brown, another minute or so.
- Step 9 Drizzle with the orange honey and serve right away. Repeat with more oil and the remaining batter.
- Step 10 Recipe from Food & Wine.
Yum!! That looks so good!
SO good! Especially the honey.
Love these yeast pancakes! I want a whole stack of them!
So thin and light- it’s easy to eat the whole stack!