Anyone have a good sourdough (or yeast) recipe for Ksra AKA Pain Marocain AKA Moroccan Bread?
Hi folks,
Moroccan food is excellent and it's all the better with fabulous bread!
A couple of years ago, I travelled around Morocco with my wife and some friends. Since returning, I've been working on replicating the ubiquitous ksra bread. Morocco has so many fabulous breads but this is the one you see everywhere on the street.
It would appear at every meal; alongside jam, honey and fresh goat cheese for breakfast, with chickpeas and hard boiled egg inside or grilled sardine kefta for lunch, to scoop up tajine for dinner. It's half staple, half utensil.
I found a pretty good yeasted recipe for ksra spiced with fennel seed (heaven!) in Flatbreads and Flavours (good book, by the way; http://www.harpercollins.ca/books/Flatbreads-Flavors/?isbn=9780061673269) and have modified it to my liking. I found the cornmeal caused the loaf to be heavy and using atta flour (durum) instead of some or all of the whole wheat made for a nicer flavour and crumb.
Most recipes I've seen online are poor imitators of this simple, delicious bread and many of the associated pictures are quite sad looking! Flat and pale!
I'm throwing this out here to see if anyone has any other good recipes for this bread, especially with a sourdough starter. My fledgling starter is currently bubbling away on the countertop and I'm itching to use it!
Thanks!
Chris
Hi Chris
Welcome to TFL. Saw your rustic loaves the other day made using red fife flour, they looked great.
Like you, I really enjoyed eating in Morocco, esp the bread and so was delighted when I found on SusanFNP's Wild Yeast's weekly Yeastspotting Mamatkamal's wonderful blog "Moroccan Cuisine Marocaine". Here is a link to the bread section, but I am sure you'll find plenty to enjoy across the whole blog.
Cheers, Robyn
Thanks very much, Robyn,
This is exactly what I'm looking for. They have an anise seed and argan oil loaf that looks perfect. While I don't have argan oil, good olive oil will have to do.
http://moroccancuisinemarocaine.blogspot.com/2011/08/anise-seeds-and-agane-oil-circle-bread.html?m=1
Well, despite working 2pm to 2am all week, I managed to whip these together using the recipe from flatbreads and flavours with my usual modifications AND adapting it for my new sourdough starter! Loaves arent't the prettiest being formed over a post long-ass work week beer at 3:45 in the morning and I was too lazy to go to the cold room and get any cornmeal so they are unadorned. Put them in the fridge, Natalie took them out for the final proof this morning and then dragged me out of bed to bake them.
Over proofed a bit and I haven't torn in to them yet so no idea of the quality of the crumb but I'm just happy my sourdough worked!
I'll post results with the blog recipe when I get to it for comparison.
500 degree oven for about 20 minutes with a pizza stone above and below.