Baghrir

What it is

Baghrir is a soft, thick pancake: smooth on the side that lies in the pan, and on the other side covered in holes like the cells of a honeycomb.¹ The little holes form on the surface during cooking; the pancake is not turned.² According to Oubahli, the pancake is 3 to 5 millimetres thick and is cooked on one side only, over a low flame, from a yeast batter of flour or fine wheat semolina, in a pan of clay or cast iron or on a faience tile set aside for the purpose.³

Where it comes from

Baghrir is eaten throughout the Maghreb, also under the names beghrir, ghrayef or mchahda.⁴ Mohamed Oubahli considers the word baghrir typical of the Arabic of the western Maghreb; the Moroccan lexicographer Mohamed Sbihi derives it from the Arabic baghir, according to the classical dictionaries someone who drinks without being able to quench his thirst.⁵

History

According to Oubahli, this kind of pancake was well known in the western Maghreb and al-Andalus in the 12th and 13th centuries, under names such as al-mushahhada and al-mutaqqaba.⁶ An anonymous Andalusian collection of recipes from this period describes the mushahhada (“honeycomb-like”), also called muthaqqaba (“perforated”): semolina is stirred with yeast into a soft, pourable batter that forms bubbles, poured into a greased pan and baked under a plate until it is cooked and full of holes; butter and honey go on top.⁷ The word baghrir itself Oubahli considers more recent, probably coming into use only after the time of the Marinids (1245–1465).⁸

In Tetouan, baghrir is mentioned in a letter from the time of Sultan Hassan I dated 15 Muharram 1307 (1889), cited by Hassan Akdi and Noureddine Achboun: palace servants were to learn the making of sweets from Andalusian families of the city, among them baghrir, rghaif with cheese and sfenj.⁹

What it is made of

One recipe lists fine semolina, white flour, baker’s yeast, baking powder, salt, sugar if desired, and lukewarm water.¹⁰

How it is cooked

When

According to Oubahli, in traditional cooking baghrir is mostly eaten at breakfast or as a dessert, drenched in melted butter and with honey flavoured with orange blossom water; especially at Yennayer, the New Year of the Julian calendar, but also during Ramadan and at all the feasts of the Islamic calendar.¹¹ Baghrir is eaten at breakfast, with afternoon tea and at dinner; the holes soak up melted butter and honey.¹² In Morocco it is usually dipped in a mixture of honey and butter.¹³

During Ramadan it is part of breaking the fast in many areas: in Taliouine alongside msemen and meloui with butter and honey, in Beni Mellal alongside chebakia and harira, in Ouarzazate together with mint tea.¹⁴