Moroccan Meloui Recipe
For years I followed a traditional method of shaping meloui which involved creating a very long & narrow piece of dough spread out thin with butter & oil, folded then rolled up into a coil. Although it required much time & effort, this traditional method always produced the most amazing texture & shape compared to most modern, shortcut methods that I’ve seen and tasted. This is why I didn't usually make it as often, with work and school runs, I just couldn't find the time. However, my sister in law soon changed my views when she taught me an easy method that still created the same results in both appearance and texture, only with much less time & effort spent. This recipe can yeild up to 10 Milouis, however, each one is usually cut into 4 quarters. Please note that the nutritional information offered here is only an estimated guide per 1 whole miloui serving using online resourses.
Ingredients
- 1 bowl Plain White Flour (500g) all-purpose or self-raising works well too
- 1 bowl Fine Semolina (500g)
- 1 bowl Asian Brown/wheat Chapati or Rotti Flour (500g)
- 1/3 tsp Dried Yeast
- 1 tsp Baking Powder heaped tsp
- 1 tbsp Salt to taste
- 2 pints Warm Water
For spreading & Shape Forming
- 250g Unsalted Butter melted or at room temperature
- 1 tbsp Baking Powder mixed into the butter
- 1 cup Coarse Semolina for sprinkling between layers
- 1/2 bowl Sunflower Oil or Vegetable Oil
Instructions
- Mix the 3 flours and dry ingredients in a big bowl then start adding the warm water a bit at a time while mixing with your other hand
- When you have slowly incorporated all the warm water you can use both hands to knead the dough until soft but not sticky
- Return the dough back into the big bowl, smother in some oil and cover with cling film/plastic wrap.
- Leave the dough to rest like this for at least 20-30 minutes
- Divide the dough into 9-10 equal balls. Please refer to the video to see the technique. Our dough made 9 with a mini one for kids to play with. I think if you made the balls slightly smaller than ours it will make 10 even ones.
- Place on a big tray and cover again and leave for another 20-30 minutes (this will make the spreading process much easier and cause less rips/wholes in the dough.
- Spread the ball out with oil into a thin almost see-through layer and top with butter mix and sprinkled course semolina
- Fold this layer of dough from top to midway and repeat the butter & semolina process, then lift the dough bottom-up to fold down onto the butter & semolina layer. These folds will make 3 layers and form a long strip of dough.
- Butter this long strip of dough and sprinkle with some coarse semolina before rolling from one side to another to form a big coil shape log.
- Repeat this process to all the balls, cover with plastic and leave them to sit and soften for a further 20-30 mins.
- When they have been left to rest, put your pan to heat with a little oil and position the logs upright coil side down & pat them down with some coarse semolina to form a 20-24cm round and just under 1cm thick. Always start with the one you did first, as this is the one that has rested the longest so the dough will be easier to pat-down.
- It may be easier to use 2 pans to speed up the cooking process if you don't have a double griddle pan. Sprinkle some semolina on either side before placing on a heated pan to cook until golden and crispy on either side.
- It's important that while cooking the Miloui you should rotate it often for even cooking and colour.
- Miloui can be served as a sweet snack with butter and honey or it can be served as it is with savouries such as olives, cheese & salami. There are also stuffed versions with onions and meat ;)
- Meloui is also suitable for home freezing, just make sure you freeze while fresh but cooled down to room temperature. This batch was intentionally large because it was Ramadan and I wanted to freeze some for suhoor & iftaars. Feel free to half the ingredients and shape them smaller to your preference.
- Never reheat or try thawing frozen Miloui in the microwave, this will just make it dry or too tough and chewy, reheat on a frying pan or toaster, they will taste as fresh as the day you made them.