Algeria: M'semmen

When I decided to bake the breads of each country, I knew there would be overlaps. Some traditional breads are traditional to an entire region, not a specific country. Algeria turned out to be a country with several traditional breads that are native to North African countries, which includes Algeria.

M'semmen is the Arabic name for one of the many types of flatbreads traditional to the Maghreb region of Africa. Maghreb consists of: Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, and Mauritania. I am finding that there is rarely one recipe for a traditional bread. Rather, one bread can have many subtle variations as you move from baker to baker, town to town, and century to century. In it's basic form, m'semmen is a spiced and oiled flatbread that can be cooked on a skillet. 

A quick google search produced several different recipes,  so I went with a basic recipe that used ingredients I had on hand. The recipe below can be found here: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/algerian-flatbread-241505

INGREDIENTS

3 cups finely ground whole-wheat flour (preferably Indian atta or King Arthur whole-wheat)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil, divided
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric

PREPARATION
Make dough:
1) Stir together flour, salt, and 2 tablespoons oil in a large bowl. Slowly stir in water until a soft dough forms. If necessary, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead, dusting with just enough flour to keep dough from sticking, until smooth and elastic, about 15 minutes.
2) Form dough into a ball and coat with 2 tablespoons oil in a bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough stand at warm room temperature 1 hour.
3) Stir together cumin, paprika, turmeric, and remaining 1/4 cup oil in a small bowl.

Form flatbreads:
4) Divide dough into 12 equal pieces and, keeping remaining pieces covered with plastic wrap, flatten 1 piece of dough into a disk. Roll out disk as thinly as possible (into a 9-inch round) on a lightly floured surface with a 6-inch wooden dowel or a rolling pin. Spread 1 teaspoon spiced oil on dough with your fingertips, then roll up tightly into a long cylinder and coil into a tight spiral. Transfer to a large sheet of parchment paper, then loosely cover with plastic wrap.
Make 11 more spirals in same manner.

Finish and cook flatbreads:
5) Tape another sheet of parchment to a work surface and on it roll out 1 spiral of dough into a round approximately 6 inches in diameter. Heat a dry large cast-iron skillet or griddle over medium heat until hot, then cook flatbread, turning once, until puffed and browned in spots, 3 to 4 minutes total. Transfer to a plate and cover with a kitchen towel. Roll out and cook 11 more flatbreads, stacking them on plate.

This was such a satisfying dough. It was soft and elastic and this was my favorite bread to knead so far. I used ceramic frying pan to cook these as I do not own a skillet. I used level 4 heat on my burner and had not problems with cooking them. I also did not let it rest for an hour. I would estimate that the dough rested 30 minutes before rolling it out.

This was another crowd pleaser. My husband ate 3 pieces with dinner and found the m'semmen useful for scooping up the chickpea curry that we had for dinner. My 6 year old son followed suit and declared that this was another thumb's up. My daughter was not quite as enthusiastic, stating that it was not her favorite bread, but I did notice she ate one and a half pieces during dinner.

Next stop: Samoa