Rgaïf - Moroccan Flat Bread

Rgaïf is a Moroccan flat bread that can be either cooked in a hot pan on the stovetop, or deep fried as they do in Southern Morocco.

It can be served with honey, jam, or another sweet spread. You can also serve it with savory ingredients such as meats, cheeses, or savory spreads. I dipped mine in the broth of some amazing spicy mussels

The trick is to get the dough really thin. It's best to stretch it by pressing it with your hands on your counter so that it doesn't spring back. I stretched mine out until I could see the counter through the dough. Mine seemed to puff up a bit in the frying pan. I think the trick is to do the stretch and fold twice like in this great video demonstrating the technique.

I am baking along with the Bread Baking Babes as a Buddy. It is the Babes' 6th anniversary! The Kitchen of the Month belongs to Lien of Notitie van Lien. She has been toying with making this flat bread for quite a while. Check out her post for links to all of the other babes' takes on this bread.

These were fun and easy to make. I was really surprised that the dough stretched so easily and did not spring back. It's miraculous how the same ingredients, flour, water, salt, and yeast, produce such different results depending on what you do with them.

Rgaïf 

Ingredients

500 g flour

5.5 g instant yeast

1 tsp salt

250 ml water, more if needed (I used more)

Olive oil

Optional fillings (you can add any filling you want before folding the dough)

Instructions

1. Optional, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 
2. Mix the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the water and mix with your hand to dampen the ingredients. Add more water as necessary.
3. Knead with the dough hook until elastic and smooth. The dough should be tacky but not sticky, and completely clear the bowl.
4. Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces and form them into balls. Coat with olive oil. 
5. With your hands, press the dough out onto your counter until it is very thin (thin enough so that you can see the counter through the dough. 
6. Lightly brush the tops with olive oil and fold into square packets. Add the optional fillings. 
7. Cook the squares in a heated pan (over medium/low heat) for about 5 minutes a side. 
8. Optional, place them on a baking sheet and bake for an additional 5 to 7 minutes to make sure that the middle is fully cooked. 
9. Serve warm with toppings of your choice. 

Lien adapted this recipe from: “Vrijdag couscousdag” by R. Ahali)

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