Algerian Meloui- Layered Bread

Ramadan is also the month for special breads and savory pastries in Algeria. Breads, boureks and samsas perfumed with spices or stuffed with a variety of vegetables or meats.

Meloui is a layered flatbread, some versions are similar to South Asian parathas or Malaysian roti canais. It can made with durum wheat semolina, whole wheat flour or all purpose flour. I prefer to use semolina or Indian durum atta which is the closest thing to Algerian whole wheat flour I can find in the states. White flour is becoming increasingly available in urban areas in Algeria. I don't like to use it, the flavor and texture just isn't doesn't sing bled (countryside) to me.

I made a very large batch of dough because I used the same dough to make samsas (my next post). I used 4 cups of fine semolina, salt, and 1 package of yeast (you can use natural starter or a piece of leftover dough from a previous batch of bread dough), but I used packaged yeast because it was convenient for me. Besides, most North African cookbooks call for packaged yeast.

I only kneaded the dough for 10-15 minutes because I wanted a very tender meloui. The addition of yeast also helps make for a lighter meloui. Some versions of meloui call for 30-40 minutes of kneading to really build up the gluten.

I divided the dough into golf ball sized balls and covered each one with a dab of extra virgin olive oil to keep them moist. I covered them with a clean kitchen towel and left them to rise until double in volume. There's a heatwave in Los Angeles at the moment so it only took about 45 minutes.

I rolled the dough out into a rectangular band. The Algerian and Moroccan readers of this blog will immediately notice that I did not roll the dough very thinly. Some versions of meloui require that the dough be stretched until it's sheer enough to see through.

I rub a little bit of extra virgin olive oil onto the entire surface of the dough and sprinkled the dough with spices. For this batch I alternated black poppy seeds, nigella seeds (aka onions seeds, black caraway or black cumin) and anise seeds.

Fold the dough twice as shown, than roll into a snail and pinch the ends together.

I cooked them in a dry, oil free skillet until golden brown on each side.

I also made potato stuffed meloui. The stuffing is quite simple- steamed potatoes, caramelized onions, fenugreek leaves, lemon juice and salt. I sprinkled this one with nigella seeds.

Two methods for stuffing the dough. The first method is simply stuffed dough, the second method gives you a layered and stuffed dough.

This version of meloui is really tender and light, not oily at all. When I have time I'll do another version that is a bit is flakier, rather like a croissant flat bread.