Chef Zohra
Khobz bel Chaïr
The barley loaf of Amazigh and rural tables, darker than wheat khobz, faintly bitter, and built for tearing by hand beside soup, olive oil, or a small tagine.
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Matlou (مطلوع)
Created by
A thick eastern Moroccan semolina loaf, rested through two rises, scored, seeded, and baked hot until the crumb opens into tender pockets for harira, olive oil, or a hot kebab.
Breads
Moroccan
Holiday
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
35 min
Active Time
20 min cook•2 hr 45 min total
Yield2 round loaves
Everything here turns on the dough after its second rest. Press it too soon and it fights back. Wait until it feels full under your fingers, soft and alive, and the oven will do what your hands prepared: lift the loaf into a tender, honeycombed bread with a small hollow heart.
Matlou isn't one more generic Moroccan flatbread. There are des cuisines marocaines, and there are many breads inside them: round khobz for the tagine, harcha from the pan, msemen folded and stretched, and this thicker semolina loaf known especially in the east, around Oujda and across the Algerian borderlands. It belongs to Ramadan tables because it loves harira, but it also does ordinary work beautifully, torn warm with olive oil, split for a kebab, passed from hand to hand before anyone has properly sat down.
Use honest semolina and living yeast. No gesture rescues tired flour or dead yeast. The dough wants more water than a nervous cook likes, because that softness becomes the open crumb. The hot oven is the deciding thing: it grips the outside quickly, then the trapped breath inside pushes the bread upward. At the old ferran, women read that heat with their hands and their eyes. At home, give your oven time and don't apologize for using a baking stone.
Make two loaves. One disappears while you are still deciding where to put the basket. A table is a door you leave open, and bread is often the hand that opens it first.
Matlou belongs to the eastern Moroccan and Maghrebi semolina-bread family, especially around Oujda and the frontier with western Algeria, where durum wheat breads followed older cereal routes linking the plains, oases, and Mediterranean ports. Its exact dating is not fixed in written sources, but leavened semolina oven breads are tied to the long history of communal ferran baking in North African towns and villages, well established by the medieval Islamic period. The name is shared across regions with different cooking habits, including pan-baked versions, so this recipe keeps to the Moroccan oven-baked Ramadan loaf rather than treating all matlou as one bread.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fine durum semolina
Quantity
400g
plus more for dusting
strong white bread flour
Quantity
200g
fine sea salt
Quantity
10g
instant yeast
Quantity
7g
sugar or honey
Quantity
1 tsp
warm water
Quantity
420ml
plus 1 to 2 tbsp if needed
olive oil
Quantity
2 tbsp
plus more for the bowl
sesame seeds
Quantity
1 tbsp
nigella seeds (optional)
Quantity
1 tsp
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fine durum semolinaplus more for dusting | 400g |
| strong white bread flour | 200g |
| fine sea salt | 10g |
| instant yeast | 7g |
| sugar or honey | 1 tsp |
| warm waterplus 1 to 2 tbsp if needed | 420ml |
| olive oilplus more for the bowl | 2 tbsp |
| sesame seeds | 1 tbsp |
| nigella seeds (optional) | 1 tsp |
Equipment Needed
- •Large wide mixing bowl
- •Baking stone, baking steel, or heavy oven tray
- •Bread peel or flat tray
- •Clean kitchen cloth
Instructions
- 1
Wake the dough
Stir the semolina, flour, salt, yeast, and sugar in a wide bowl, keeping the salt well mixed through the flour before the water goes in. Add the warm water and olive oil, then mix until there are no dry patches. The dough should feel soft and a little tacky, not stiff. That softness is what gives matlou its open, honeycombed crumb.
If your semolina is very thirsty, add another tablespoon or two of warm water. La balance est dans les yeux, the scale is in the eyes: the dough should cling lightly to the hand, then release. - 2
Knead until supple
Knead by hand for 10 to 12 minutes, pushing the dough away and folding it back until it turns smooth, stretchy, and warmer under your palms. If using a mixer, knead on low for 7 to 8 minutes. Don't keep throwing flour at it. A dry dough bakes heavy, and matlou should lift.
- 3
Let it rise
Oil the bowl lightly, turn the dough once to coat it, cover, and let it rise in a warm place for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until doubled and airy. When you press it with a floured finger, the mark should stay for a moment before slowly filling back in.
- 4
Shape the loaves
Turn the dough onto a semolina-dusted surface and divide it into 2 pieces. Shape each into a smooth ball, then pat each one into a thick round about 18 cm wide and 2 to 2.5 cm high. Set the rounds on semolina-dusted parchment or a peel. Keep the surface even, because thin spots bake before the center has time to open.
- 5
Rest again
Cover the rounds with a clean cloth and let them rise 35 to 45 minutes, until puffy and light. This second rise is not decoration, it is the breath of the bread. If the loaf goes into the oven tight, it will bake dense before it can open.
- 6
Heat the oven
While the loaves rest, heat the oven to 250C with a baking stone, baking steel, or heavy tray inside for at least 40 minutes. The old ferran is read by hand, but a home oven needs patience and a full preheat. The hot floor sets the bread quickly, then the trapped gas pushes the crumb open.
- 7
Score and seed
Brush the tops lightly with water, scatter with sesame and nigella if using, then score each loaf with a shallow cross or 3 short cuts. Keep the cuts shallow. They guide the lift without letting all the strength escape.
- 8
Bake it hot
Slide the loaves onto the hot stone or tray. Bake for 8 minutes at 250C, then lower to 220C and bake 10 to 14 minutes more, until the loaves are swollen, golden in patches, and sound hollow when tapped underneath. If your oven heats unevenly, turn the loaves once near the end.
- 9
Cool and tear
Let the matlou cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then cover loosely with a cloth if you want a softer crust. Tear it warm at the table, or split it once fully cooled for sandwiches. It should show an airy, tender crumb with small tunnels ready for harira, olive oil, or grilled meat.
Chef Tips
- •Buy fine durum semolina that smells sweet and fresh. If it smells flat or dusty, the bread will tell on you.
- •Check your yeast before a holiday bake if the packet has been open. Stir a pinch into warm water with a little sugar; if it doesn't foam in 10 minutes, feed your guests another bread today.
- •For a Ramadan table, bake in the afternoon and keep the loaves wrapped in a clean cloth once barely warm. Matlou should be tender enough to meet the bowl of harira.
- •A baking stone or steel is the closest a domestic oven comes to the floor of the ferran. Heat it longer than you think, then work quickly when the bread goes in.
Advance Preparation
- •Matlou is best the day it's baked, but the shaped loaves can be refrigerated after the second shaping for up to 8 hours. Bring them back to room temperature until puffy before scoring and baking.
- •Baked loaves freeze well for 1 month. Cool completely, wrap tightly, and rewarm directly from frozen in a 180C oven until the crust feels lively again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 120g)
Calories
315 calories
Total Fat
5 g
Saturated Fat
1 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
4 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
490 mg
Total Carbohydrates
61 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
10 g
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