As you may know I love playing around with yeasted recipes. After watching MasterChef recently I had another go at making homemade crumpets which were OK-ish, but rather involved. So when I found these pancakes in a just-released book – A Month in Marrakesh, by Andy Harris, published in 2011 by Hardie Grant (www.hardiegrant.com.au) – I just had to try them.

Here they are, altered a little to suit my tastes. Start early as they must sit and rise for some time. They come out almost crumpet-like on top and the word is that the Moroccan people like them with honey for breakfast, presumably so the honey can drip down into those little holes.

This quantity made A LOT of pancakes (I lost count) so I filled the leftovers with rocket and cheese and baked them in a cheese sauce for dinner – delicious!

MOROCCAN BEGHIR

1 tablespoon dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup warm water
2 eggs
150ml warm milk + 1 cup warm water
2 cups fine semolina
2 cups plain white flour
more warm water to make a thin batter
oil to fry

Put the yeast, sugar, salt and warm water in a bowl. Mix well and cover to allow to prove for 15 minutes*.

Meanwhile beat eggs in a bowl and add milk and 1 cup warm water. Place semolina, flour and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix together. Pour in the egg mixture and mix well, then add the yeast mixture and beat for about five minutes. The mixture should be like pouring cream, so add enough more water to achieve this. Cover (I use a clean plastic shower cap kept for the purpose) and leave for 1-2 hours.

When ready to make the pancakes, heat and grease a heavy frypan, or use a non-stick pan. Ladle in just enough batter to coat the pan. Swirl it around, and tilt the pan so that bubbles appear on the surface and begin to break. Return to heat and cook for just long enough for the top to set, then transfer to a plate without flipping the pancake. Pancakes may be stacked on top of each other.

Delicious served with honey and butter spread on the lacy side. Makes around 20.

* Next time I will try omitting this step. With good yeast, this should not be necessary.