Cooking in
Oregon
North African
Baghrir
Baghrir are Morocco's 'thousand holes' pancakes — thin, spongy semolina pancakes cooked on one side only, with a surface covered in hundreds of tiny holes created by the carbon dioxide from yeasted batter and the evaporation of steam through the batter's surface. They look similar to crumpets and are made by the same principle: a liquid, yeasted batter is poured onto a hot pan and cooked without flipping until the top surface is completely set through the holes. The one-side cooking preserves the delicate, open texture — flipping would close the holes and make the pancake dry. Baghrir are served with a dipping sauce of heated honey and smen (fermented butter) into which they are dunked.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
300 g
fine semolina
Origin · ItalyGustiamo · Bronx →
7 g
instant dried yeast
Your own market
1 tsp
baking powder
Your own market
500 ml
warm water
or enough to make a very liquid, pourable batter
Your own market
For the dipping sauce
100 g
honey
Origin · New ZealandNot yet stocked in Oregon
50 g
smen (fermented butter)
Not yet stocked in Oregon
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Combine the semolina, yeast, and baking powder in a blender, add the warm water, and blend until the batter is completely smooth and free of lumps. The consistency must be very liquid — it should flow and level itself immediately when the blender is stopped — because a batter that holds a peak or moves sluggishly will trap the bubbles beneath its surface rather than letting them burst through as holes. Work the blender long enough that no graininess from the semolina remains.
2
Pour the batter into a bowl and leave it to proof at room temperature until the surface shows active bubbling and a faint sour note develops in the aroma, because it is the gas already alive in the batter that drives the holes open the moment it meets the hot pan. Absent bubbling at this stage means the holes simply will not form, however well everything else is done.
3
Set a dry non-stick pan over medium heat, adding no fat of any kind, because even a film of oil or butter prevents the batter from spreading freely and disrupts the even rise of bubbles to the surface. The pan is ready when a drop of water skips and evaporates on contact.
4
Pour a ladleful of batter into the centre of the pan and let it spread of its own accord into a thin, even round — do not touch or shake the pan, so the bubble structure that has built up during proofing is not disturbed before it has a chance to set. This is where the dish lives or dies: if the batter cannot flow freely, the holes cannot migrate to the surface, and no amount of extra cooking will recover them.
5
Cook on one side only, without flipping, watching as hundreds of small holes open across the surface where carbon dioxide bubbles burst through the batter. Continue until the top is completely set — no wet or glossy batter remains visible and the edges lift cleanly from the pan — because flipping even briefly collapses the holes and changes the texture of the crumb irreversibly.
6
For the dipping sauce, gently heat the honey and smen together in a small pan until the smen is fully melted and the mixture is warm and unified, so the pungent depth of the fermented butter is carried evenly through the honey rather than pooling in streaks. The sauce should smell of rich, funky butter against sweet honey; serve it alongside the warm baghrir for dunking.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Smen aged several months or more, with a pronounced, complex fermented character; single-origin raw honey with floral depth; stone-ground fine semolina from heritage durum wheat.
02
Estate — Commercially produced smen of good quality; artisan raw honey; fine semolina milled from named durum wheat.
03
Market — Widely available smen or good-quality cultured butter used in its place; clear runny honey; standard fine semolina from any reliable miller.
04
House — Unsalted butter substituted for smen; supermarket clear honey; standard fine semolina. The fermented-butter character of the sauce will be absent at this rung.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. The proofed batter surface shows active, small bubbles before the batter goes into the pan.
◇Sight. Hundreds of small holes open across the surface of the pancake as it cooks; no wet batter remains visible on the top before it is removed from the pan.
◇Sound. A drop of water skips and evaporates instantly on the dry pan, confirming it is at the correct temperature before batter is poured.
◇Touch. The edges of the cooked baghrir lift cleanly from the pan without resistance, confirming it is set through and ready to remove.
◇Where it lives or dies. The batter must be liquid enough to spread unaided on a dry pan: a batter that cannot flow freely will not allow carbon dioxide bubbles to migrate to the surface, and no holes will form.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley Riesling
Ancient Lakes Vineyard — Cave B · Ancient Lakes
Not yet stocked in Oregon
Wine
From Oregon
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Without alcohol
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The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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The working kitchen