What square, layered Moroccan pancake is often folded before cooking? Msemen is the answer.
Msemen is a traditional Maghreb flatbread especially associated with Morocco and Algeria. Its dough commonly combines wheat flour, durum-wheat semolina, water, salt, sugar, yeast, and melted butter. Cooks stretch the dough thin, fold it repeatedly, and cook the square on a griddle, creating crisp edges and multiple tender internal layers.
It is often served at breakfast or alongside mint tea, coffee, or honey. Savory versions can contain fillings such as onion, tomato, or khlea, a preserved meat product. The bread is also known as rghaif in parts of the Maghreb, while related forms have names such as mlewi.
Msemen is easily confused with baghrir, another Moroccan pancake. Baghrir is a spongier, round pancake marked by many small holes, whereas msemen is layered and usually square. Malawach is a different, flaky pancake associated chiefly with Yemenite Jewish cuisine.