Aish merahrah

Name: Aish merahrah
Prep time: 150 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 180 min
Cuisine: Egyptian
Ingredients: 300 g fine maize flour (cornmeal); 100 g wholemeal wheat flour; 2 tbsp fenugreek seeds; 3 g fast-action dried yeast; 1 tsp salt; 360 ml warm water; 3 tbsp wheat bran or coarse maize flour

Corn and fenugreek flatbread

Upper Egypt's crisp corn and fenugreek flatbread

Features:

Vegetarian Dairy free Make ahead

Cuisine:

Egyptian

Village women in Sohag, Qena and the countryside around Luxor still bake aish merahrah in mud-brick ovens, a whole week's supply at a time. Made mostly from maize flour with ground fenugreek seeds, it is thin, rough-textured and crisp at the edges, with a gently bitter, maple-like fenugreek aroma and a faint sourness from fermentation. Fresh, it is folded around ful medames, salty mish cheese or a dab of molokhia; dried, it keeps for weeks and is crumbled into soups and stews. A little wholemeal wheat flour holds the dough together, so it is not gluten free. Maize has almost no stretch, and trying to roll it like wheat dough is the classic mistake: it cracks and tears, so pat it out with wet hands instead. Chef's tip: toast the fenugreek seeds in a dry pan for a minute before grinding; it softens their bitterness and deepens the nutty flavour.

Total time: 180 min
Difficulty: medium
Serves: 8

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Ingredients

Serves8

For the dough

10 ½ oz fine maize flour (cornmeal)
3 ½ oz wholemeal wheat flour
2 tbsp fenugreek seeds
⅛ oz fast-action dried yeast
1 tsp salt
1 ½ cups warm waterroughly

For shaping

3 tbsp wheat bran or coarse maize flourfor the paper

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Method

0/7 done

Step 1: Toast 2 tbsp fenugreek seeds in a dry pan over medium heat for about 1 minute, until a shade darker and fragrant. Cool and grind to a fine powder.
2 min
Step 2: Mix 10 ½ oz fine maize flour (cornmeal), 3 ½ oz wholemeal wheat flour, the ground fenugreek, ⅛ oz fast-action dried yeast and 1 tsp salt. Stir in 1 ½ cups warm water to make a thick, sticky paste, softer than bread dough.
Step 3: Cover and leave in a warm place for 2 hours, until bubbly, risen a little and smelling pleasantly sour.
120 min
Step 4: Heat the oven to 475°F (425°F fan) with two baking trays inside.
20 min
Step 5: Scatter baking paper with 3 tbsp wheat bran or coarse maize flour. Wet your hands and pat egg-sized pieces of dough into thin rounds about 18 cm across and 3–4 mm thick, re-wetting your hands often.
Step 6: Slide the paper onto a hot tray and bake for 12–15 minutes, until the edges are crisp and lightly browned and the centre is dry to the touch.
15 min
Step 7: Bake the rest the same way. For the traditional dry bread, return the cooked rounds to the switched-off oven for an hour to dry out completely, then store in a tin.

Nutrition per serving

Calories: 180 kcal
Protein: 5 g
Carbs: 37 g
Fat: 2 g
Fibre: 4 g

Nutrition values are estimates.

Recipe by

KrazyBadal

All recipes by this chef →

Good to know

How long does aish merahrah take?: About 180 minutes in total: 150 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to cook.
How many people does it serve?: 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
Is it vegan?: Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
Can I make it ahead?: Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
What can I use instead of fenugreek seeds?: Leave them out, or add a little extra mustard seed (you lose the slightly bitter, maple-like note).
What can I use instead of fast-action dried yeast?: Fresh yeast, three times the weight.

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