France's Big Day

July has been France's month ever since the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. Actually, Bastille Day didn't become official until some time later. In 1790 the anniversary was simply termed the Fête de la Fédération, and was not referred to as Bastille Day, and adopted as an annual national holiday, until almost a century later, in 1880.

But while this was a defining moment, most people love France just as much on the 364 other days of the year.

Much of this comes down to the national preoccupation with food and wine. And who could blame the French? Their country has some of the best agricultural land and growing conditions, a nation full of food lovers and chefs aplenty.

As far as food goes, while cheese – or rather its 300 or so variations – is a national favourite, so too is bread. Every village has a boulangerie, and most early mornings will see a long queue of customers forming outside to pick up a bundle of fresh baguettes and croissants to go with their morning coffee.

Long, long ago in another career I made bread for the sandwiches every day in my health food takeaway shop, and pretty much all the other food too.

In keeping with the 'healthy' angle I also made wholemeal croissants on Sunday mornings and they were a real hit. At that time croissants weren't available everywhere as they are now, and wholemeal ones (just like now) weren't heard of.

I adapted a recipe which I think came from a US Bon Appetit magazine, and chose it because it looked quicker than the classic recipes which seemed a bit too much trouble. I had small children. I taught cookery classes in the back of the shop. I was more than busy. 

Here is the recipe.....

I hope you like it! Good luck with it.

Morocco - Beghir pancakes

Today is Morocco's celebration of independence from France, which it achieved in 1956. 

While visiting the country just over a year ago, I was interested to see how French it still is. Many people still speak French; street signs on the cities are often in French; and some breads are similar too.

However, the country is also African and Islamic, so these influences are strong. A whole swathe of the  world, in its hotter areas, make their breads on skillets or slapped onto the walls of ovens or cooked like these, above, in a communal oven, much like a pizza oven. Flatbreads make sense. They cook quickly and are ideal to wrap around, or fill with, the spicy dishes also common in these places.

In Marrakesh and other cities in Morocco, we came often across crumpet-like breads for  sale as well. Moroccans like them with honey for breakfast, presumably so the honey can drip down into those little holes. I had no idea how they were made, so when I found these pancakes in a book – A Month in Marrakesh, by Andy Harris, published in 2011 by Hardie Grant – I just had to try to make 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!

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. 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. 

Watch this video to learn more....

Find out more about Morocco here.