Semolina Pancakes

You didn't think I had forgotten about you did you?  Okay... maybe just for a minute but I am making it up to you with these!  You may have gathered we eat a lot, and I mean A LOT of pancakes in our house.  They are my son's favorite food and if you ask him what he wants for dinner he will always say PIZZA, which was a trained response but he doesn't normally eat it.  If you ask him if he wants pancakes he will get a huge smile and lick his plate clean.  These were very light and delicate, and the honey buter sauce used to top them was TO DIE... sorry just watched the Sex in the City movie...  Look at the golden color.  I thought of bringing it to the paint store to have them match it for our walls.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  And there is only the one set of photos because there is only so much you can do with yellow on tan... really, I need to take a photography class, or maybe a food styling class or something.  I'll get right on it, I have plenty of time........ oh sorry had to pick myself off the floor...that was funny, well it was funny to me.

According to Food and Wine these crepes, called begrhir, are served in cafes in Marrakech (and now I have to google Marrakech, I may have to go there, ahh it's in Morocco, I definitely would like to go there).  They can be topped with the honey butter below or apricot jam.  Enjoy.

Semolina Pancakes
Food and Wine May 2010

3 cups warm water
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 3/4 cups fine semolina
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
vegetable oil, for cooking (I used 1 teaspoon for every 2-3 pancakes)
1/3 cup honey, warmed
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Method

In a bowl combine 1/4 cup of the warm water with the bakingpowder.  In a food processor, combine the semolina with the flour, yeast, sugar and remaining 2 3/4 cups of warm water; process for 30 seconds until smooth.  Add the salt and baking powder mixture and process for 30 seconds longer.  Pour the batter into a large bowl, cover with a kithcen towel and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Heat a 10-inch non-stick skillet and coat it with a thin layer of vegetable oil.  In a small bowl, blend the honey with the melted butter.  Whisk the batter until creamy.  Ladle 1/3 cup of the batter into the skillet, tilting the skillet to distribute it evely.  Cook the pancake over moderate heat until bubbles appear all over the surface and the bottom is pale golden, about 2 minutes.  Shake the skillet to loosen the pancake (I just lifted a corner as it started to pull away from the pan) then slide the pancake onto a plate.  Drizzle with the honey butter and serve right away.  Repeat with more oil and the remaining batter and honey butter.  If you cannot seve them immediately like in our house I stacked them after they cooled slightly with a paper towel in between each so they wouldn't get soggy. I also freezed the remaining in a single layer on a cookie sheet and then stacked them in a freezer bag.  They reheated perfectly at 350 for about 2 minutes.

WARNING: if you have read Julie and Julia and you wondered how she repeatedly burned her fingers during the crepe pages, this recipe will make it all too clear for you.  They retain a whole lot of heath so keep the fingers away if possible.