Are you a fan of Pita or do they mostly fall flat for you ? 
Terrible jokes aside, I can tell you that outside of North-Africa, not very many people know of Batbout. With today’s post, I will show you the Moroccan Batbout Recipe, a.k.a Moroccan Pita Bread, and by the time you make it, you will hopefully be convinced that it is one of the best pita breads in the world.
Moroccan Batbout Recipe
I spent the first 18 years of my life in Morocco. I lived in four different cities, and frequently visited a whole lot more. Batbout is a recipe that was pretty much popular anywhere I went.
The one thing that I could not find though, was an explanation to what the name itself means. The best I could find was “It’s called like that because it’s chubby … why you ask?”
So, there it is, it’s a chubby pita that everyone seems to love.
The recipe is pretty simple and if you have made pizza before, you will find it to be very similar.
Here is what you will need:
- 2 Cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting.
- 1 cup semolina
- 1 tbsp whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 ½ tsp dry active yeast
- 1 cup lukewarm water
Start by pouring your water into a large bowl and adding to it your yeast. Make sure to let your yeast bloom for a couple of minutes before adding the salt, olive oil, flour and semolina.
After a little bit of mixing and kneading you will get a very “shaggy” dough. What you will want to do at this step is cover your bowl with a towel and let it rest for 15 minutes. This will allow your dough to fully hydrate and relax making it a lot easier to shape into small balls. Once your dough has rested, divide into 8 pieces and shape it into small balls. Roll your dough balls in semolina and place on a large baking sheet. Cover and let rest for another 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes you will notice that your dough balls are relaxed and easy to work with. As the picture below shows, you will have a pita that is about 1/2″ thick. Once again, place your pitas in a large (pre-dusted with semolina) baking sheet, cover and let them rest for 60-90 minutes or until they double in thickness. The timing will depend on ambient temperature, but for more consistent results, place your baking sheet in the oven with the light turned on.
The Result is Amazing
It’s the perfect sandwich, hot pocket, or even pizza bread you will find anywhere. You can open it in 2 seconds using your fingers, you can stuff it with anything you want, and it is by far the fluffiest sandwich bread you will ever eat.
But don’t take my word for it, go ahead and make it for yourself and leave me a comment down below. I am always happy to read from you guys.
Batbout
Batbout – Super Fluffy Moroccan Pita Bread – Easy to follow flatbread recipe that will change your understand of what Pita bread is. Vegan friendly.
Ingredients
- 2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup semolina
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 ½ tsp dry active yeast
- 1 ⅓ cup lukewarm water
Instructions
Mix flour and semolina together in a large bowl. Add water, yeast, salt, olive oil. Mix altogether with a fork until the liquid is absorbed, then start kneading roughly with your hands in the bowl until you can form a sticky, lumpy ball.
Cover bowl and let rest for 15 minutes.
Lightly knead your dough and shape into a ball. Divide the dough and roll into 8 equal balls. On a cookie sheet dusted with semolina, place the balls of dough, sprinkle more semolina on the tops of the balls and cover with a clean towel. Let rest for 15 minutes.
Using a rolling pin, roll out each ball on a flour-dusted surface to a 1/2 inch thickness (you can make them round our square or any shape you want). Move the flattened dough to a flour dusted surface and cover with a clean towel. Repeat until you have no dough left to roll. Cover the dough balls and let them rise for 60-90 minutes.
Heat up a pan, preferably cast iron, on medium and place one pita on the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side. Make sure that you flip your pita every 15 seconds to ensure even cooking and a proper rise.
Repeat until you don't have any dough left. Serve with anything you want. I would suggest butter, cream cheese, honey or jam.
Recipe Notes
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Looks beyond delicious!! Have to try this!
Totally!
Such a cute pita bread. Love pita :)
Thank you! Give it a try :)
My husband is from Algeria and they call this Matlou’. I used your recipe and it’s so good!! I’m so happy I can make this bread. I used to eat it almost everyday when I was in Algeria!
I’m so happy to hear that Zahia! I didn’t know it had a different name in Algeria. Glad you guys enjoyed it :)
I used this recipe and it made for such amazing little pitas! next time I will make in advance and freeze them. thanks !
Glad you like it Sara!
I made these and they were really good. But not so fluffy as yours! Should there be sugar in the dough? it’s so fun to watch them puff up!
Thank you Julia!
Yes I know! Watching bread rise and puff-up is literally one of my favorite things in the world.
That being said, I think yours maybe just needed a little bit more time to rise. The ambient temperature makes a big difference in proofing time. Let them rise in the oven next time with the light on and give them an extra 30 minutes.
You can also add a little sugar in the dough if you want. I don’t think it’s necessary, but it won’t hurt, so why not.
Let me know how it works out!
Can substitute semolina and whole wheat flour with out flour or the all purpose flour?
Hi, I made these pita bread today and only one puffed up. It was delicious!
What could be the reason for this? Maybe it was the thinnest one I rolled out? They where nice and kind of soft fluffy after the 90 min rise.
I didn’t use any oil in my iron cast pan.
Thank you!
Hi Ariane!
Depending on the ambient temperature, yours could have maybe used a little bit more time to rise further. Give them more time next time and make sure that your pan is very hot. Have fun <3
I would love to make this but….Please tell me 1cup means how many grams. Some says 125g same says 250g online. . I’m very confused 🥺
Hello Aya,
One cup is 120 grams. Here is the most accurate conversion chart I found : https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart
Enjoy!
This batbout recipe is perfect. I made it yesterday to eat it with kefte and, this morning we had it with amlou. The taste of home. Thank you for the recipes. Shokran Bzef
I’m glad you like it! Bssahtek
Planning on making this soon, but in the text description it says 16 pieces, but in the actual recipe it says 8?
Hi Mark,
It’s 8 pieces, thank you for letting me know. I’ll update the post.
Thank you so much for the batbout recipe! I’m excited to share it with my class on my presentation.
One of the recipes of above says one and a half teaspoon of yeast the other below says 1 tsp ? Which is it? Might wanna correct that as well.
Delicious and easy! However, the dough is fairly high hydration and was far too loose to really roll into balls, it was just sort of blobs for me that I was able to flatten (with my hands) and pat into circles. They cooked beautifully though and rose very well.
They have a distinctly crunchy exterior with a softer interior, unlike pita bread. Its extremely good.
I’m baking in the US, so the flour here (I used King Arthur All Purpose) may be different than flour in other parts of the world. I wonder if bread flour might be more appropriate to get something that can be rolled as described in the recipe.