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Medfouna (Stuffed Berber Flatbread with Spiced Minced Meat and Suet)

Name: Medfouna (Stuffed Berber Flatbread with Spiced Minced Meat and Suet)
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Morocco
Ingredients: 350 g strong white bread flour; 150 g fine durum wheat semolina (smida rqiqa); 7 g instant dry yeast; 8 g sea salt; 320 ml lukewarm water; 350 g lean beef or camel meat, finely hand-minced; 80 g fresh lamb suet or camel hump fat (dirwa), finely grated; 150 g yellow onions, finely minced and squeezed dry; 30 g fresh flat-leaf parsley and coriander, finely chopped; 8 g ground cumin; 10 g sweet paprika; 4 g ground ginger; 3 g crushed red pepper flakes (soudaniya); 50 g toasted blanched almonds, coarsely chopped; 2 whole hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped; 30 ml olive oil (for brushing)

Renowned as 'Berber pizza', this crisp desert flatbread encases a spiced filling of minced beef, rendered suet, almonds, and hard-boiled eggs.

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The story

Hailing from the sun-baked oasis of Tafilalet and the desert outpost of Rissani, medfouna is an iconic Amazigh stuffed bread baked to welcome desert travelers across the Sahara. Traditionally, nomadic bakers cooked this hearty round bread in open desert sand pits buried under hot embers and clean river stones, though modern community wood-fired ovens now bake them daily. The secret to its signature juiciness lies in the inclusion of high-melting-point animal suet, which liquefies during high-heat baking, basting the lean minced meat and toasted nuts from within.

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