Pâtisserie Marocaine : Dough for Moroccan Sweet Pastries / Pâte Pour Pâtisseries Marocaines!

Recette et photos par Mamatkamal

This is a dough made from a few ingredients and is widely used in Morocco to make sweet pastries, especially Moroccan Kâab al-ghazal or Kâaba =الكَعْبَة أَوْ كعب الغزال. The most important part of making this, is the kneading and the rolling of the dough. It is amazing how a small ball of this dough could be stretched thin and thinner that you could "read the newspaper through it"! I can still remember my mother who in minutes could roll this magic dough around the rolling pin and spin out a THIN sheet of this dough that almost covered our large family table. She could not give any exact measurements of ingredients, she relied on her eyes.

This dough should be stiffer and drier than normal bread dough, however it should be moist enough so that the rest of the ingredients will be well blended. Don't add too much water; for this typical dough, a little too dry is better than too wet and sticky. Add extra cold water only if the dough is really too stiff and you can't get all the dry ingredient incorporated. Since the dough is quite stiff, it will be difficult to knead it at the beginning, but just keep kneading and you will notice the consistency of the dough changing gradually, and becoming smooth. Kneading should take at least 30 to 45 minutes and if you decide for some reasons, NOT TO KNEAD the dough long enough, it will be tough and break apart easily.

The rest period is as important as the kneading process, to let the gluten relax, so it is necessary to let the dough rest to get a more malleable dough.

Pour lire la recette
To read more:
http://moroccancuisinemarocaine.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/dough-for-moroccan-sweet-pastries-pate.html