Harcha: Very Salty and More Batter Than Dough
I just made the Harcha (moroccan flatbread) recipe and 2 things were very off. First off the mixture was a batter, not a dough that could be patted out into circles and the batter was very salty...pretty inedible. When I was searching to see if anyone else had comments about the recipe (why can comments be attached directly to the recipes?) I saw the comment about the different brands of kosher salt. Mine happens to be Morton. I did weigh the semolina so am curious if the amount of water is off. Fortunately, they did cook up but are more pancake-like in texture.
Comments
Hi Nan - I'm so sorry that the recipe didn't work for you. As you've discovered, different brands of kosher salt have grains of different sizes so 11/2 teaspoons can yield different amounts of salt amongst the brands. We always use Diamond Crystal kosher salt because we like the size of the grains - large enough to pick up and sprinkle, but small enough to dissolve easily. When using Morton's you'd want to use a little more than half as much salt as called for in our recipes. As for the texture issues of the dough, a couple of things come to mind. First, did you let the semolina soak for 10 minutes before adding the butter? This is an essential step to make sure the semolina absorbs the water. Second, was the butter chilled when you added it to the semolina? Once the mixture sits for 10 minutes it should still be hot enough to slightly melt the butter so you can mix it in easier. However, if the butter is too warm when it's added to the hot semolina it will fully melt and make the dough too loose. Not sure if either of these steps is where the recipe got tripped up. I did double-check the amount of water and confirmed that 3/4 cup is correct. Let me know if I can help further. Best, Lynn C.
Thanks for your thoughts and for taking the time to respond. Yes, I did let the semolina soak for 10 minutes and then added the chilled butter, cut in the specific number of pieces. I will try the recipe again. Perhaps there was an issue with my scale. I might have even neglected to zero out the scale once my bowl was on it.
Hi Nan - If you try it again, please let me know how/if it turns out this time. If not, we can continue to try to troubleshoot for you. Best, Lynn C.