Baking bread the Berber way

In the tiny Berber village of Tassa Ouirgane in the High Atlas mountains, The View from Fez team learned how to make tanort, a traditional Berber bread.

Tanort, served with local olive oil and honey

The clay oven, the takat, is easily found in local souks. The first thing to do is to make a fire in the oven and allow the wood to burn down until there's a thin layer of ash-coated coals in the bottom on the takat (about one hour).

A new takat at Asni souk

Lalla Kebira at Dar Tassa then made the bread mixture. Here's the recipe:

for two large tanort:
500g flour
1 teaspoon of dried yeast
1 glass of warm water
1 teaspoon of salt

Mix the yeast with the warm water and add to the dry ingredients to make the dough. After kneading, leave the dough to rise for around 15 minutes.

Once the takat is ready (it mustn't be too hot), divide the dough in half and plaster it to the inside of the oven, making it into a circle. Do the same again with the other half of the dough on the other side of the oven.

This takat at Dar Tassa has a clay coating on the outside to keep in the heat

Pop a tagine lid over the takat and leave to cook for around 10 minutes. It's ready when it looks like this:


Ease the bread off the sides of the oven, scrape off any burnt bits, and the tanort is ready to eat. It's perfect dipped into argan or olive oil, or served with honey.
Anyone know where to get hold of a takat in Fez?

Lalla Kebira makes wonderful tanort

You will find a complete photo essay on Berber Bread Making on The View from Fez Photo Journal

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