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Mahjouba is a traditional flatbread that is one of the most popular street food items in the country. These thick and flaky crepe-like flatbreads are made with semolina, then filled with a combination of tomatoes and caramelized onions. Mahjouba is often paired with harissa sauce on the side, but the condiment is completely optional.
Roosterkoek, literally meaning grill cake, is a traditional bread baked on a grid over the coals. Made with flour, yeast, salt, sugar, oil, and water, these small balls of leavened bread dough are brushed with butter and grilled until slightly charred.
Roosterkoek is best enjoyed piping hot, straight off the grill, smeared with more butter. The bread makes an inevitable part of a braai, a South African barbecue, but it's also great as a snack, paired with butter, jam, or cheese.
MOST ICONIC Roosterkoek
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M'semen is a traditional Maghrebi flatbread made with a combination of flour, semolina, sugar, salt, yeast, warm water, oil, and clarified butter. The dough is kneaded until it becomes smooth, and pieces of it are then flattened and shaped into squares.
Once the dough has been folded and shaped, it is cooked on a griddle or fried in a pan until it becomes crispy on the exterior and chewy on the inside. Although m'semen is traditionally consumed on its own as an accompaniment to coffee or tea, it can also be stuffed with various meats and vegetables.
Bazin is a popular Libyan unleavened bread (also considered a dough-based dish) made by boiling barley flour and salt in water and beating it with a stick called magraf until it develops into a dough which is then baked or steamed. The bread is characterized by its hard texture, achieved by the usage of large amounts of salt.
It is traditionally shared and consumed using the right hand. Bazin is often served with a tomato-based stew, potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and mutton.
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Native to Egypt, aish baladi is a flatbread made with whole wheat flour. It is traditionally baked in extremely hot ovens and can be found at numerous Egyptian markets. The bread has been produced since the times of ancient Egypt, when it was made with emmer wheat.
Nowadays, this bread is a staple at Egyptian tables, from breakfast to dinner, and everyone eats it, whether poor or rich. In fact, it is so important that the word life (aish) is included in its name.
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Injera (or tayta) is a spongy Ethiopian and Eritrean flatbread and an integral part of life for the locals. The bread is made from teff, the tiniest grain in the world, also considered a super grain due to its high nutritious properties. Injera is so popular that the people greet each other by asking "Did you eat injera today?", and if the answer is positive, that assures the other person that all is well.
This flatbread is served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and sharing it when times are rough has kept many Ethiopians and Eritreans alive. Its flavor is tart and quite similar to sourdough bread. The dough is left for three days to ferment and is then shaped into a large, pancake-like disk.
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Kesra or khobz f'tir is a traditional flatbread that is used as a daily bread. The dough consists of semolina, oil, salt, and water, and typically contains no yeast. Unlike the similar khobz el dar, kesra is not baked, but cooked on a tagine or on the stove.
It is recommended to pair kesra with an Algerian chicken and freekeh soup called chorba.
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Batbout is a traditional flatbread originating from Morocco. The bread is usually made with a combination of wheat flour, semolina, yeast, salt, sugar, and olive oil or vegetable oil. The dough is shaped into balls that are left to rest and rolled into thin rounds.
The bread is baked in a large pan or on a griddle on both sides until the air bubbles begin to appear on the surface. This puffy and chewy flatbread is then left to cool before consumption. Batbout is typically served as an accompaniment to grilled meat, but it can also be served for breakfast with jam, butter, or honey.
This flatbread is prepared with wheat flour, warm water, salt, and oil. Although chapati arrived in Kenya quite late, at the end of the 19th century, when Indian people worked on the Kenya-Uganda railway, nowadays it is considered a traditional food in the country.
It is said that Kenyan chapati is not that difficult to prepare, but one needs practice in order to get the right ratio of water and flour. Kenyan chapati is typically served at festive occasions and celebrations in Kenya. It can be prepared in two ways: direct chapati (regular chapati) or layered chapati, where the dough is shaped into a rope, the rope is shaped into a coil, and the dough is then pressed and rolled in order to flatten it out before baking.
Harsha is a popular Moroccan bread that is usually made with a combination of semolina, sugar, butter, milk, baking powder, and salt. It is traditionally fried in a pan until it develops a soft, crumbly texture. Most Moroccans prepare it for breakfast or as an afternoon snack, serving it with butter, honey, or cheese.
It is recommended to pair harsha with a cup of hot Moroccan tea.
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “Top 42 African Breads” list until February 13, 2025, 2,112 ratings were recorded, of which 515 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.