In 1994 I traveled to Morocco on a school trip. We toured a good chunk of the central part of the country guided by our geography teacher, Teddy. The bread-making by the Bedouin in the desert was probably one of the most memorable parts of the trip for me. We rode into the desert on camels and spent the night in a Bedouin tent. And I remember shooting stars, lots of shooting stars!
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How to make bread in the desert
1. Make a fire using dried palm leaves and heat a small pile of rocks in the fire. Use enough rocks to create an approximately half-meter diameter circle when they are laid out flat in a single layer. The rocks should probably be about goofball size.
3. Prepare a dough. I don't have a recipe, but an appropriately proportioned combination of flour, water, yeast, and salt might do.
4. Sit, relax and enjoy the fire, while the dough rests and the rocks heat up.
5. When the rocks are hot enough, spread them out in a circle, carefully not to burn yourself! Maybe they can be heated up already in a circular shape so that they don't need to be moved when hot.
6. Press the dough onto the rocks in a flat circle.
5. Cover the dough with sand.
6. Build a small fire of dried palm leaves on top of the rock, dough, and sand pile.
7. Sit, relax and enjoy the fire some more. Bake the bread until done.
8. Carefully clear the fire and sand from the top of the bread. Cool it slightly and clean off any residual sand, ash, and rocks.
9. Enjoy the bread, maybe accompanied by some Moroccan 'whiskey' - that is hot water, with fresh mint leaves and lots of sugar!
Guten Appetit!
Afterward, if you can, enjoy a good night's sleep under the stars or in a Bedouin tent. Keep an eye out for shooting stars, they are especially plentiful in the desert.
Gute Nacht!
Images:
All pictures were taken near Zagora, Morocco, from where we rode into the desert to spend the night there. - July 4th and 5th, 1994.