Polydish city guide
Best Kesra (bread) in London
“Semolina bread cooked fast on a flat griddle, eaten hot or cold, dipped in olive oil or paired with cheese and fermented milk.”
What the real thing tastes like
Kesra (Arabic: كسرة) is a traditional Algerian bread made from semolina (wheat or sometimes barley). It is usually cooked on a flat grilling tajine over high heat. This bread can be eaten hot or cold, on its own or spread (with butter, jam, honey, etc.), stuffed or dipped in olive oil, accompanied by tajine, with different sorts of cheese. It can be served with fermented milk (leben) or curdled milk (raib). Kesra is prepared with semolina, oil or melted butter, salt, and tepid water, possibly with, depending on the region, baker's yeast, nigella seeds, flower water. orange tree, etc. Kesra is made all over Algeria, It is called khobz el ftir in Algiers, aɣrum n tajin in Kabylia, and arekhsas or arekhsis in the Aurès region.
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Kesra is a semolina bread that lives on the griddle—cooked fast and hot on a flat tajine until it browns. It's humble in ingredients (semolina, oil or butter, salt, water) but endlessly flexible: eat it plain while steam still rises, tear it open for cheese, dunk it in olive oil, or let it soak up the warmth of fermented milk. Across Algeria it wears different names—khobz el ftir in Algiers, aɣrum n tajin in Kabylia—each region adding its own touch of nigella or flower water to the dough.
Order it here when it has
- adaptable to many accompaniments
- works hot or cold
- simple ingredient list
- regional flavor variations
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