Kesra (bread)

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Synthesised from Google · Yelp · Reddit · 3 food blogs · Updated August 2026

The story the reviews tell

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.

What makes this version distinct

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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