A grain with a long memory

Walk through any Tunisian kitchen and you will find a jar of semolina within arm's reach of the hob. It is milled from durum wheat — the hard, amber grain that also gives couscous its bite — and it behaves quite differently from the soft wheat flour used for a Victoria sponge. Semolina has a sandy, faintly sweet flavour, a golden colour and a stubborn streak: it drinks liquid slowly, refuses to be rushed and rewards patience with breads that stay soft for days.

In Tunisia, semolina carries the cook through the whole day. It becomes the flatbread wrapped around grilled fish, the syrup-soaked cake brought out for guests, the warm bowl of porridge that settles a cold evening. Once you understand how it absorbs liquid, you can move between all three without a recipe in front of you.

Know your grades before you start

Semolina is sold by texture rather than by name, and the choice matters more than most recipes admit.

• Extra-fine (semoule extra-fine): almost powdery. Best for cakes, porridge and coatings, where a smooth, even crumb is wanted.
• Medium (semoule moyenne): the everyday grade. Use it for bread dough, couscous and most Tunisian household baking.
• Coarse (semoule grosse): distinct grains you can feel between your fingers. Perfect for harcha, tabouna crusts and anything meant to crunch.

Buy in small quantities and use within a few months. Semolina has more oil in the grain than white flour, so it can turn stale or faintly bitter if left in a warm cupboard through a summer.

The golden rule: let the semolina drink

Semolina is thirsty. Mix it with water or milk and it will look far too wet, then firm up dramatically as the starch hydrates. This is the single most common mistake in home baking with it.

Give every mixture a rest before you judge it. Twenty minutes is enough for a bread dough; thirty minutes suits a cake batter; and a porridge needs constant, gentle heat rather than a long rest. You will find you need roughly one part liquid to one and a half parts medium semolina for a workable dough — around 250ml of warm water to 400g of semolina — but always keep a little back and add it gradually.

Two more habits worth keeping. First, use olive oil rather than butter in cakes; it coats the grains and produces the moist, slightly sandy crumb that Tunisians expect. Second, handle the dough gently. Durum gluten is strong but short, so long kneading makes breads tough rather than airy. A brief knead and a generous rest will do far more for you.

Breads: from tabouna to harcha

The simplest Tunisian semolina bread needs no more than semolina, yeast, salt, warm water and a glug of olive oil. Mix 500g of medium semolina with 7g of dried yeast, 10g of fine salt and 2 tbsp of olive oil, then work in about 300ml of warm water. Cover and leave for twenty minutes, knead for a minute or two only, and let it prove until doubled. Shape into flat rounds, dimple the tops with wet fingers, and bake on a preheated tray or stone at 220°C for twelve to fifteen minutes until the crust sounds hollow.

Harcha, the griddle bread eaten from Morocco to western Tunisia, is made with coarse semolina and buttermilk or soured milk. The dough is pressed flat by hand, cooked slowly in a heavy pan, and turned once so both sides turn deep gold. Serve it warm with honey, olive oil or a sharp fresh cheese.

For tabouna, the everyday Tunisian loaf, a hotter surface and a shorter bake give a chewier crust. If you have no clay oven, a cast-iron pan preheated for ten minutes in a hot oven comes surprisingly close.

Cakes, syrups and makroudh

The sweet side of semolina is where most British cooks fall in love with it. Basbousa, the syrup-soaked tray cake found across North Africa, is made by mixing 300g of fine semolina with 150g of sugar, 150ml of natural yoghurt, 100ml of light olive oil and a teaspoon of baking powder. Rest the batter for half an hour — it will thicken noticeably — then spread it into a lined tin, cut into diamonds and bake at 180°C for about thirty minutes.

Pour cool syrup over the hot cake, never the other way around. A simple syrup of 200g sugar and 150ml water simmered for five minutes with a squeeze of lemon, a strip of orange peel or a spoonful of orange flower water is traditional. The cake drinks it up within minutes and turns glossy and tender.

Makroudh, the semolina and date pastry, follows the same logic. Fine semolina is bound with oil and a little orange flower water, wrapped around a soft date paste, then fried or baked and dipped briefly in honey. The contrast between the grainy shell and the sticky filling is the whole point, so do not overwork the dough.

Porridge: tchich and other comfort bowls

Tunisians do not reserve semolina for celebrations. Tchich, a softly cooked porridge, is made by whisking 100g of fine semolina into 700ml of milk or water and cooking it over a low heat for fifteen to twenty minutes, stirring often, until it thickens and loses its raw taste. A pinch of salt goes in at the start; honey, cinnamon, toasted sesame or chopped dates go on at the end.

For a savoury version, cook the semolina in salted water or stock and finish with olive oil, harissa and a spoonful of chickpeas. It makes a substantial breakfast or a late supper, and it costs very little.

Whichever direction you take, the technique is the same: add the semolina gradually to hot liquid, keep the heat low, and stir as though you mean it. Semolina forgives many things, but lumps formed in the first thirty seconds stay with you.