What are the main Moroccan breads?

Bread in Morocco is not a side — it is the cutlery. The foundation is khobz, a flattish round loaf made from semolina and white flour, baked golden and faintly chewy. At lunch I watched a Marrakech family tear it into thumb-sized scoops to pinch up tagine and mop the sauce; no forks appeared. Many neighbourhoods still send their shaped dough to a communal wood-fired oven, the ferran, and you can smell the morning bake drifting through the medina.

For breakfast the breads turn flaky and indulgent. Msemen is the star: a square pancake folded over and over with oil and a little semolina, then griddled so it pulls apart in buttery layers — eaten with honey and butter, or stuffed with onion and spiced meat. Its cousin rghaif is the same family. Harcha is the other morning regular, a thick semolina griddle cake with a crumbly cornbread texture and a crisp crust, split and spread with butter, honey or fresh cheese.

Then there is baghrir, the "thousand-hole" crêpe — a spongy, semolina-and-yeast pancake riddled with tiny holes that drink up a glaze of melted butter and honey. Soft and addictive. For sandwiches and scooping, batbout is the go-to: a small, soft, pita-like round cooked on a griddle that puffs into a pocket, perfect stuffed with kefta or grilled vegetables from a street stall.

My tip: time your medina mornings around a msemen-and-harcha stand and watch the cook stretch and fold the dough — it is theatre. Buy bread fresh and eat it the same day, as it firms up fast. On our food walks we stop at a working ferran so you see the wood oven and taste a loaf still warm; it reframes how you understand every meal that follows.