Fadia Jawdat, a knowledgeable resource and valued contributor to the Gazette, first wrote about za’atar and man’oushé in the summer of 2015.
Man’oushé bi-za’tar is the quintessential breakfast bread in Lebanon. It’s a common denominator in the Palestinian world––enjoyed at home and in the street, in the poorest neighborhoods, as well as in the most affluent parts of town.
The Dough
Recipe from the Soufra Cookbook
Ingredients
4 cups (480 grams) all-purpose flour
plus up to an additional 1 to 2 cups (200-300g) flour
2 Tbl (30 g) powdered non-fat milk
1 tsp (5g) kosher salt
1 tsp (5 g) sugar
1 Tbl (15g) yeast
1/3 cup (80ml) olive oil
2 cups warm water
Instructions
An hour before baking, preheat the oven, with a pizza stone inside, to 500°F.
In a large bowl, combine flour, dry milk, yeast, and sugar and mix well. Add in the salt.
Stir in the olive oil and then the warm water. At this point, the mixture will seem more like a batter than a dough.
Begin adding additional flour by the half-cup until the dough comes together, is soft and pliant, but cleans the sides of the bowl.
Knead for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Place dough in a clean, lightly floured bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a cloth, and let it sit in a warm place for about an hour until it rises to double its size.
The dough can be prepared to this point the night before, punched down and stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.
When ready to bake, divide the dough into pieces the size of a tennis ball. On a floured surface, roll the dough to the desired thinness. With wetter toppings, like the tomato topping in the Soufra cookbook, I roll the bread a little thicker, maybe 1/3 to a ½-inch thick. For man’oushé with za’tar and oil, I roll the dough a ¼-inch thick.
Toppings for Man’oushé
Tomato Topping
Recipe from the Soufra Cookbook
Ingredients
½ cup olive oil
3 cups onion, diced
3 cups tomatoes, diced
Pinch of paprika or Aleppo pepper
Pinch of cumin
Pinch of black pepper
Salt to taste
Instructions
In a large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat and cook until the onion is soft and lightly browned. Add the tomatoes and spices and continue to cook until the tomatoes soften and break down. When most of the liquid from the tomatoes has evaporated, remove from the heat and season to taste with salt. Cool completely and spread the topping on the rolled dough.
Slide the bread off a lightly floured pizza paddle onto the pre-heated baking stone. Bake until the bread is cooked through, and brown and crispy around the edges.
Za’atar
Thinly rolled rounds of bread can be sprinkled with za’atar, a mixture of dried wild thyme, sumac, sesame seeds and salt, and drizzled with olive oil before baking. The spice mixture is available by mail-order from Canaan, a free trade organization in Palestine, from the Spice House or from the ubiquitous Amazon.
Slide the bread off a lightly floured pizza paddle on to the pre-heated baking stone. Bake until it is cooked through, dotted with air pockets, and browned with crispy edges.
Labneh and Kalamata Olives
Thinly rolled rounds of bread can be baked without topping and when out of the oven, spread with labneh and sliced Kalamata or oil-cured black olives.
They look so delicious- I’ll take all three please.