
I don’t know about you, but I love bread. Any kind, any shape. There is just nothing more comforting than warm, crusty bread, almost straight from the oven. I think that is pretty much a universal truth.
This particular type of bread is flat, and a common Levantine Arabic food. It can have various types of toppings, from cheese to lamb to fried eggplant.
Although personally I have no point of reference to compare this lovely bread to, it was taste-tested by two Syrian friends who both confirmed that this recipe is a winner!
In a bowl, add the lukewarm water, and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let sit for five minutes so the yeast can get nice and bubbly.
Dump the flours and salt into a bowl, and add the yeast mixture.
Turn on your mixer on a medium speed. Knead until you have a smooth dough, about five to eight minutes.
There you go! A smooth stretchy dough.
Take the dough off your dough hook, and form into a ball. Oil lightly, so that it won’t stick to the bowl as it rises.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let sit for about an hour and a half, to two hours.
Once the dough is getting close to ready, get your Za’atar, and add olive oil to make a nice paste.
You may also want to get the rest of your dinner ingredients together. Cherry tomatoes and mint leaves, in this case!
Deflate your dough ball, and use a dough scraper or a knife to cut the dough into roughly equal chunks. As you can see, I ended up with about 9 chunks, but I wasn’t particularly precise.
Take a chunk of dough, and roll completely flat using a rolling pin.
With a pastry brush, spread the Za’atar mixture over the flat discs of dough. Place on a baking tray, and put into a pre-heated oven.
And there we are, baked! Don’t you just want to bite into this?
Serve with side-salad, mint leaves, and grilled halloumi for a lovely evening meal. Enjoy!
- 360 grams strong white flour
- 130 grams plain flour
- 20 grams cornflour
- 15 grams sugar
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 295 grams lukewarm water
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 tablespon zaatar
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- Sift the flours and salt together in the bowl of a stand mixer, then stir in the sugar.
- Pour the lukewarm water into a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast on top and let sit for about 5 minutes.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the yeast mixture and oil to the flour and mix. Turn the mixer to medium and knead until you have a smooth, soft dough, about 5-8 minutes.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and set aside in a warm place for a bout 1.5–2 hours, until doubled.
- While the dough is rising, place a baking stone on the bottom rack of the oven and preheat to 400°F.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, degas gently, the divide into four equal pieces. Cover the pieces and let rise for another half hour.
- Flatten each ball, then roll each into a round about 10" in diameter.
- Place the rounds on pizza peel (or inverted sheet pan), then top with 2–3 Tbsp of the wild thyme spread, spreading in to within ½" of the edge.
- Slide the round onto the baking stone and bake until lightly golden and bubbly, about 8–10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, top as desired (or leave it plain) and serve while warm.
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