Name: Zaatar Pita Bread | Manakish Za'atar Bread
Prep time: 90 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 98 min
Ingredients: 1/4 tsp Sugar; 1.25 tsp Yeast; 1/2 cup Water; 1.5 cups All purpose flour; 1/2 tsp Salt; 2 tbsp Olive oil ( 1 tbsp + 2 tsps); 1/4 cup Zaatar spice mix; 1/4 cup Olive oil

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A delicious pita bread from Lebanon – Zaatar bread or the Zaktar bread topped with the zaatar spice mix. Learn how to make this yeast-based Middle Easter delicacy with detailed step-wise pictures.

Yayyyy!!! We are in the last recipe for this baking marathon. For Z, I am going to share popular pita bread from Lebanon – it’s the Zaatar bread or Zaktar bread. It is also known by the name manakish zaatar. It’s a flatbread topped with Zaatar spice mix. To simply put, it’s the Middle Eastern delicacy similar to pizza/focaccia.

As always, for this marathon also, I picked Z recipe without any trouble. Last time it was zucchini pakoras, and this time it’s the zaatar bread. It’s is one of the easy flatbreads to prepare, and this can be served with any Indian gravies. The base bread is yet yeast-based one prepared with all-purpose flour.

So what’s it Zaatar?

It is a balanced mix of herbs and spices like thyme, oregano, sumac, and toasted sesame seeds. So now what is sumac? Sumac is a dried red berry native to the Middle East which is dried and ground into a coarse powder. The ground sumac is a versatile powder which used extensively in Middle Eastern cooking. :-) Traditionally Zaatar is blended with olive oil and used as a bread topping. As I found the Zaatar spice mix online, I did not look out for sumac. But if you can source sumac, you can prepare your own zaatar mix by adding the same amount of dried thyme, sumac, dried oregano, and toasted sesame seeds. Some recipes call for dried basil too.

Here is the simple Zaatar bread recipe,

Ingredients for the Zaatar Bread-

For Yeast Proofing:

Sugar – 1/4 tsp
Yeast – 1.25 tsp
Water – 1/2 cup

For the Bread:

All-purpose flour – 1.5 cups
Salt – 1/2 tsp
Olive oil – 1 tbsp + 2 tsps

For the topping:

Zaatar spice mix – 1/4 cup
Olive oil – 1/4 cup

Procedure:

Yeast Proofing:

In a bowl add the lukewarm water, sugar and yeast and mix
Let it sit for 10 minutes.

Preparing the Dough:

In a wide bowl add the sifted flour, salt, and olive oil and combine them.
Now slowly add the yeast mix and combine to form a dough.
Knead the dough for 10 minutes.

Transfer this mixture to a wide bowl greased with oil and cover it with a cling wrap and set aside until the dough has doubled in size. It took me about 1.5 hours this time.

Preparing the topping:

Mix the za’atar spice with ¼ cup of olive oil and set aside.

Preparing the bread:

After the dough has risen, divide it into four equal portions
Knead the dough on a dusted surface and roll out into a thin round shape.

Baking:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the pizza stone drizzled with semolina or cornmeal while preheating.
Now press fingertips all over the rolled bread forming indentations
Spread the prepared topping over the bread leaving the edges.
Carefully place this on the pizza stone and bake for 8 minutes.

Let it cool and serve with hummus or cucumber sauce or with your favorite curry. Err; this bread tastes great without any sides. Thanks to the Zaatar topping.

Notes:

You can bake this in the regular cookie tray. I used my pizza stone.
Instead of regular yeast, you can use instant yeast, and instant yeast can be added directly to the dough and no proofing required.
Adjust the zaatar spice mix as per your preference.
Temperature plays a significant role in dough rise. So the rising time varies.

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5 from 1 vote