Lebanese Manakish Zaatar with Olive Oil, Sumac and Warm Flatbread

In a stand mixer with the dough hook (or by hand), combine flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the warm water and 2 tbsp of the olive oil and knead 8 minutes until smooth and elastic.

Ingredients

• For the dough (makes 8 manakish):
• 500g strong white bread flour
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1.5 tsp fine salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 300ml warm water
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• For the zaatar topping:
• 60g good Lebanese zaatar blend (thyme, sumac, sesame, salt)
• 100ml good extra-virgin olive oil
• To serve:
• 200g labneh
• Sliced cucumber, ripe tomato, black Lebanese olives
• Fresh mint sprigs

Instructions

1. In a stand mixer with the dough hook (or by hand), combine flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the warm water and 2 tbsp of the olive oil and knead 8 minutes until smooth and elastic.
2. Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm spot for 1 to 1.5 hours, until doubled.
3. Make the zaatar paste: in a small bowl, mix the zaatar blend with the olive oil to form a loose, spoonable paste. Let it sit 15 minutes so the dried thyme softens and the oil becomes fragrant.
4. Preheat your oven to its hottest setting (250°C / 480°F) with a heavy baking tray or pizza stone inside for at least 20 minutes.
5. Punch down the dough and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll each into a ball, then flatten with a rolling pin into a 6-inch (15cm) round, about 5mm thick.
6. Use your fingertips to dimple the surface of each round all over (this stops it from puffing into a balloon and helps the zaatar oil pool into pockets).
7. Spoon a generous tablespoon of the zaatar paste over each round and spread to within 1cm of the edge.
8. Slide 2-3 manakish at a time onto the hot tray and bake for 5-7 minutes, until the edges are pale gold and the bread feels light. Manakish should be soft and pliable, not crisp like a pizza.
9. Serve immediately, hot from the oven, with bowls of labneh, sliced cucumber and tomato, black olives and fresh mint — to be torn, dunked and folded around mouthfuls of cooling vegetables.
10. Manakish (singular: manoushe) is the breakfast and street snack of all of Lebanon — bought from corner bakeries called 'forn' before the day begins, eaten folded in half and walked down the street still warm. Zaatar — the spice blend of wild thyme, ground sumac, toasted sesame and salt — has been picked and dried in the Lebanese mountains for thousands of years, and even appears in the Book of Exodus as 'ezov'. To eat a fresh manoushe zaatar with a glass of sweet black tea is the morning ritual of Beirut, of Tripoli, of every small mountain village from the Bekaa to the Mediterranean — the taste of a country that has, against every odd, never lost its appetite for breakfast.