Maneesh

Maneesh

This is a middle eastern bread which has been made for hundreds of years.  And when you taste it you will realise why; the bread itself is slightly sweet and the savoury sesame seed topping complements it perfectly.

First make some dough by roughly mixing together 500g strong white flour, 10g salt, 25g caster sugar, 10g fast action yeast, 1 tbsp olive oil and about 300ml warm water (don’t add it all straight away, use most of it then add the rest if needed to make a rough dough).  

Knead for 5-10 minutes until the dough is smooth then leave to rise for at least 1 hour or until doubled in size – this can take as much as 3 hours.

When the dough has risen knock the air out by folding the dough in on itself then divide into pieces – I made 4 quite big flatbreads – and stretch to  make a the pieces thin, like a pizza base.  Mine are oval so I could fit them on 2 baking trays and bake all 4 at the same time/

Make the za’atar topping by mixing 6 tbsp sesame seeds, 2 tablespoons each of thyme, marjoram and oregano and a teaspoon of salt with enough oil to make a paste.  You can if you like blend the ingredients together in a food processor but I like the crunch of the whole sesame seeds.

Spread the topping on the flatbreads, cover lightly and leave to prove for another 30 minutes.

Finally bake at 230C for 15 minutes until golden and puffy.