Whether you call it “thyme pie” or Lebanese pizza, Man’oushe is a delicious flatbread. While I don’t have the convex cook-top called a saj to bake Man’oushe, I do have a pizza stone which works just fine to achieve the ideal crispy crust. Traditionally topped with thyme, sumac, sesame seeds, salt and oil – sometimes with chopped cucumber, tomato and sliced lamb (like schwarma) – it’s too tempting to put your own spin on the basic recipe from the start. I began tweaking before the dough was even formed by replacing the regular salt in the dough with my new toy,Yuzu salt, from Tokyo (citrus flavored salt). I’d like to get some Greek-inspired lemony goodness in with the thyme, and definitely some garlic! The Lebanese are missing out if they haven’t thought of that already. 😉 I also spread one of the flatbreads with olive hummus and topped it with goat cheese, leaving the other simply brushed with olive oil, garlic, thyme and salt.
This recipe is largely based on the Man’oushe recipe in Lonely Planet’s “Street Food” – a must-have for the culinary adventurer.
Man’oushe
Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 1/4 cups warm water
- 1 tsp salt (I had fun mixing Yuzu salt with Penzey’s Greek seasoning)
- 1 tsp olive oil
- flax seeds (I need more omega 3s in my life, how about you?)
- Toppings before it goes in the oven: Olive oil, thyme, garlic, sesame seeds, goat cheese.
- Toppings after it comes out of the oven: Tomatoes, cucumber, Greek yogurt.
Directions:
- Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, set aside.
- Combine 2 cups of flower and salt together, then stir in the oil.
- Stir in the yeast water.
- Knead the dough until it’s soft and stretchy, like pizza dough. Roll into a ball and set aside in a cloth-covered bowl to rise until it’s doubled in size (~2 hours).
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Divide dough into 4 equal parts and punch each one down, then let rise for another 30 minutes.
- Roll each ball out into 8-10 inch disks, about 4 mm thick. Add toppings.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes on a pizza stone or cookie sheet. Add the rest of the toppings.
*At the time of writing, my dough is still rising. Bread takes FOREVER. Meanwhile, I’m making Matapa from last week, but adding 1/2 tsp each of cumin and coriander, which really bring out the peanutty goodness.
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Images by WanderFood.