Zaatar Bread {Recipe}

For those who love Middle Eastern Flavours…

Recipe:

Ingredients for Pita Bread:

Flour- 3 Cups
Salt- 1 1/2 tsp
Yeast-1 Packet
Sugar – 1tsp

Warm Water- 1 ¼ Cup
Honey- 1 tbsp
Olive Oil- 1 tbsp

Ingredients for Zaatar Filling:

3/4 cup olive oil
few cloves garlic crushed into a paste with a pinch of salt
2 Tsp lemon zest
8 – 10 Tbsp Zaatar and/or ground Sumac

Method:

Mix the yeast in little warm water and a teaspoon of sugar, set aside to rise
Mix Flour, salt, honey and olive oil together, followed by risen yeast mixture
Make a soft dough and knead for 10 minutes
Keep the dough aside covered with a wet cloth to rise for an hour
After an hour knead the dough again and make 8 to 10 equally sized balls
Pat down each balls into ¼ inch round pitas, keep aside for half an hour

For Zaatar filling bread:

With a fork scratch the pita bread.
Spread 1 table spoon each of the zaatar spread and spread all around the bread leaving the edges. Fold in and sealt the edges.
Bake in a preheated oven at 220 C for 12- 14 minutes.
Serve hot with Labneh and olives.

For Regular Pita bread:

Bake in a preheated oven at 220 C for 5 minutes at the lower tray, turn upside down and bake for another 3 minutes on the center tray
Soft, puffed up yummy pitas breads are ready.

– Courtesy Sumod Tom