If you are looking for the best flatbread on the globe and willing to make it from scratch Ma’nouche is the answer. (Manakish the plural form of manouche), are flatbread top breakfast food in Lebanon, you can buy them early in the day at bakeries in all the main cities. Yeasted round dough enlivened with different toppings starting from the bright, herbaceous spice blend known as za’atar to cheese, kishik or vegetables. Unlike other flatbreads that are just served as a side, manakish are the star of the Lebanese breakfast, call them a national Lebanese fascination, pair them with a cup of sweet tea and I tell you they’re a match made in breakfast heaven
Manakish are flatbread that nourishes the body and soul!
Fresh baked manakish is a year-round necessity for every Lebanese, anyone can buy them anywhere in the world from a Lebanese bakery, but sometimes when I feel overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of life, I love giving myself an entire day to bake manakish from scratch and to fill the house with its smell and fill my belly with all the deliciousness that it entails. I step into my kitchen, gather the ingredients, and embark on the journey of manakish baking. You might just find, as I have, that it’s a love that nourishes the body and soul. Baking manakish can truly act as a form of therapy; it will make your house feel and smell homey and cozy — the beautiful aromatic flatbreads will win out over any other breakfast treat with their irresistible aroma and decadent taste.
A perfect dough to make manakish
Yeast dough recipes can be a bit intimidating — some shy away from them, worried they’re loborious to make. But when you have a good recipe with straightforward instructions, that worry will automatically fade. For making manakish with home ovens rather than in communal ovens, you need to play around with the dough to help it boost the flavor, tenderness and rise. The recipe is accessible for people who may not be experienced bread bakers, it’s an easy and efficient one, I promise.
Every manakish dough begins with a great manakish crust. Some like it thin and crispy, while others prefer a thick and soft crust. My recipe has it all: soft with a delicious crisp and perfect flavor. It’s my go-to manakish dough recipe.
Ingredients needed to Make Manakish Dough:
- All- purpose flour: While all-purpose flour can be used for just about anything, it’s a great flour to use it for manakish.
- Instant yeast: To make the dough, use instant dry yeast! Instant dry yeast particles are smaller than active dry yeast and therefore do not need to be proofed before being added to dry ingredients. Instant yeast also releases more carbon dioxide than its counterpart, prompting a bigger rise in baked goods including the manakish dough.
- Powdered Milk: Add powdered whole milk to the dough, it plays as a dough enhancer and keeps your bread lovely and soft. If powdered whole milk is hard to find, use whole milk (3.25-3.5% fat). instead of adding water to the dough.
- Yogurt: Add full fat milk yogurt, this helps in fermentation, resulting in a fluffier dough.
- Olive oil: Olive oil makes the dough more elastic, facilitating stretching and handling.
- Sugar: It serves as food for the yeast and aids in browning during baking.
- Salt: Obviously for taste, but it also helps tighten the gluten structure within the dough, which helps strengthen it, so your dough is less likely to tear.
- Lukewarm water: I call for lukewarm water, and recommend it to be around 100° F./ 38 °C. Water that’s too hot will kill the yeast and too cold will affect the rise.
Four enticing ingredient toppings to make manakish!
What’s good about a manouche is that it gives you scope to invent all kinds of interesting toppings. Below, I have given the 4 basic toppings, each basting in its own elements. Who knows, you may play around and invent your own! In Lebanon, it is acceptable too to bring your own filling to your neighborhood bakery then the baker would cover the topping on the dough and bake it. Use light olive oil or sunflower oil in all the toppings, and avoid extra virgin olive oil because it would burn the top of your manakish, so please avoid it.
- Zaatar Topping: The most popular manakish are the ones made with zaatar. Zaatar is a seasoning blend found in every household in the region. It is incredibly versatile in its utility, but it is especially famous to make manakish. Though the blend varies from country to country and family to family, standard ingredients include wild thyme, sumac, sesame and oregano, the blend is infused in a bowl with olive oil or sunflower oil. Mix well then spread over the dough and bake until firm and baked through.
- Cheese Topping: The most common cheese used in making manakish is Akkawi cheese, it needs to be desalted. Cut the cheese into squares, cover with water and soak it for 8 hours, changing the water every 1 hour to reduce its saltiness. The best substitute for Akkawi cheese will be a mix of both mozzarella and feta cheese!
- Kishik Topping: A blend of kishik, onion, tomato paste, light olive oil, pine nuts(optional) , seasoned with salt and some chilis. Now you may be asking what is kishik? It is a powdery cereal that consists of bulgur and yogurt. The mix is first fermented then dried and eventually turned into a powder. You can find it at Middle Eastern stores. My very favorite manouche alongside the zaatar topping.
- Red Pepper Paste Topping: Really a satisfying topping, especially if you want to think a bit out of the box. The star of the show in this mix is the red pepper paste, mix it with onions, white sesame seeds, walnuts, light olive oil, season with salt and chili flakes. Use our red pepper paste recipe or a good ready red pepper paste brand. I highly advice you to heat up this topping with your favorite hot pepper.
To Make the dough:
- 1-In a large bowl mix the flour, salt, sugar, instant dry yeast and oil
- 2-Add the powdered milk, yogurt and lukewarm water and mix well integrating all the ingredients with your hands. When the mixture starts coming together, knead it thoroughly to get a malleable dough, if the dough is too dry, add more water, just a 1 tablespoon at a time. If the dough is too sticky to handle, mix in more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Make sure you do not add too much extra flour; you want a soft, slightly adhesive dough. Slap the dough on a counter a few times, this will strengthen the gluten. Place the dough in a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour until it doubles in bulk.
- Note: Play a bit with the dough to a chieve the best result. The dough requires some kneading to help it come together and to develop its gluten. I sometimes beat it several times, or you can use a dough maker too. The dough needs to rise twice: first, for 1 hour, then as separate disks for 20 minutes (after adding the toppings), this will provide your dough with extra fluffiness.
Prepare your toppings while the dough is resting. You can make all of the listed toppings or simply choose your favorite.
- 1 -The zaatar topping: In a bowl, mix the zaatar and olive oil or a combination of olive oil and sunflower oil to form a moderately thick paste, cover and set aside.
- 2- The cheese topping: Cut the cheese into squares, cover with water and soak it for 8 hours, changing the water every 1 hour to reduce its saltiness. The best substitute for Akkawi cheese will be a mix of both mozzarella and just a bit of feta cheese!
- 3- Kishik topping: In a small bowl mix together the onion, kishik, olive oil, tomato paste, a pinch of salt, cayenne or hot pepper and pine nuts (if used) until you end up with a moderate thick paste, cover and set aside.
- 4- Red Pepper Paste Topping: In a small bowl combine together the red pepper paste, onion, sesame seeds, chopped walnuts, olive oil, salt and your favorite hot pepper, cayenne or chili flakes; mix well to infuse to a moderate thick paste.
Put together and Bake!
- 1–When the dough has doubled in size, sprinkle some flour on a clean counter, flour your rolling pin and divide the dough into 3 equal portions, just to make it easier for you to roll it. Use one portion at a time, spread the dough using the rolling pin to an even thickness of 1/2 inch, divide the dough into large or small circles (you choose the size). Gather and re-roll the scraps, and repeat with the remaining dough.
- 2-Spread roughly 1 or 2 tablespoons of the topping, depending on the size of your manakish (choose your favorite) or use the four toppings for a varied manakish platter) on the dough leaving a ¼ inch border.
- 3-Keep the unbaked manakish in the oven sheets for 20 minutes, for a second fermentation.
- 4-Preheat the oven to 500°F -260°C, with a rack in the center.
- 5-Trasfer the round doughs to a lightly greased oven sheet, most probably, you need more than one sheet.
- 6-Bake one oven sheet at a time about 10 minutes until lightly browned and crispy. Remove with an oven spatula, serve warm with labneh, labneh balls olives and tea. Heavenly delicious.
What to serve with Manakish?
Tea is the soulmate of manakish, serve it with labneh, labneh balls, olives makdous/ mamdous zaitoun, foul medames and make a Lebanese breakfast feast.
Storage:
Manakish are best freshly made, but they can be stored in an airtight container for 1 week and reheated briefly in the oven. You can pop in your freezer once they’re baked and fully cooled, place in plastic bag, and our method guarantees perfect up to three months.
You truly don’t need much to create amazing manakish at home, and it starts with great dough and high-quality topping ingredients. This is such a simple recipe that provides wonderful results every time.
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Manakish
Description
Ingredients
- For thr dough:
- 1 kg/ 2 lb 4 oz all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons instant dry yeast
- 3 tablespoons full fat powdered milk please read the note below about the dairy in the dough for substitutes
- 2 tablespoons Whole milk yogurt
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 ½ cup water or as needed to form a dough
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
Toppings
Zaatar topping:
- ½ cup zaatar
- 1/3 cup olive oil or a mix of olive oil and sunflower oil to prevent the manakish from burning.
Cheese topping
- 250 grams/ 9 oz Akkawi cheese
Kishik Topping:
- ½ cup kishik
- 1 small onion finely chopped1/2 teaspoon tomato paste
- 1/3 cup olive oil, or more to form a paste
- A dash of chili flakes optional
- 3 tablespoons pine nuts optional
Red Pepper Paste Topping
- 1/2 cup red pepper paste
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- ¼ cup olive oil, or more to form a paste
- 2 tablespoons white sesame seeds
- Crushed Habaneros optional
- Salt to taste
- Sunflower oil to grease the baking sheets
Instructions
To Make the dough:
- 1-In a large bowl mix the flour, salt, sugar, instant dry yeast and oil
- 2-Add the powdered milk, yogurt and lukewarm water and mix well integrating all the ingredients with your hands. When the mixture starts coming together, knead it thoroughly to get a malleable dough, if the dough is too dry, add more water, just a 1 tablespoon at a time. If the dough is too sticky to handle, mix in more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Make sure you do not add too much extra flour; you want a soft, slightly adhesive dough. Slap the dough on a counter a few times, this will strengthen the gluten. Place the dough in a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour until it doubles in bulk.
Prepare your toppings while the dough is resting. You can make all of the listed toppings or simply choose your favorite.
- 1 -The zaatar topping: In a bowl, mix the zaatar and olive oil or a combination of olive oil and sunflower oil to form a moderately thick paste. Cover and set aside.
- 2- The cheese topping: Cut the cheese into squares, cover with water and soak it for 8 hours, changing the water every 1 hour to reduce its saltiness. The best substitute for Akkawi cheese will be a mix of both mozzarella and just a bit of feta cheese!
- 3- Kishik topping: In a small bowl mix together the onion, kishik, light olive oil, tomato paste, a pinch of salt, cayenne or hot pepper and pine nuts (if used) until you end up with a moderate thick paste. Cover and set aside.
- 4- Red Pepper Paste Topping: In a small bowl combine together the red pepper paste, onion, sesame seeds, chopped walnuts, olive oil, salt and your favorite hot pepper, cayenne or chili flakes; mix well to infuse to a moderate thick paste.
- Now your toppings are ready.
Put together and Bake!
- 1--When the dough has doubled in size, sprinkle some flour on a clean counter, flour your rolling pin and divide the dough into 3 equal portions, just to make it easier for you to roll it. Use one portion at a time, spread the dough using the rolling pin to an even thickness of 1/2 inch/ 13 mm, divide the dough into large or small circles (you choose the size). Gather and re-roll the scraps, and repeat with the remaining dough.
- 2-Spread roughly 1 or 2 tablespoons of the topping, depending on the size of your manakish (choose your favorite) or use the four toppings for a varied manakish platter) on the dough leaving a ¼ inch border.
- 3-Keep the unbaked manakish for 20 minutes, for a second fermentation.
- 4-Preheat the oven to 500°F -260°C, with a rack in the center.
- 5-Transfer the round doughs to a lightly greased oven sheet, most probably, you need more than one sheet.
- 6-Bake one oven sheet at a time about 8 minutes until lightly browned and crispy. Remove with an oven spatula.
- Serve warm with labneh, labneh balls olives and tea. Heavenly delicious.
Notes
- If powdered whole milk is hard to find, use whole milk (3.25-3.5% fat). instead of adding water to the dough.
1 Comment
Your description of manakish as a top breakfast food in Lebanon is spot on! It’s amazing how versatile the toppings can be—my personal favorite is the cheese and thyme combo.