Man'oushe with Za'atar

The Levant’s everyday flatbread: a soft round spread with za’atar and olive oil, baked for about a minute in a very hot oven. This version rises with sourdough starter.

Untested: I have not cooked this one yet — the pizza oven has not been bought. It is here for the Pizza Ovens dive, and it is adapted from the source named in the Notes.

Ingredients

• 225 g (8 oz) bread flour
• 225 g (8 oz) whole wheat flour
• 415 g (14 oz) water
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 100 g (3.5 oz) mature sourdough starter, or 1 teaspoon instant dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons za’atar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1. Mix the flours, water, salt and starter by hand to a wet dough, then knead until smooth.
2. Rise 6 hours at room temperature (2 hours if using instant yeast).
3. Ball. Divide into 3 or 4 balls and rest 45 minutes.
4. Za’atar oil. Stir the za’atar into the olive oil.
5. Heat the oven until the stone reads about 750 °F (400 °C).
6. Shape. Stretch each ball by hand into a small round, pushing the air toward the rim. Spread with the za’atar oil.
7. Bake about 1 minute, turning.

Notes

Source Adapted from Federica Scanavini, “Sourdough Man’oushe,” on Ooni’s recipe pages. (The page prints the oven as “725 °F (400 °C)”; 400 °C is 752 °F.) The salt is given only as “1 tablespoon,” without a weight.

Other names Man’oushe, manakish, manakeesh. King Arthur’s home-oven version rolls the dough, docks it with a fork, and bakes it at 550 °F for 3–4 minutes.

Starter The same starter feeds Sourdough Pizza Dough.

Temperatures are for the oven floor (stone), read with an infrared thermometer. A pizza oven’s built-in gauge reads the air, which runs much hotter.

The Pizza Ovens dive on the Food site covers the oven, the fire and the dough in depth.