An Israeli-Lebanese matchmaker who wins everything: this is how you will do at Pita-Za'atar like in Beirut - Walla! Food

2021-03-10T04:47:15.692Z

This is perfect street food for a snack, but Yogev Yaros wants you to invest a little more, and turn the house into a bakery

Food
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baking

An Israeli-Lebanese matchmaker who wins everything: this is how you will do at the Pita-Zaatar house, as in Beirut

This is perfect street food for a snack, but Yogev Yaros wants you to invest a little more, and turn the house into a bakery

The Lebanese connection

Not many know my family history, but I have a Lebanese connection and not from my mother or father, at least not in the usual sense.

Like many good ones I grew up among divorced parents - Dad lived in the United States and I lived with Mom in the country.

A few years after the divorce, my father remarried, to a woman with an amazing and exciting family history.

Her mother, a Jewish Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Israel (then another Palestine), met a charming Lebanese woman, fell in love with him and married him in Beirut.

I spent most of the big vacations with my dad and wife, with my stepbrother, and a deep and very loving family connection was formed.

The house was always full of family members and together we would cook and eat lunch and dinner with smells, textures and flavors of Beirut and Levant.

The Mankish, a Mediterranean pastry of Lebanese origin, is actually "pita zaatar" as we call it here, and it is sold as the perfect street food for a quick snatch in the bustling cities across the Levant.

It is easy and fun to make, very versatile for various toppings and toppings, and excellent alongside brick and other salads in the center of the table for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

In a sense, simple, but unforgettable: the cake of "the world-famous butcher"

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Hyssop knocker

Recipe By: Yogev Yaros, Walla!

Food

20 minutes of work
Four hours in total
Medium difficulty
5 units

Arabic
vegan
Recipes for Independence Day
fur
Pastries
Breads
Breakfast
Dinner
kosher

You can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Zaatar knocks (Photo: Alon Mesika)

Conversion calculator

Ingredients

- 500 grams pizza flour (3 cups and another half cup)
- 350 ml lukewarm water (glass and another half glass)
- 4 grams of dry yeast (teaspoon)
- 12 grams of sugar (2 teaspoons)
- 12 grams of salt (2 teaspoons)
- 20 grams of olive oil (tablespoon)
For hyssop and blush spread:
- ½ Dry hyssop (spice mixture)
- 1 cup of fresh hyssop (not mandatory but highly recommended, if not add another quarter cup of dry hyssop)
- 2 tablespoons blush
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¾ Olive oil

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Preparation

How to make a hyssop knocker?

1

Prepare the hyssop puree and blush:
Finely chop the hyssop leaves, crush the garlic cloves or chop very finely with a knife and mix together with the hyssop spice, blush and olive oil until you get a kind of thick pesto.
2

Prepare the dough:
In a mixer bowl with a kneading hook (or a wide bowl for those who have three hands) mix the flour, yeast and sugar together at a slow speed for a few seconds.
3 Pour the water and put about a minute, just until the water is completely absorbed into the flour.
Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.
4 After resting continue kneading on medium-high speed, for about 7 minutes, or until the dough is completely collected from the sides of the bowl and feels strong and slightly elastic to pull.
5 Continue kneading slowly, add the salt and after about a minute add the oil.
Put until the oil is completely absorbed and the dough is again nicely gathered (you can use manual mixing if needed).
6 Remove the dough to a work surface, grease the bowl with a thin layer of olive oil and return it to the bowl.
Fold the dough several times into itself until it remains stable and has a slightly springy and very taut surface.
Cover with cling film and leave at room temperature to swell for about two hours (until it increases in volume by about 70% and does not necessarily double in volume).
7 Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Divide the dough into 5 equal parts and stretch into tight balls.
Place in a slightly floured tray and cover to swell for another hour (until they are puffy and airy).
8 Place a first ball of dough on a floured work surface and with the help of a rolling pin roll it out to a thickness of 0.75 cm.

Continue like this with the rest of the dough balls and wait another 20 minutes until the dough rises slightly again.
9 Lightly grease the finger pads with olive oil and make small dimples on the surface of the dough, spread each such pita with a generous layer of hyssop puree and add another gentle drizzle of olive oil.
10 Arrange the doughs in one layer on a baking tray (or two) lined with baking paper and greased with a little oil.
Put in the center of the oven for baking for about 8 minutes, or until nicely browned.
10

How to prepare the clicker in pictures:
Roll the dough to a thickness of 0.75 cm and wait 20 minutes for the dough to rise slightly again (Photo: Alon Mesika)
Lightly grease the finger pads with olive oil and make small dimples on the surface of the dough (Photo: Alon Mesika)
Spread with a generous layer of hyssop puree and add another gentle drizzle of olive oil (Photo: Alon Mesika)
Transfer to a baking tray lined with baking paper and oven (Photo: Alon Mesika)