It's stuffed flatbreads this week: with za'atar and sumac or...
harissa halloumi and.... a special WEEKEND VERSION with sesame sugar butter and spice to good to be true
welcome to COOKING THE MED
You are here with me Merijn Tol, food writer, cookbook author and cook from Amsterdam, but my heart is beating for the Med. If you too love food from the Mediterranean, from east to west from Palermo to Beirut, you came to the right place! Be at home in Café Mazahar’s COOKING THE MED. Where i serve you my Mediterranean recipes with a twist.
Cafe Mazahar is the name of one of my latest cookbooks, and my travelling popup.
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TALKING FLATBREAD TODAY
I am a sucker for flatbread. It’s not that i don’t like leavened bread, i do, but flatbread is something else. It’s the kind of easygoing bread that is the to go to bread in the majority of the world, and it’s easy to bake, you need very little ingredients nor time and it’s a vehicle to eat with: the best fork and knife one can think of! And the best bread to share and tear: a piece for you a piece for me.
like this levantine saying:
there is bread and salt between us
……meaning we know each other ! Isn’t that beautiful.
STUFF, FOLD, FLATTEN
Another great quality: there is unlimited possibilities to stuff flatbreads, fold it, flatten it again in 1000 myriad ways.
You are looking now at a very delicious version: it is a za’atar sumac stuffed flatbread called fatayer fallahy (one of the many names used for this bread) and it’s a beautiful recipe i learned in Lebanon from Palestinian refugees. It is flattened olive oily dough stuffed with huge amounts of fresh za’atar (i use a thick leaf fresh oregano here) and sumac which is folded a few times. And i made another one with a stuffing of grated halloumi and home made harissa. Picture below.
You can use so many kinds of filling. If you happen to know msemen or rghaif the Moroccan flatbreads (or pancake as you might call it too): it’s sort of the same idea. Don’t be fooled it is easy and fun.
What do you need?
Except for olive oil and salt there are only 4 ingredients
flour + pinch of yeast + sumac + fresh oregano (pretending to be the real herb za’atar (origanum syriacum)
or
a good quality or home made harissa + halloumi instead of the sumac and za’atar
What else can go in as filling?
The mother of my friend Mina uses roasted red paprika and black olives
but things as:
a mixture of minced meat, stirred loose with cumin, black pepper, grated garlic, finely sliced parsley, salt and tomato paste
or
anchovies, tomato paste and garlic…..and so on and on would be great too.
Use whatever you have and make it work. Veg, herbs, cheese it’s all good.
And even sweet stuff as you see……
There is only one rule: don’t put too much in: a little layer will be fine to leave space for you to fold it.
FLATBREAD WORKSHOP IMPROVISATION
When the Hummus Academy asked me to join their Plate for Palestine event last sunday with a workshop i knew it had to be this stuffed za’atar sumac bread. It literally has so many layers. The scent of the herbs takes you to the Mediterranean hills in Palestine. The combination of the fresh za’atar/oregano and tangy sumac with the thin crispy salty layered dough and olive oil is….. just really divine.
I went to the beautiful space with a huge bag full of fresh oregano, half a kg of sumac, 5 kg of flour, some bottles of olive oil, yeast and salt. Plus a baking pan and portable stove, as there was no kitchen in my workshop space. And of course we made it work: in the end a table, a bit of electricity and enthousiastic hands wanting to work, what more do you need. The people loved it! A Palestinian lady from Gaza got emotional over it, i felt her so much because food takes you home. It was so fun to bake this special bread with a group of people on a sunny sunday morning. Even though i wish it to be for another reason.
My friend in the kitchen Zahra joined me as assistant, the best i could ask for. And since many people were first timers making flatbread they all looked different, thick or thin or just right, but you know…. it really doesn’t matter, they are all delicious. And people outside the workshop just couldn’t resist asking to have a piece of it too. And you can see above, also me.
i loved the hummus was served on a flatbread!
Now onto the recipes…..
STUFFED FLATBREAD WITH ZA’ATAR AND SUMAC
serves 4
300 g flour
100 g semolina
pinch of yeast
sea salt
2 bunches of fresh oregano (preferably the one with thick leaves, greyish)
sumac (you need quite a lot!), pick the leaves
extra virgin olive oil (idem)
1 Mix with a spoon the flour with 100 ml of water, the yeast and some salt (you want this dough a bit salty) and stir. Now add spoon by spoon more water until the dough comes together, soft but not too moist. Now start kneading with your hands. If it is too moist just add some more flour. Too dry yes some water. It should be nicely supple and smooth after some minutes of kneading. If you have time, leave the dough to rest for half an hour, if not proceed straight away.
2 Now drizzle some olive oil onto your work surface, sprinkle some semolina on top and divide the dough into ping pong sized balls. Flatten each dough with your fingertops or with a rolling pin until very very thin. If there are holes, it’s fine don’t worry.
4 Sprinkle with a lot of fresh oregano, quite some sumac (don’t hesitate to put 1-2 spoons) and maybe extra sprinkle of salt (that makes it really irresistible). Add some more olive oil (yes it should be oily).
5 Now start to fold, like you would fold an envelope: all sides to the middle. Flatten with your fingertips until thin (if there is holes again and filling poppin’ out no problem) and fold again. Flatten again until thin.
6 Heat a frying pan until hot, don’t put in any oil. Bake the flatbreads 2-3 min. on each side, lower the fire a little bit to medium fire once they are in the pan.
7 Eat straight when hot! Maybe with a dollop of labneh on the side. Or just like that. Great next to a lentil soup.
WITH HARISSA AND HALLOUMI
Grate half a chunk of halloumi. Spread some good quality harissa over the dough, sprinkle with the halloumi and proceed to step 5.
And for my paid people i made a beautiful sweet one, you saw it already when you read this. Very much like the Turkish Katmer, that super thin dough with pistachio and cream inside. This is a quicker very delicious version of that. With sesamse sugar spices and….butter. For the weekend! And yet so quick….what are you waiting for.
SPECIAL SWEET FLATBREAD with sesame sugar, spices and butter FOR THE WEEKEND
serves 4
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