Manakeesh is Middle Eastern flatbread, soft, tender, and flavorsome, topped with a flavor-packed za’atar spice and olive oil mixture for a zaatar ‘pizza.’ We are giving a simple and quick twist to Manakeesh flatbread, by using a ready tortillas sheet. The recipe and method are super simple, and the smell of the baking zaatar tortillas from the oven is one of my ultimate ‘cozy’ homey smells ever now. That alone is enough of a reason to bake this at home.
Ingredients
Zaatar toppings
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp za’atar
1tsp sumac
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
4 tortilla sheets
1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp dried pomegranate seeds
few twigs of parsley
For a zataar topping, combine regular olive oil, cooking oil, zaatar, little sumac, and red chili flakes in a small bowl and mix well into a paste.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius.
Lebanese Pizza
To make the Lebanese pizza, take two tortillas sheets, spread the zaatar topping with a brush evenly on one tortilla sheet leaving about a 1/2-1 inch ‘crust’ at the edges, and sprinkle Mozzarella cheese on it. Now cover it with another tortilla sheet. Again top the tortillas sheet with zaatar mix nicely with the help of a brush. Top it with finely chopped onions, dry pomegranate seeds, and fresh parsley.
Transfer the topped zaatar tortillas onto the pre-heated inverted oven tray (or pizza stone). Do this carefully, so you don’t burn yourself.
Bake for between 5-7 minutes, until it’s lightly golden-brown, without burning the spices on top.
You can serve it hot with labneh, hummus or tahini.