Pita, Tabbouleh & Manakesh (zaatar pizza)

   Pita bread

I've tried doing this with varying results. I'm going to try the 3rd recipe below and flip over more frequently as per 2nd video.

I'm interested in that as I've just made another batch of hummus and need some bread to go with it.

Along with that there is this video that uses a single elment like my crepe maker, so I'll be giving this a try too:

Comments
I found the frying pan method not successful, the bubbles were very thin and burned when turned over, so it didn't puff.
I think my breads were too thin, the diameter was bigger than the 6" suggested.
The air fryer worked fine, when, at 200 deg C for 4-5 minutes, I'd sliced the rings into 3 seperate bits and fitted them in. If I left them too long it didn't work.
The ones from the frying pan did not puff up after getting the holes in the air fryer.
the air fryer ones wern't hat brown but are fine.
I'm freezing the good stuff and keeping the unsuccessful ones out to use up.
I'd definitely do again. Not too much prep to do.
Thoughts
I'll give this another crack, the ones in the air dryer worked well.
i'm getting a laser thermometer from ali Express so will give that a try out for skillet temperature (as per John Kirkwoods method).
Also, in this chaps videos he flips the bread over every 15-30 seconds so makes it brown more evenly. In one of his vids he even put it in the oven.

Recipe:

Ingredients:
 2 cups of all purpose flour
 1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water 

Mix wet and dry separate, then in mixer with dough hook. About 15 min to mix
Then rest for 1 hr
chop into portions- shape round/flat, cover , rest 10-15 min
Roll out into shape, let rest 15m in then heat in skillet and turn until they puff up

The crepe maker method 

The first was perfect, with a tablespoon of yeast the dough wanted to rise all the time, it had the hour, 15 min and a 3rd 15 min after the roll. Unfortunately the other 3 did not puff out as the first, nice to eat but not pita pockets at all. They were on the large size, maybe I should split into 6 instead of 4 and try again in air fryer. The ones I made barely fitted onto the griddle.
When warm, definitely chewy and a nice texture, but I still haven't got this right yet. I want some consistency like the ciabatta.

2nd attempt, 13th Dec 2019

 I tried cutting into 6 balls and making smaller sized pita breads, I also didn't roll out too thin either.
Also , for both rest periods I put on baking paper and covered to let rise, that seemed to work fine.
About 3 of 6 actually puffed up, although I think one mistake I made was to leave on first side for too long as this allows for thin bubble on top, so after putting on one side flip over after 15-30 secs so that other side outside has time to firm up, that means puffiness in the middle, not a thin outer element. All look good so I'll freeze 4 and keep 2 for a hummus pottle. Photos above.

3rd attempt 25th Dec

The video belows shows how to turn the bread so it puffs. I made much larger and thinner bread and did what this lady did which was rotate the bread and flip it a bit and all the 4 pieces puffed almost completely.  

  4th attempt 28th april 2020

 

This  one suggests 1/2 cup wholemeal flour and 2 cups all purpose flour, apparently wholemeal makes it roll better. Will try this one.
I'm really happy with this as the lady cuts up and stores some for later, so you make it fresh when you want it.
It is a bit wheaty but tastes fine and puffs beautifully. Works great with the pancake hotplate. 

Tabbouleh

This is something that I haven't had or made for quite a long time. Its a lovely salad and I used to dig into it as a kid in the lebanon.
A lot of the western versions have way too much Burgher wheat. The lebanease vrsion is light on it, and that is what I'm used to.
On my morning walk I picked some flat leave parsley from the Town Belt, and I'll go and get some mint leaves fronm the Garden.
At the market I'd bought some cheap tomatoes but they were a bit soft, so I need to use them up. I'd thought I'd make some Bruchetta for some pizza toppings and breakfasts. But I'll use some up on this as the recipe below needs 4 tomatoes.
Also, I've frozen the lemons into cubes, the recipe asks for 1/2 cup of lemon, so I'll use 2 cubes.

So purchased items are Olive oil, onion and tomatoes. The rest I'd got in stock, in the garden or gathered (lemons for Zoe).
 I am wondering if I can freeze some of this, like the hummus. I'm finding the hummus really handy to take out of the freezer, with a bit of lebanease bread the night before and have for lunch. It would be good to see if the Tabbouleh would do this too.

 test

A delicious and refreshing  snack. Easy to put together , although it does have a number of elements. The parsley from the Town Belt is good because you need quite a lot of it.
I'll have to look to see what it'll go with. I'm not a great fan of Kofta (beef spiced balls) so maybe I'll look at Chicken to go with it.
I've split it into 4 and put 2 portions in the freezer, so it'll be interesting to see how that thaws.

In freezer 13th Dec 2019

 A bit liquidy when thawing to have. I'll drain it first thenm eat it. Still very appetising but not as good as fresh. Whereas the Frozen/thawed hummus is fine, I wouldn't notice the difference between fresh and frozen.

Manakesh - Zaater on pizza

 When I was taking Manu down the vege market on sundays I saw that there was a cart that was selling zaater on pizza for $14, which I thought was a bit expensive.
After my success with the Tabbouleh I'll give this a crack.
The video below makes 5 portions , so I can freeze the doughballs for later.
There is a spice shop in Kilbirnie, I'll go and see if they have any za'arter there.

 

Ingredients:

 For the dough:

 2 cups all purpose flour
 150 ml warm water
 2 tbsp oil
 1 tsp dried yeast
 1 tsp salt
 1 tsp sugar

 300 grams akkawi or mozzarella cheese
 1 1/2 tbsp dried thyme with sesame seeds (middleeastern thyme mix)
eeastern thyme mix)
 3 tbsp oil

Another vid:

I made some small ones and put them in the air fryer, worked fine, and a tasty snack.
So I made small dough balls that can be rolled out for the air fryer. I have a little bit of zaater  so that was handy.
Of the mixture from 2 cups of flour I got 10 dough balls, so currently 8 in the freezer.

Capturing recipe

I took a screenshot of the video recipe 

 and then used the online OCR tool   https://www.onlineocr.net/

I was a bit concerned the background may have messed up the text but it came out great. I'll do that more frequently. A good workflow.