Lebanese Flatbreads (Manoushe Zaatar)

The best Lebanese flatbreads with zaatar or Manoush zaatar to make at home. These famous Lebanese street food pizzas are deliciously light with crispy edges, topped with fantastic za'atar and extra virgin olive oil spread. Their unique flavors will impress you, and they're so easy to make!

Jump to:

• What Is Manoushe Zaatar?
• Why This Recipe Works
• Ingredients For This Recipe
• Step-By-Step Instructions
• Recipe Expert Tips
• What To Eat It With
• How To Store, Freeze, And Reheat
• Recipe FAQs
• More Flatbread Recipes
• Watch How To Make Them
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

What Is Manoushe Zaatar?

Manoushe means means "stamped" in Lebanese Arabic. It describes the nature of a flatbread, where you flatten the dough thin before cooking it. Manoushe, or Middle Eastern flatbread, is a very famous street food in Lebanese, with a very similar concept to a pizza where you can have a variety of toppings combo like feta cheese, minced meat, tomato, mint, and cucumber. The edges of these amazing Lebanese flatbreads are crispy, while the inside is light and a bit chewy. Are we salivating yet?

While there are varieties of toppings for Manoushe or Lebanese bread, the most famous one is with zaatar, hence the name Manoushe Zaatar, Lebanese flatbreads with zaatar, or even Lebanese pizza. Zaatar is a spice blend of dried herbs like thyme, oregano, marjoram, sumac, and toasted sesame seeds. The combination of tanginess, woody, nutty, and floral flavors, from the spices combined with the fruity flavor from extra virgin olive oil, brings this humble street food to a fantastic meal. Oh, we love that, don't we?

Why This Recipe Works

Being an interracial spouse has opened our eyes and minds to diversities in cultures, backgrounds, and food. We love trying new food when we dine out or travel in our motorhome. From those experiences, we research and recreate our favorites, like these amazing zaatar flatbreads, spinach and feta gozleme, whole-wheat garlic naan bread, and cheese roti canai. Here's why we keep making them!

Light flatbreads—These Manoushe Zaatar are thin and light with crispy edges. They're perfect for topping pizza and even used as wraps.

Easy—Like all street food, these amazing Lebanese zaatar flatbreads have easy ingredients and straightforward methods.

House oven—Traditionally, they're cooked on saj or tava, a domed metal griddle to achieve crispy edges and a light center. But we've tested and have been making them using our house oven and have gotten the same result! We've written detailed instructions and tips below.

Ingredients For This Recipe

Flour—Bread or high-protein flour, around 12-14% protein. It's the perfect flour when making yeasted bread or when it requires kneading like these Lebanese flatbreads, as the high protein content will make the bread elastic and light, just like in our amazing panettone, Malaysian roti canai flatbreads and beef murtabak flatbreads.

Oil—We highly recommend extra virgin olive oil for this Lebanese flatbread recipe because you want to taste its fruity flavor. When combined with zaatar, it's on another level! We love to use extra virgin olive oil in our delicious olive oil orange cake and our healthy olive oil raspberry swirl cake.

Honey—Our secret to light Lebanese flatbreads! Just a bit goes a long way. It also helps to activate the yeast faster. Maple syrup or sugar works, too.

Yeast—We use instant dry yeast, which doesn't need rehydration. You add it directly with the rest of the ingredients, as we do in our fantastic apple cinnamon rolls. If using active and fresh yeast, rehydrate it with warm water with one teaspoon of sugar for 5 minutes until it's foamy. Use the same amount for active dry yeast. For the fresh yeast amount, multiply by 3.3, which for this Lebanese flatbread recipe will be around 17g.

⭐ See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Step-By-Step Instructions

1. Make the dough—If you're using cup measurements, use the spoon and level method to measure flour. Add all of the ingredients to a stand-mixer bowl. Use speed 1 to mix everything, then change to speed two and knead for 10 minutes. You'll have a sticky dough.

2. Rise the dough—Grease your hands with oil, to prevent the dough from sticking. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl. Cover it tightly with cling film and leave it to rise until it doubles its size, around 1-1.5 hours, depending on your kitchen temperature.

3. Prepare the topping and oven—Meanwhile, add zaatar and extra virgin olive oil in a bowl. Mix well and set aside. Preheat your oven to 480℉ (250℃) without the fan, placing the rack on the highest level with a pizza stone on it for at least 30 minutes before cooking these Lebanese flatbreads.

4. Assemble—Place the risen dough on a lightly floured working surface. Lightly form it into a log and cut it into six equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball, and cover them with a cling film to prevent them from forming a crust. Roll one ball into a thin circle, dusting it with some flour. Slide it onto a pizza peel. Put the topping on top, leaving ½ inch empty around the edges.

5. Bake—Carefully yet swiftly slide the Lebanese flatbread onto the pizza stone. Bake for 5-7 minutes, until the edges look golden brown. Slide the pizza peel underneath it and remove it from the oven. Then, continue assembling another flatbread and bake it. We recommend not letting the assembled flatbreads sit around as it might be difficult to move them onto the pizza peel and into the oven later. Easy, right? Enjoy your Lebanese flatbread!

Recipe Expert Tips

1. Use the spoon and level method for cup measurements. This will avoid using excessive flour. We highly recommend using a kitchen scale as it's more precise.
2. Roll the dough thin. You'll get big air pockets, and the Lebanese flatbreads will cook even faster!
3. To prevent sticking. Grease your hands with oil when handling the dough to rise. Dust the working surface, the rolling pin, and the pizza peel with some flour when assembling the dough.
4. Use a pizza peel and stone. We're baking this delicious Manoushe Zaatar in the house oven, mimicking the traditional tandoori-like oven. The pizza peel makes moving the thin Lebanese flatbreads easier, and the pizza stone helps to cook the bottom as fast as the top.
5. Use the highest rack possible. This allows the flatbreads to be cooked within minutes, with high heat from the pizza stone and the top oven rod. You'll get a beautiful golden brown color and huge air pockets.

What To Eat It With

These Manoushe Zaatar are zaatar pizzas, so you can get creative with the toppings! However, the typical toppings combine feta cheese, meat, tomato, cucumber, and mint. Mint is so aromatic; we also use it in our quick Penang asam laksa recipe. Of course, the most famous is the spread of zaatar and extra virgin olive oil. We love to dip these delicious Lebanese flatbreads with labneh, a soft Middle-Eastern yogurt dip.

These fantastic street food flatbreads are often served for breakfast or lunch in Lebanese. But hey, who says you can't have them for snacks or whenever the mood hits you? The same goes for our delicious cheese naan and chicken keema flatbreads!

How To Store, Freeze, And Reheat

Store—These Lebanese zaatar flatbreads are best consumed when they're cooked. If you have balance, store them in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Freeze—In an air-tight container, in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.

Reheat—Lightly sprinkle the Manoushe Zaatar flatbreads with some tap water. Reheat them for a few seconds in the microwave or the oven at 350℉ (175℃) for a few minutes. If you reheat them in the microwave, you'll likely lose the crispy edges.

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Originally published on Mar 7, 2019. Updated with improved text and pictures on Feb 24, 2024.