Breakfast is the best meal of the day for me because you can get away with eating almost anything from savoury to sweet and no one can ask you not to. I like to mix up what I have every morning and keep my options limitless.

Lebanese cuisine has to be one of my top three; majority of their food is nutritious, deliciously full of flavour and so fun to recreate. They incorporate a variety of spices in their food, one of which is the all famous Za’atar which has recently been in the spotlight in the West. It is essentially a mix of different other spices and seeds including sumac, thyme, and sesame seeds with a herbal, nutty flavour. They use it as a topping in their classic breakfast dish, the “Manouche” along with other traditional toppings like minced meat, cheese and more..

Today, I will be having my very own take on this dish including a more wholesome, fibre rich recipe for the flatbread. This is a breakfast that will leave your kitchen smelling so wonderful and will force everyone to get out of bed on a lazy weekend!

Ingredients: 

For 2 flatbreads:

1/2 cup chia seeds

1 1/2 cup water

6 tbsp buckwheat flour

1/2 tsp za’atar

2 tsp himalayan salt

Topping:  

2 tbsp zaatar (more if needed)

4 tbsp vegan mozzarella cheese (optional)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (more if needed)

Himalayan salt, to taste

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 220C. Combine chia seeds, water, buckwheat flour, za’atar & salt and mix well until the mixture starts to thicken up. Split the dough into two. Spread out the crust mixture on a piece of parchment paper in a tray and form the dough in a flat round shape. Flatten to about 1 cm for a firm thin crust. Bake for 20 minutes until firm but edges not yet darker.

Mix the za’atar with the olive oil. Remove the flatbread from the oven. Sprinkle the cheese on top and drizzle over the olive oil-za’atar mixture. Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and drizzle with more olive oil or za’atar if you desire and serve!