I got to take another online baking class with Christine and Mike, and it was really fun and yielded much yumminess! The basic recipe was similar to this one, but without the “dough improver” (what’s up with that?) and replacing the sugar with honey. The same dough was used for both the pita and the man’oushe.

The difference was only whether the dough is baked plain (and allowed to pillow) or baked with toppings, like a Lebanese pizza. You can see in the first two photos above that the pita is popped onto the baking stone completely flat, then it puffs up in the hot oven (500°F) — like magic! It’s really fun to watch that happen.

For the man’oushe, the dough is also rolled flat, but it is then topped with za’atar mixed with olive oil, and whatever additional toppings you like. The class recipe suggested mozzarella cheese and also an egg, so you can see both options in the photos.

Chris and Mike made a lovely ground pork dish and carrot salad (I think both from an Ana Sortun cookbook), and it all went perfectly with the freshly-baked pita bread. All of the results were amazingly yummy. As Chris said: It makes one never want to buy another pita in the grocery store. The recipe is very easy and very fast. She has a point!

Also, I went out the next day to buy a robust amount of za’atar from Penzey’s.

Final thoughts: I’m so grateful to be able to join in for these classes! And, I want to try making the pita with sourdough. Watch this space…