Monday, May 28, 2007

Mana'eesh


Yesterday was our mana’eesh day. The kids woke up waiting for their ‘ooshi when I realized that the pizza crust I have in the fridge expired few days ago. What to do, I promised the kids mana’eesh for breakfast? O well no biggi, I was only 8am and I didn’t have to be at the gym until 12. So I got the white flour out and got to work.
I decided to do it differently this time. I usually hate it sticking so I add flour until the dough is not sticky anymore. I decided I will be brave and add more water and who cares if it sticky. I even forgot to add oil! Tsk tsk tsk eh?? Well not really! Those were my best mana’eesh ever! They were so soft and moist and so yummy, Even if I say so myself.

Later we went to the lake, I decided to take the few ‘ooshis left with us, just in case. The lake is 100km away and the drive is in rural Saskatchewan with no Tim Hortins or anything in between. After we played at the lake, built few sand mountains, ate ice cream and played at the playground we got in the car and we were all hungry. So the mana’eesh came in handy. Hubby and I were talking about how yummy they were:

Me: isn’t the dough so good, it is so soft and moist, 7eta a7la min paramount mana’eesh

Hubby: yeh they are good.

Me: yeh bas ya3ni they are so good I do not believe it!

Hubby: 3ala sho shaifi 7alik? It is ready-made dough you bought from the store, why are you taking all the credit!

Me: what?? O no the dough was expired so I threw it in the garbage, I made these myself from scratch

Hubby: walah? 3an jad? They are very good. I would have never though so!

O well, so my mistake was always not putting enough water! Go figure!!

I even downloaded my pictures from the camera to show you guys! Notice the tiny man’ooshi on top?? That is bolbol’s manooshi. The kids love to help. Each gets a piece of dough and they roll it and roll and then make it balls, then roll eventually we put in the oven with some za’taar and they eat it proudly. Zozo is not satisfied with just getting dough. He likes to do it from scratch. I give him a small bowl with some flour and he pours water over it and makes his own dough, with a little help from me of course. He covers it and waits for it to rise, checking on it every few seconds. Is it bigger yet??


11 comments:

Me said...

They look great and i am sure they taste even better than they look!
usually i do not add oil at all to the dough mix, only at the end i put a little bit of oil to keep it from sticking to the bowl. only water, salt, yeast and flour of course, the loose it is the better it rises and tastes. i also make manaeesh cheese and eggs too!
check it out here: http://summers57.blogspot.com/2006/09/oregano-and-pizza.html/

kinzi said...

ooohhh, de prechus little punkins make their own!! TOO cute!

I am amazed at how you guys just like, go for a drive! What fun!

congrats on fixing the recipe, too! You get the Great Mom Award of the Day.

Sam said...

summer my kids are so picky..they will only eat za'tar! but i love cheese manaeesh..i will try the egg and cheese next time..2 of my favourite foods..wait all my foods are favourites for me..and i wonder why i cant lose weight..hahaha...

kinzi...this is the only thing i let the kids help with..without having to yell and have a major cleanup after..they also love to help making hummous, cookies and cakes..
we do love to drive! few hundren km are nothing to hubby and myself:)

Unknown said...

I just had breakfast, but yr mana2eesh look so yummi...fat7at manafsi for some!! you r becoming a dough expert! Im impressed! Sa7tain...

Sam said...

thanks nido..it takes so many trial and error..:) after i am sure it is all good..i will start making it with wholewheat..:o)

7aki Fadi said...

yuuummmmmmm.

Sa7tain. Wallah jawa3teeny.

Me said...

Sam, i have tried it with whole wheat, it tastes good but the dough does not rise as much as white flour no matter how much yeast you add to it, it stays dense and chewey from the inside, never fluffy...so i tried it again with whole wheat mix and white flour, 2:1 and it was still dense, then another try and i had to make the two flours equel amounts, this way you get the wheat taste and the fluffy dough you want...good luck!

Sam said...

7aki thank u:)

summer: thank you..i will try it half and half...i feel guilty when i feed my kids the white stuff:) since the nutritional is very low:)

Me said...

its ok, it is not high in nutritions but delicious and a taste of home!
we all have been eating bad stuff all our lives, zaatar is mainly salt too.one bad meal every once in a while is not that bad! make up for it by adding tomatoes and veggies on the side, a cup of milk and they will be all right!!
I am sure they will make good choices when they are older, just like you! :)

Anonymous said...

Yummy it looks delicious..it's launch time now..:( ma biseer hek!!

Anonymous said...

I loved the conversation the went through. Not sure how you prepared your dough, but since I own the most successful Authentic Lebanese mana'eesh shop in Dubai I will share with you a small tip, always add 20% brown flour to white all purpose flour. this gives it the taste of home grown wheat. www.kadouche.com