Meshtah
Meshtah/A regional flat bread that is native to South of Lebanon and one of the dishes that conjures up blissful memories of Ramadan and specifically Suhoor!
I still remember the “Tabbal”, a drummer strolling down the streets of Beirut in the middle of the night : “Ya Nayem Wahed Eldayem” and beating with a drum to wake up people for prayers and Suhoor!! I missed those days and missed out our family gatherings around a suhoor table.
The Suhoor table was filled with delicious flavors and exciting smells: manakeesh, foul, fried eggs, cheese, labne, tea, fruits, olives, etc… Among these delicacies, was the meshtah. A warm meshtah piping out of the oven dipped with labné and accompanied with a cup of tea was heavenly!
Meshtah is normally made with flour and jreesh. If jreesh is not available in your household, then fine bulgur would be a good substitute.
Meshtah
Description
Ingredients
For the dough
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons jreesh/ fine bulgur soaked in 1/4 cup water
- ¾ or 1 cup warm full cream milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons anise seeds
For the glaze:
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- A pinch of salt
For the topping:
- A generous amount of sesame seeds
Instructions
- Soak the jreesh in 1 cup of water for 5 hours and drain. If using bulgur, soak fro 30 minutes, squeeze and drain.
- First off, remember to check out the expiration date on the package of yeast.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, anise seed and jreesh/bulgur.
- Add the warm milk and oil. Mix thoroughly to obtain a malleable dough (you may need more or less milk than called for. The amount of moisture in the flour determines how much more you need to add).
- Cover with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place for 2 hours or until the dough doubles in size.
- Meanwhile, prepare the glaze: Combine the glaze ingredients in a saucepan, whisk and bring to a boil, it should have the consistancy of thick cream. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Divide the dough into 8 equal balls.
- Sprinkle some flour on a counter top and slightly flatten each ball, using a rolling pin, to an oval that is 2.5 cm/1 inch thick and about 15 cm/ 6 inches long.
- Transfer the 8 stretched flat dough to a slightly greased baking sheet. Set aside for 40 minutes, allowing the dough to rise and relax.
- Just before baking, use your fingertips to dimple the dough all over. Using a brush, delicately, glaze each meshtah with the prepared glaze. Generously sprinkle sesame seeds
- Bake in a preheated oven to 200°C/400°F to a light golden color. Serve warm with a cup of tea and labneh or any other spreadable cheese! An ideal Suhoor or breakfast treat! Happy eating!!
Notes
- Both bulgur and Jreesh are derived from the same wheat grain. After harvesting, farmers in South Lebanon, spread the wheat kernels in thin layers to dry in the sun. The grains are then cracked between stones to create the jreesh. While bulgur is made by parboiling, drying then cracking the wheat. In other words jreesh is bulgur that has not been parboiled.
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