Fatayer are little snack sized breads filled with various filling from lentils and veggies to cheese and meat. Made with a soft yeast dough they have a nice light texture that works well with many ingredients.
Of course, my version is no-knead and cold fermented. But you can certainly make them on the same day. Simply leave the dough to bulk ferment for 1.5 – 2 hours before proceeding as per recipe.
This recipe makes 18 fatayer. If you want to make more simply multiply all the ingredients.
I’m not calling this authentic, and I’ve stopped adding country names to the recipes because there are always people who think that their recipes are very special. I don’t care for tradition when it comes to bread. I just like making bread. Recipes can be adjusted infinitely and that’s the whole point of it for me. Never do anything just because someone told you so.
No matter which traditional recipe you look at, it will have always been inspired by some other traditional recipe from a different place. Rarely is anything as original as people think it is.
Check out more international recipes in the Baking World Tour playlist.
Watch the video down below for detailed instructions.
Ingredients
For the dough –
250g (8.8oz) white bread flour
2.5g (0.09oz) instant dry yeast or 3g (0.1oz) active dry yeast or 7.5g (0.26oz) fresh yeast
5g (0.17oz) salt
35g (1.25oz) olive oil
100g (3.5oz) water
50g (1.75oz) full fat yogurt
Extra oil for greasing the baking surface.
The flour I use has a protein content of 13%. If your flour is weaker, then you may need to lower the hydration.
If you are using active dry yeast, then you may need to let it sit in the water for 10 minutes before adding the other ingredients or else it could take a lot longer to raise the dough.
For the cheese filling –
100g (3.5oz) mozzarella
100g (3.5oz) feta
10g (0.35oz) parsley
1 egg
6g (0.2oz) nigella seeds
1g (0.035oz) dried mint or oregano
For the meat filling –
100g (3.5oz) ground beef
70g (2.5oz) tomato
70g (2.5oz) onion
10g (0.35oz) tomato paste
20g (0.7oz) chili paste (optional)
2g (0.07oz) salt
1g (0.035oz) black pepper
2g (0.07oz) paprika
2g (0.07oz) sumac
Method
- Make the fillings by mixing the ingredients together. Leave in the fridge for later.
- Make the dough. In a large bowl combine the water, yeast, salt, oil, and yogurt. Mix well to dissolve the salt completely. Add the flour and mix to a dough. *Desired dough temperature 25C (77F). If your dough is warmer, then it will ferment more rapidly. If it is cooler, then it will take longer. Adjust proofing time accordingly.
- Chill for 30 minutes.
- Fold.
- Cold ferment for 24 hours.
- Weigh the dough and divide it into 18 equal pieces. Shape into balls.
- Cover and final proof for 1.5 hours. Take the fillings out from the fridge so they come up to room temperature during this time. That will help the fatayer bake more evenly. Also, pre-heat the oven to 250C (480F) fan on during the final hour of fermentation.
- Shape the fatayer and place on a greased non-stick paper lined tray. Oiling the tray will make the bottoms of the fatayer crisp up.
- Turn the oven down to 230C (445F) and bake the fatayer for 10 minutes.
Leave to cool down slightly and tuck in! You can also bake a larger batch and then freeze them. Reheat for a few minutes and enjoy at any time.
Keep in mind that the conditions in each kitchen are different, so fermentation times may vary for you. It is up to the baker to control the bread and react accordingly.
Your oven may be different too, so your baking time may vary.
Watch The Video Here
