Focaccia and Za'atar Dough Balls

Step 1

Pour the flour, sugar and salt together in one bowl. Mix with your spatula until it is all combined. You can add in the za'atar in here or sprinkle it on top before it goes into the oven!

Step 2

Mix the active dry yeast with the water until the yeast is fully dissolved.

Step 3

Add the oil and vinegar to your yeast mixture. Mix well.

Step 4

Add this oil yeast mixture to the flour mixture and combine until you have a shaggy dough.

Step 5

Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees Celsius

Step 6

Use your fingers to gently combine all the ingredients together until you reach a sticky dough consistency. This should take no longer than 1 minute.

Step 7

Gently split the dough into smaller pieces to fit your mini cupcake baking tray. Roll each piece of dough into a perfect sphere. Place it in the tray ready to bake! If you have not added your za'atar in the dough already, you can sprinkle it on top of the dough balls here, before it bakes in the oven. You can sprinkle more on top too!

Step 8

Bake this in the middle rack of your oven, for 30 minutes. Your dough balls should be golden brown before you take it out. If you see it slightly lighter, keep it in for another 5 minutes before switching off the oven. Keep checking as it may be golden brown a littler sooner than 30 minutes too!

Step 9

Once baked, carefully remove the dough balls from the oven and let it slightly cool for 15 minutes before you remove them. It can crumble if you remove them too soon, so be patient!

Step 10

You can store this bread for up to 1 week (7 days) in an airtight container to contain its freshness.

Step 11

Enjoy this with sun-dried tomato pesto, or my fresh pesto sauces: Thai Basil PestoWhite Truffle Italian Basil PestoChilli Garlic PestoClassic PestoAvocado Hummus