Basic Yeast Dough Recipe

The basic yeast dough recipe is prepared using only the basic dough ingredients: water, yeast, flour, salt, sugar and oil. It doesn’t contain any of the extra ingredients that improve the dough’s taste and texture or make it crispier.

You can use today’s basic yeast dough recipe to prepare pizza crust or various middle eastern pastries, know as “Muajanat” or “Fataer”. As I mentioned in my previous posts, over the years I have tried dozens of dough recipes until I finally settled on two favorite ones. Today’s recipe is one of them!

Most of the time I use the Pizza Dough Recipe that I posted previously. I use today’s  basic yeast dough recipe when I want to prepare a vegan dough, or when I want to prepare pastries that are best prepared with a dough that is not very crispy, such as Arabic spinach pastries “Muajanat Sabanekh”.

And, before I forget, to prepare the best dough each and every time, don’t forget to read my two posts on preparing the perfect dough: Great Dough Part 1, and Great Dough Part 2. They include the A, B, Cs of preparing yeast dough!

Today’s recipe portion is enough to prepare the crust for two 36 cm (14 inches) pizzas. Just divide the dough into two parts, and spread each part on the bottom of one 36 cm aluminum tray. When I am preparing mini pizzas or Arabic Muajanat I double the portion.

Pizza Dough Recipe

Over the years I have tried dozens of dough recipes to prepare my pizza’s and Arabic pastries “Muajanat”’ until I settled on two favorite ones. Those are now nicely written in my recipe book.

Today’s dough recipe is my all time favorite that I use most of the time. It is an improved dough recipe as it includes powder milk and yogurt which give the dough flavor and make it crispier than the basic dough. This dough recipe is perfect if you are looking to prepare a pizza with a crust that is not thick but not too thin either!

Although the title of the recipe is Pizza Dough Recipe, this dough is perfect for preparing most Arabic pastries “Muajanat” including Sfiha, cheese pastries, spinach pastries, hotdog pastries, and my favorite Manakish. Manakish are popular Middle Eastern thyme pizzas.

Before preparing your dough, spare some time to read my two posts on preparing the perfect dough: Great Dough Part 1, and Great Dough Part 2. They cover the basic information you need to prepare the perfect yeast dough each and every time.

The recipe yields enough dough to prepare the crust for two 36 cm (14 inches) pizzas. I divide the dough into two parts, and spread each part on the bottom of one 36 cm aluminum tray. If I want to prepare mini pizzas or Arabic Muajanat I double the portion.

Tips: Great Dough Part 2

First, I want to thank all of you who sent me messages to inquire about my well-being and the reasons for not posting any new articles and recipes on my blog for more than a month! I was very touched by your concern! I am well, and really sorry for being so overdue with today’s post. I was immersed in personal matters as we are moving houses, and I am sure you can guess all the hype around that. But, I promise, I will do my best to find a way to at least publish one post a week until my current hectic schedule ceases by the end of summer!

My previous post was Part 1 of the principles to prepare great yeast dough. It covered the various ingredients used in yeast dough recipes, whether it is a pizza dough or bread dough, as well as the role and importance of each ingredient.

At the time, I promised to cover in part two the different techniques used during the preparation of the dough. These techniques will help you get the perfect dough you are looking for; and this is what today’s post will cover.

Tips: Great Dough Part 1

One of the most requested recipes for which I received dozens of messages whether on my Arabic Blog (www.fattoush.me) or on my English one has been the “Dough Recipe”. Some sent asking me for the pizza dough recipe, others asked about a good bread dough recipe, and many many (especially on my Arabic site) for the muajanat dough recipe. Muajanat is the Arabic word for various types of pastries, not sweet, that are dough based, these include mini pizzas among others. Muajanat are very popular in the Middle East!

For a while now, I have been planning to post the dough recipe, or actually the two dough recipes I use the most. The first is a basic dough recipe without dairy products while the  second one includes dairy products. I use both.  Just as I was about to post the “Dough Recipe”, I remembered my struggles with dough recipes when I started cooking! and by dough I mean “Yeast Dough”.

Yeast dough is the dough that rises, and it is used to prepare bread, pizza crust (both thin pizza crust and thick pizza crust) and is the dough used in many of the Arabic muajanat.

What are the struggles I faced? Probably the same ones many of you face or faced when you started trying to make homemade bread or homemade pizza crust. They are the same challenges that have made bread making and pizza crust making spark so much fear and awe!

I remember one of the things that baffled me the most was why did one recipe work perfectly well one time and the next time it will be flat or mediocre??!!!?? I couldn't figure it! I would toss the recipe labeling it as not trustworthy, and continue my search for the perfect dough recipe.

I must admit that it took me some years to figure out the problem or problems, and pick-up tips and pointers from here and there that helped me get the dough and crust I want. And till this day I continue learning something new every day.

Last month as I was skimming through my daughter’s “All About Food” textbook, I noticed they had a whole section on yeast bread! The methodology they use to teach students how to make the perfect bread or perfect pizza crust is to introduce the dough ingredients and explain what they are, what they do, and how they work. I loved it!!! I remember thinking I hope I had this at hand when I started out!

I knew what I wanted to do next!

Before I post any pizza dough recipe, or muajanat recipe, or bread recipe, I will cover the basics of a great dough in a 2-part tutorial tip. As I learn new tricks and tips will update these two tutorials for all to benefit. Today’s tip covers:

Ingredients of Yeast Dough Recipes and What Each Ingredient Does.

Roasted Peppers Salad Recipe

I grew up in a global home; Armenian father, Bulgarian mother, living in Jordan in the Middle East! Needless to say, I grew up with my taste buds adapted to several cuisines. I guess this was the start of my fascination with food and discovering the history and stories behind popular dishes.

Peppers, especially red peppers, are a fundamental ingredient in Bulgarian cuisine. Bulgarians enjoy peppers a lot, and there are numerous dishes that my mom used to prepare using peppers. I remember growing-up, red peppers weren’t readily available in Amman as they are nowadays. So when we went to visit Bulgaria during the summer, red peppers was a delicacy that we heavily indulged in.

Well into my teens, colored bell peppers (yellow and red) started showing up in grocery stores around Amman, and we were finally able to enjoy some of our favorite Bulgarian dishes year-round. Roasted Peppers Salad being a regular one.

Traditionally, Bulgarian Roasted Peppers Salad  is prepared with the long red peppers, not with bell peppers. But this roasted peppers salad is delicious using red and yellow bell peppers. You can also add a few green peppers, the combination of colored peppers makes it an eye-catching salad. Just be careful not to use many green peppers as their taste is a bit bitter!

The traditional way to prepare roasted peppers salad is to grill the peppers from all sides until there are black patches throughout the skin. This gives the peppers a nice smoked/ grilled flavor! But you can also prepare the salad by roasting the peppers in the oven.  

Roasted peppers salad, is not only delicious but quite easy to prepare, especially if you roast the peppers in the oven instead of grilling them. To top that, it keeps well in the fridge for days. better yet, the longer it marinates, the better it gets as the flavors soak in better. So when I prepare this salad, I usually double or triple the portions and we can enjoy it throughout the week.

If you have a party or event, roasted peppers salad is a great addition. It is a big hit with the guests with its appealing colors and yummy taste! Plus you can prepare it a day or two in advance freeing you on the day of the event. Just store it in a glass airtight container in the fridge and forget about it until the day of your event. Just make sure you remember to serve it!!