A1 Bakery ★ 4.5
A1 Bakery on Sydney Road is Melbourne's best A$5 meal: fresh za'atar manakish from a wood-fired oven that has run on Brunswick's main strip since 1992.
Order: Za'atar manakish with olive oil from the wood-fired oven
History
Lebanese-Australian families settled along the Sydney Road strip in Brunswick and Coburg from the late 1950s onward, with the heaviest migration following the Lebanese civil war from 1975. A1 Bakery was founded by Mark Khoder in 1992 on Sydney Road in Brunswick and built around a single saj-style wood-fired oven for fresh Lebanese flatbreads. The za'atar manakish became the Brunswick breakfast standard: thyme, sumac, sesame and salt blended with olive oil into a wet paste, spread on raw flatbread and baked for 90 seconds until the bread blisters and the herb oil pools. The format has not changed in 30 years; queues form at 7am.
Common allergens: Gluten, Sesame
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 500g strong bread flour
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 7g instant yeast
- 320ml warm water
- For the za'atar topping: 4 tbsp good-quality Levantine za'atar (a blend of dried wild thyme, sumac, toasted sesame seeds and salt)
- mixed with 6 tbsp good extra virgin olive oil to a loose wet paste
- Optional to serve: cucumber spears, sliced tomato, fresh mint, sweet tea
Method
- Combine the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a bowl; pour in the olive oil and warm water; knead 8 minutes until smooth and slightly tacky. Cover, prove 90 minutes until doubled.
- Preheat the oven to its absolute hottest setting (250 to 280 degrees Celsius) with a baking stone or upturned heavy tray on the middle rack for at least 30 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 6 equal balls (about 130g each), cover and rest 15 minutes.
- On a floured bench, stretch and flatten each ball with the palm into a 20cm round, leaving a slight thicker rim. Lift onto a sheet of parchment.
- Spoon a generous tablespoon of the za'atar oil paste onto each round and spread to the rim with the back of the spoon.
- Slide two manakish at a time, parchment and all, onto the hot stone and bake for 4 to 5 minutes until the rim is puffed and the base is just charred underneath.
- Eat hot, rolled up tight around a wedge of cucumber and tomato, with sweet mint tea. The bread should still be soft enough to fold.
Tip from the editors. Quality za'atar is the dish; supermarket mixes are sawdust. Buy fresh from a Lebanese grocer (Sydney Road or Coburg if you are in Melbourne) and look for a green colour and a strong wild-thyme smell.
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