…Za’atar, kale and smashed broad beans
A Maltese twist with a Turkish bread recipe. Gozlome is a type of flat bread that is enhanced with yogurt, making it more flexible when it is cooked and lending it a pleasant tang. Here I have chosen to use traditional Maltese ingredients in a way that we don’t usually see by filling the dough with a version of Bigilla and fresh ġbejna. I utilise our ubiquitous thyme in a homemade version of za’atar; a blend of toasted sesame, sumac and thyme, which along with the kale, gives the dish a pleasant earthiness.
Serves 1
Prep time 60 mins plus overnight proving and straining
Ingredients
For the Gozlome dough:
500g strong white bread flour
Healthy glug of olive oil plus more for shaping
150g plain yogurt
225g water
4g dried yeast (about 1 level tsp.)
1 tsp. salt
For the Gozlome filling:
Good drizzle of olive oil
200g dry broad beans
1 tbsp. kunserva
Zest of small lemon
Handful fresh mint, chopped
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
2 small bunches black kale leaves (not the green curly variety), rib removed and roughly chopped
3 tbsp. Za’atar- Alternatively make a mix of toasted sesame seeds crushed with thyme and sumac
2 semi-dry ġbejniet
Freshly ground black pepper
For the goat yoghurt Labneh:
1 small pot of goat yoghurt
Half a tsp. salt
Muslin cloth
Method
The night before you plan on making this make sure to soak the broad beans in plenty of water. Also mix the goat yoghurt with the salt and pour it into the middle of the muslin cloth. Bring the edges of the cloth together and tie the gathering close to the yoghurt with string. Place a bowl on one shelf of your fridge and tie the yoghurt package above it, allowing it to strain.
For the ful: boil them in plenty of salted water until they are soft. Once cooked, in a pan heat up some of the oil, add in the kunserva, two of the garlic cloves, allowing it to colour and follow with the beans. Keep stirring and add in the water allowing it reduce. With a potato masher or handheld blender, process the beans into a coarse paste. Stir in the lemon zest, mint and a good drizzle of olive oil.
For the Gozlome dough
Bring all of the ingredients together in a bowl a couple of hours before you want to eat. The dough should be soft but not tacky and hold together well. Knead for about 10 minutes until smooth. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and leave to rise in a warm place.
In the meantime in a pan fry the remaining garlic in olive oil, add in the kale and wait for it to wilt without taking on colour. Stir in the za’atar and remove from the heat. Allow to cool slightly before crumbling in or grating the ġbejna and folding it in. Season with a generous amount of black pepper and salt to taste.
Once the dough has risen, deflate it by punching it down. Put a griddle pan on the stove to start heating up and turn the oven to 180 C. Pour some olive oil onto a clean work surface and spread around. Divide the dough into 3 even balls and push each one down flattening it into a rectangle so that they are 2cm thick.
Spoon the Ful mixture into the middle of each and top with the kale and ġbejna mix. You want it running down the middle so that you can then fold in the opposite ends of dough like a parcel, pressing the dough together so that it seals. Place as many as will fit on the griddle pan until they take on strong grid marks and flip to do the same on the other side. Transfer to a baking sheet and finish them off in the oven for 10 minutes.
As they are cooking take the goat yoghurt from the fridge. It should be labneh by now and spread it on a plate. Drizzle with good quality olive oil and when the Gozlome have cooled a little slice and enjoy them with your home made labneh.
