New recipe alert! You won’t regret making these Nabulsi cheese & Za’atar beehive buns by the one and only Nida Khalaf

This recipe makes around 30 buns (2 beehives using a 9inch pan)

Ingredients:

The dough:
• 3.5 cups flour
• 1 tbsp instant yeast
• ½ tbsp Sugar
• ½ tbsp salt
• ¼ cup dried milk (if available, I use Nido)
• 1 egg
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1.25 cups warm water
• 2-3 tbsp olive oil

The filling:
• 4 cups Nabulsi cheese; if you cannot find Nabulsi cheese, you can use Haloumi, which can be easily found at all grocery stores in North America as well as at Costco
• 2 tbsp dried Za’atar leaves (thyme leaves) – if available
• 1 tbsp Za’atar (if dried Zaatar leaves are not available triple the amount of Zaatar spice)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Topping: sesame seeds, egg wash

Method:

1. Prepare the dough by placing all the ingredients in a mixing bowl (except for the olive oil), and knead for 10-15 mins by hand or 3-5 mins on a stand mixer (if using traditional yeast, activate it first by mixing it with the warm water and sugar and letting it rest). The dough must be soft (play dough-like texture); if you find it too wet, add a bit of flour; if it is too hard, add a bit of water. Note, the more you knead, the more the dough will form, so don’t add flour or water right away; knead per the time above, then assess.
2. Let the dough proof for 1-1.5 hrs or until it doubles in size.
3. Once the dough is done, cut it into 1-2 inch balls and allow it to rest for 15 mins while loosely covered with a kitchen towel.
4. Prep the cheese filling by mixing the shredded Nabulsi cheese, dried Za’atar leaves, regular Za’atar, and olive oil in a small bowl. To shred the cheese, simply blitz it on a food processor, or use a grater.
5. Now it’s time to assemble! Using your hands, flatten the dough balls into mini disks, add a generous amount of the cheese filling (around 1.5 tbsp) and close it up to form mini buns or balls.
6. Place the balls in a 9-inch round baking pan covered with parchment paper, leaving a tiny space between them. Using a cooking brush, add the egg wash and sesame seeds.
7. Bake at 375F for 15-18 mins or until golden in colour. If the buns start to brown too much before they’re done, cover them loosely with foil paper.
8. Note you can make the beehive the night before, i.e. entirely in advance and place it in the fridge covered with plastic wrap. In the morning, during souhour, bring it to room temp, and then brush it with the egg wash and add the sesame and bake!