Method

• 1.
  For the flatbread, place potato in a small saucepan and cover with cold water until the pieces are submerged. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until potato is very tender and a fork easily slides into the centre of a piece, 12-16 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer potatoes to a medium bowl, reserving 1 cup of cooking liquid. Mash potatoes until no lumps remain. Set aside.
• 2.
  Let the reserved potato cooking liquid cool until it’s lukewarm. Combine 57g of the liquid and the yeast in a large bowl and whisk to dissolve yeast. Let mixture sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.
• 3.
  Add the remaining 170g cooking liquid to the bowl with the yeast, then add the flour, olive oil, kosher salt, and the mashed potato. Mix with a wooden spoon until you have a shaggy dough, then scrape onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough, adding a bit more flour as needed if it’s very sticky, until very soft and elastic and slightly tacky, 10-12 minutes. You can also mix in a stand mixer with the dough hook on medium speed until dough is barely pulling away from the sides, adding more flour as needed, 8-10 minutes.
• 4.
  Gather the dough into a ball, place it inside a oiled bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp towel and sit at room temperature until the dough is doubled in size, 1 hour-1 hour 30 minutes.
• 5.
  Line a large baking tray and lightly oil the baking paper. Set aside. Punch dough down lightly to expel some of the gases that built up during the first rise. Turn dough out onto a clean surface and use a bench scraper or knife to divide into 8 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, gather the edges and pinch them together to form a teardrop shape. Place the dough seam-side down on the work surface and roll into a tight ball. Do not add flour, as this step requires friction between the dough and the surface. Place ball on prepared tray and cover with plastic wrap. Repeat with remaining dough. (At this stage, the dough, tightly covered on the baking tray, can be refrigerated up to 16 hours.)
• 6.
  Let the dough sit at room temperature until the balls are nearly doubled in size, 40-50 minutes (if you refrigerated the dough, the second rise will slowly take place in the refrigerator, but if pieces haven’t doubled, let them sit at room temperature before proceeding). Transfer the risen dough balls to the refrigerator.
• 7.
  To make the za’atar oil, stir together the za’atar and olive oil to combine. Set aside.
• 8.
  Remove a piece of dough from the tray (keeping the rest covered in the fridge) and place on a floured surface. Roll out dough to a squarish shape about 20cm across. The dough will be very relaxed and should only require a small amount of pressure with the pin, but don’t add any flour since the friction with the surface will help the dough extend. Sprinkle 3 tbs of feta all across the surface of the dough. Starting at one end, roll the dough into a thin log. Starting from one end, coil log into a spiral so it looks like a snail shell. Place spiral flat on a tray in the refrigerator and tuck it under a tea towel. Repeat stuffing and coiling with the remaining feta and dough.
• 9.
  Heat a large heavy frypan over medium heat. Lightly oil 2 x 25cm pieces of baking paper. Remove one piece of dough at a time from the refrigerator and lay between the oiled baking paper. Roll into a thin round about 20cm in diameter (roundish is okay; the shape isn’t important!). Peel off the top piece of baking paper, then use the other piece to transfer flatbread to the frypan, placing it dough-side down and peeling away the second piece of paper (reuse both sheets for the other flatbreads). Cook until the bottom is lightly charred and the surface of the dough has bubbled up and gone from shiny and sticky to matte and dry, about 2 minutes. Adjust the heat as needed if the dough isn’t taking on colour or is charring very quickly.
• 10.
  Flip flatbread and drizzle the first side with about 1 tbs of za’atar oil, spreading to cover the entire surface. Continue to cook until the second side is lightly charred all over and the dough is cooked through, another minute. Transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat rolling and cooking the remaining dough with za’atar oil, one flatbread at a time. Serve with roasted eggplant dip.