To make the dough, sift the flour, sugar, yeast and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour the water a little at a time and knead until the dough comes together into a ball. Tip it onto a lightly floured, clean surface and knead, stretching the dough with the heel of your palm for about 8-10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap/cling film. Leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume, approx 1-1/2 hours.

When the dough has doubled, tip it back on the work surface, punch it down to remove the air and knead lightly for approx 2 minutes. Then divide into 8 equal portions (I weighed the entire dough and divided it equally using a kitchen weighing scale - this way I got evenly sized dough balls).

Roll each ball between your palms until round and smooth and then flatten and roll out into discs of approx 5" in diameter and approx 6mm thick (this thickness will be similar to thickness of regular crust pizzas so if you like thin crusts then roll out the discs really flat, maybe 7" diameter).

Cover the discs with cling film and leave to rise for another 20 minutes. In the meanwhile preheat the oven to 220 C and place two large baking sheets lightly greased with olive oil in the oven to heat (the baking sheets need to be hot too)

When the discs have risen again (after 20 mins), press the surface gently with your fingertips to enable the topping to stay in place. Brush the tops with olive oil and spread the za'atar mixture over the surface of each bread and gently place them using a large spatula onto the hot baking sheets. Bake for 10 mins or until golden brown.

Remove the manakish and place on a wire rack. Garnish with grated cheese, cut and serve hot immediately with a dip or eat them just as they are.