Lavash bread is a leavened bread that is really easy to prepare at home.

If you want to make soft and freshly cooked lavash bread, look no further. This recipe will get you excellent results.

Lavash bread is popular in Turkish cuisine and many other Middle Eastern dishes. It’s similar to flour tortillas but with yeast.

What is lavash bread?

Lavash bread is a traditional soft, thin flatbread that is popular in many countries across the Middle East, South Caucasus, and the Mediterranean, particularly in Armenia, Turkey, Iran, and Azerbaijan.

It’s a versatile bread that can be used in a variety of dishes, including wraps, sandwiches, and as an accompaniment to meals.

Here are some key characteristics of lavash bread:

1. Ingredients: The basic ingredients of lavash are flour, water, and salt. Usually yeast is added for leavening, but it can also be made unleavened like tortillas.
2. Texture and Appearance: Lavash is typically thin and flexible when fresh, making it ideal for wrapping around fillings. It can be baked to be soft or crisp, with a smooth surface and a slightly charred appearance from the baking process.
3. Baking Method: Traditionally, lavash is baked in a tandoor oven, where the dough is slapped against the hot walls of the oven. This gives the bread its characteristic texture and slightly smoky flavor. It can also be cooked in a pan as I do in this recipe.
4. Uses: Lavash can be used in a variety of ways, such as wraps or as an accompaniment to stews and curries. Try them as a wrap for this tantuni recipe.

Step by step photographs.

Get all your ingredients ready before starting.

Mixing the yeast, sugar, oil and hand-hot milk and water in a mixing bowl.

Whisk the hand-hot milk and water with the yeast, sugar and oil. Let sit, covered for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, the yeast will begin to bubble up.

Sifting flour and salt into the yeast and milk mixture.

Sift the flour and salt into the milk, water and yeast mixture.

Beginning to knead the dough. It is still quite wet and sticky at this stage.

Start working into a dough ball. Add a little more flour if too sticky. Be careful though as if you add too much you will have a stiff dough which is not good.

Pour the dough out onto a clean, flour dusted surface. Form into a neat ball and knead for 15 minutes.

Placing the dough ball into a bowl to rise.

Place the dough ball into a bowl and cover with a cloth to rise for about 30 minutes.

The dough ball about twice the size after rising.

The dough ball should rise and double in size.

The large dough ball divided into six smaller balls.

Divide the dough ball into 6 equal sized smaller balls.

Rolling out one of the dough balls into a flat lavesh.

Roll out one of the balls into a thin sheet, similar to a tortilla. Leave the rest covered so that they don’t dry out.

Cooking a lavesh on a tawa. Bubbles are beginning to form on top.

Preheat a pan or tawa over a medium-high heat. Place the lavesh on top. Flip over when bubbles begin to form on top.

The lavesh flipped over to cook the other side.

Brown spots will have formed on the bottom before turning. Continue turning until the lavash is cooked through.

Keep the cooked lavash bread warm while you cook the remaining breads. For best experience, serve hot.

Yield: 6

Lavash Bread

Ingredients

100ml boiling water
100ml full fat milk
1 tsp light olive oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp dry yeast
300g (2 ½ cups) plain (all purpose) flour
1 tsp salt

Instructions

Pour the water, milk, oil, sugar and dry yeast into a mixing bowl. Whisk well to combine and then cover the bowl. Let this sit for about 30 minutes to awaken the yeast and then sift in the flour and salt.
Start kneading it all together. At first, the dough will be quite sticky but it will become less so as you knead it. Knead for at least 15 minutes. The dough will still be a bit sticky but should not be sticking to your hands. If still too sticky, dust with a little more flour.
Form this into a neat dough ball and cover to rest and rise for 20 minutes or longer. Transfer the dough ball to a clean work surface that is lightly dusted with flour. Slice it into 6 equal sized dough balls and then knead each into neat balls. Again allow to rest, covered with a cloth for 20 minutes.
When ready to cook, heat a wok or frying pan over a medium heat. I prefer to cook these on the underside of a wok but a simple frying pan or tawa will work too.
Take one of the dough balls and roll it out like a thin tortilla. Lavash come in different shapes and you can roll out your break into rounds or oblong.
Drape the lavesh over a hot upturned wok or into a pan or tawa and cook for about 30 seconds or until you begin to see small bubbles forming on top.
Then flip it over and cook for another 30 seconds. Continue cooking for 30 to 60 more seconds or until the flat bread is lightly browned in spots, soft and bubbly.
Transfer it to a pan with a lid and cover it. The steam inside will help keep the lavesh hot. Repeat with the remaining dough.