How to prepare Turkish bread ?

The recipe for the famous Turkish bread (Lavas ekmegi)

Here, I’d like to share with you the recipe of Lavaş ekmeği, the famous Turkish bread. I often prepare it at home, as my mom did it before me,  and my grandmother before her! It is a recipe that has been handed down from generation to generation.

During the summer when I was a child, I would dive into the scents of Turkey since that’s where I stayed with my family for about 3 months. Every summer I tried to discover and eat everything that I could not find in France. But one of my favourite foods was and still remains Lavaş bread!

It is a fine “biscuit” that is widespread in Turkey but also in other countries of the Middle East. It is a tasty bread, and it is very simple to make. I make it in large quantities and then store it in the freezer. Once prepared, it can be eaten as a flatbread or eaten as ordinary bread.

Ingredients

Ingredients for the Lavaş ekmeği (Turkish bread) recipe. For a first attempt, the quantities listed below are perfect for making 10 small Lavaş.

450 g  flour (you can mix it with other flours, if you prefer)

8 gr salt

250 gr lukewarm water

60 gr Greek yogurt (alternatively, plain yogurt)

1 packet of yeast

How to make Lavaş bread

We dissolve the yeast in warm water (at room temperature). We let it rest for a couple of minutes. We add the yogurt and mix. Then, we add the flour and salt last.

We knead it well to obtain a smooth and non-sticky dough. Let it rise for about 1 hour (covered). When the dough is ready, it must be divided into a maximum of 10 pieces. From these, we form it into balls that we will cover (to have a larger Lavaş bread, reduce the number of dough balls; for example, 7-8 are also good).

We take the balls one by one and roll them out. Use flour to spread the Lavaş and then cover them up once they’ve been spread out, to prevent them from drying out. As soon as they are all spread out, we will cook them one at a time in a non-stick pan.

Tips

A trick for those who can’t make well-rounded Lavaş bread! I recommend that you roll out the dough as much as you can and with the help of a large plate and a good knife, cut it out in the shape of the dish … don’t worry, you are not cheating .

Cooking and conservation

Let’s start cooking our first Lavaş! Let’s place it in the pan, first on one side, as long as the bread creates “air bubbles”. Once the bubbles have covered the top surface, it’s time to flip them over to the other side for the same procedure.

Consider that this procedure takes very little time, so never lose sight of the bread, that’s why I made you roll out everything before, so it’s all ready to be cooked.

I personally prepare a large batch at once.  I place half of the rolled out dough onto a clean dishcloth, and then, in the same place where I will go to place each cooked Lavaş, I fold up the dishcloth and place the dish on top. This trick allows me to keep the Lavaş soft and warm, so that every time I cook one, I raise the plate and the dish towel and add it on top of the others.

If you don’t consume all the Lavaş bread you have prepared, rest assured, put it in freezer bags so you can enjoy it later.

How to enjoy it

Are you wondering how to eat it? It can be consumed in the Italian style, like a piadina, seasoned as you prefer, or the Turkish style, with humus (chickpea puree) or sucuk (usually made with veal salami, but also made with other meats) or with çiğ köfte (bulgur-based meatballs, which is a kind of crushed wheat) … but I’ll tell you about all this and other exotic recipes again …