Lavash at home: recipes with photos

Lavash is a bread from the Caucasus that is baked in an oven or tandoor. Georgians and Armenians have it. What are the differences between lavash from these two countries? Answers Kakhaber Kozaev, chef of the Tkemali restaurant:

“These types of bread are completely different. Armenian lavash is made from thin yeast-free dough, and Georgian lavash is made from yeast dough. Also, Armenian lavash differs from Georgian in shelf life: Georgian can be eaten for a maximum of 2-3 days, and Armenian - 4-5 days.

Armenian lavash. Photo: Shutterstock.com

Armenian lavash requires 2 kilograms of flour, 900 ml of cold water, 100 grams of vegetable oil and 30 grams of fine salt. All ingredients are kneaded, divided into mugs, and the dough is “rested” for 10-15 minutes. Then the workpiece is rolled out and placed in the tandoor until a golden crust forms on both sides.

For Georgian lavash, yeast dough is used. The basic recipe is this: for 2 kilograms of flour you need 1.2 liters of warm water. For the dough, mix 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of dry yeast. The dough is combined with flour, water, and salt. The dough is allowed to rise and 200 ml of vegetable oil is added. Then they are divided into pieces of 150-180 grams, rolled into balls and allowed to rise again. Then the lavash is baked in a tandoor or in the oven.

Georgian lavash. Photo: Shutterstock.com

The size and shape can be made in different ways: round, elongated oval, oblong boats.”

“Real lavash will never have an ideal shape - always pay attention to this,” warns Artem Khizhnyakov, chef at the True Cost restaurant . “Good and proper lavash can be stored for up to one week without losing its organoleptic properties or becoming stale.”

It is best to buy lavash early in the morning at the market, when it is still warm. And, of course, immediately prepare several simple but very tasty dishes with it.

Recipes by Artem Khizhnyakov, chef at True Cost restaurant

Description

The recipe for lavash came to us from Armenia, and is a thin layer of dough made from wheat flour.
When baking, no yeast is used, so when eating it you don’t have to worry about extra pounds and waist circumference. However, you should be aware that store-bought pita bread may not be as aromatic and tasty as fresh flatbread made with your own hands. This is explained simply - sometimes manufacturers use special additives for its production. This increases shelf life. Homemade pita bread recipes usually differ in the way the dough is prepared. The flatbreads are prepared a centimeter thick or rolled out into a thin layer of several millimeters. Ready-made baked goods are served for a simple family dinner and a holiday table as an alternative to traditional bread - you can wrap cheese or meat in it . It can also be used instead of cutlery, then the meal will be accompanied by a special mood...

Thus, pita bread is a great addition to the main dish , but in many cases it is the basis for meatloaf or shawarma. It’s not difficult to cope with the preparation; you don’t need to have many years of experience and extensive knowledge; moreover, the process inspires you to new culinary feats!

Variety of lavash

There is a wide variety of pita bread. Similar baked goods are found in the Middle East, as well as in Central Asia. Armenian lavash is considered the most popular in our country. This bread has a low calorie content, so it is recommended for people who want to lose weight. For the dough, flour from durum wheat varieties is used, which allows you to quickly get enough of the product. Armenians call an envelope made of lavash “deception of a child.” Since the process of preparing the dough and baking itself takes a lot of time, the housewife does not have a free minute to prepare other food. She quickly wraps any filling in pita bread and gives such a tasty snack to her child.

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This is where the tradition of making envelopes from pita bread with a variety of fillings came from. This can also be called an advantage of this type of bread. The product can be called not just bread, it can serve as the basis for a main dish. Thin and durable flatbread is suitable for any filling. It can include anything: sausage, cheese, meat, vegetables, herbs and even porridge. Shawarma is especially popular, when finely chopped, well-fried meat is wrapped in pita bread and a variety of vegetables, herbs, and sauces are added.

Basic baking rules

In the eastern culinary tradition, thin (in Armenian) lavash, like a sheet of paper, is baked from unleavened dough, and flatbread lavash is baked from yeast or fermented milk on a ripper, and both types are baked in a tandoor. Although modern household appliances offer their own version of replacing the legendary oriental tandoor.

The basic recipe for lavash is simple: flour, water (whey, kefir - options for thick flatbread) and salt. The yeast version of lavash requires the dough to stand in a warm place for at least 1 hour, and if it does not rise sufficiently, this time can be extended. The unleavened dough is allowed to sit for 20 minutes to allow the gluten to swell so that the dough becomes elastic and soft for rolling out thinner.

Making unleavened dough differs from its fermented milk version in that when only flour and water are used, the dough should be kneaded so hard until it stops taking flour; in the second case, you knead according to the rules of yeast dough so that it turns out soft and airy, so that The thick pita bread rose when baked.

Baking technology

Baking pita bread in tone is an art. You need to be able to stick a layer of dough almost vertically into a hot tandoor, make sure that the flatbread gets a crispy crust, sprinkling it with water when baking. The oven itself is a stone well, at the bottom of which a fire is built to warm the walls.

The freshness of baked goods is preserved using a cotton or linen towel. For a pronounced crispy crust, sometimes they resort to such a technique as hanging the flatbreads on hooks immediately after baking.

Today, ready-made baker's yeast is used; previously, this role was played by fermented dough left over from previous baking, or by hops.

Sometimes Georgian lavash is baked with meat or cheese - the result is fabulously tasty hearty flatbread. They are eaten with milk, matsoni, fresh cheese, and meat dishes.

How to bake Georgian lavash yourself? Several suggested recipes will help you enjoy delicious bread, which is associated with the majestic Caucasus mountains.

Recipe from Georgia

Georgian lavash differs from Armenian lavash in its softness and fluffiness, as well as its piquant salty taste. The preparation process for this recipe is somewhat more complicated, and the dough is prepared using both dry and fresh yeast.

Ingredients:

wheat flour - 300 grams;
dry yeast - 1 teaspoon;
table salt - 1 teaspoon;
granulated sugar - 1 teaspoon;
drinking water - 200 milliliters.

Prepare lavash according to the Georgian recipe as follows:

Mix the sifted flour with all the dry ingredients and make a well in the center.
Pour water heated to 45 degrees C while stirring into the well in the flour and knead the dough until elastic and stops sticking to your hands.
Cover the dough on a cutting board with a bowl, covering it with a towel, and leave for 1 hour to rise.
Stretch the risen dough into a circle shape with your hands without using a rolling pin. Place the resulting circle on a greased baking sheet and make a hole in its center with your finger to avoid the cake from rising during baking.

Place the baking sheet with Georgian lavash in the oven for baking at 220 degrees C until ready. Place the baked pita bread on baking paper, cover completely with a towel until it cools, excluding the hard crust.

Khachapuri: incredibly tasty “bread with cheese”

If we talk about national Georgian bread, then khachapuri should probably be put in first place: Adjarian, Mingrelian, Rachin. They differ in filling, shape, and are baked using yeast, water, or sour milk. Classic khachapuri is filled with cheese. Literal translation: bread with cheese. Delicious puff pastry is used for baking yeast-free foam. Probably every Georgian family has a signature khachapuri recipe.

The following set of products will make 8 pita breads:

200 ml milk;
300 ml water;
2 eggs and the same number of yolks for greasing the flatbreads;
a tablespoon of sugar;
15 grams of instant yeast;
a teaspoon of salt;
900 g flour;
80 g butter;
1000 gr. hard cheese.

This is one of the recipes adapted for baking in urban environments.

Let's prepare it step by step:

mix milk with water, heat to 40 degrees;
stir in yeast and sugar, a small amount of flour;
leave alone until foam appears;
add eggs, salt, softened butter;
knead the dough, gradually adding a new portion of flour until smooth, elastic;
leave to rise for an hour or two;
divide the resulting mass into eight parts;
Roll each piece of dough into a ball, which then needs to be flattened, put about 200 grams of grated cheese in the center, raise the edges and pinch the top;
Using a rolling pin, slowly and carefully, gradually increasing pressure, roll out the workpiece until you get a flat cake 1 cm thick;
place the khachapuri on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil (usually holds 4 pieces);
grease with yolk, sprinkle with a small amount of cheese shavings;
Bake until done at a temperature of 200-250 degrees.

On a note. Difficulty usually lies in the way of rolling out dough with cheese. If the dough is of the correct plastic consistency and the cheese is not weathered, then everything will work out. You need to roll out slowly, making sure that the dough does not press through the cheese.

It is quite possible to learn how to make Georgian lavash if you are not afraid to deal with flour.

Any type of Georgian bread has common qualities: it is very tasty, never gets boring, gives a lot of energy to the body and quickly makes you feel full.

Easy way

Ingredients:

Water – 1 glass
Flour - 3 Cups
Salt - 1 teaspoon

Number of servings: 10-12

How to cook:

1. Heat the water and dissolve the salt in it. 2. Sift flour into a deep bowl, pour in water and knead into a homogeneous dough. Knead it for 5-7 minutes so that it is soft and elastic. Then roll it into a ball and let it rest for about 15 minutes. 3. When the dough has “rested,” divide it into 10-12 identical pieces. 4. Roll each one out very thin. It is best to roll out everything at once, as the pita bread cooks very quickly. Also have a clean kitchen towel ready. 5. Heat the pan very well. Place the dough and fry over medium heat without oil until golden brown on both sides. Then place on a towel and cover the finished pita breads on top. Keep covered with a towel until ready to serve to keep them dry. Bon appetit!

By leaps and bounds

This recipe produces thick and fluffy pita bread. It is usually served with Caucasian and Asian dishes. It will be delicious even if you just eat it as a snack, dipping it in various sauces.

Ingredients:

Flour - 1.5 kg
Warm water - 900 ml
Salt - 2 teaspoons
Dry yeast - 2 teaspoons
Vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons

Preparation:

1. Pour warm water into the sifted flour, add yeast and salt. Stir with a spatula and start kneading with your hands for about 10-20 minutes. Until the dough becomes soft and elastic.

2. Then grease it with vegetable oil, cover with cling film or a towel and put it in a warm place for 1.5-2 hours so that it rises.

3. Knead it a little and transfer it to a work surface lightly sprinkled with flour. Divide into four parts and roll into balls. Cover with a towel and leave to rest for 10-15 minutes.

4. Form round cakes from the blanks. Place the first one in a mold or frying pan. Lubricate its surface with water or yolk. Use your fingers to make several indentations around the circumference.

5. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees and place the pan with the flatbread there. Bake for 20 minutes. Do the same with the rest of the blanks.

Lavash rolls with cheese and bacon

Homemade Armenian lavash with filling is very popular, because it is prepared very easily and quickly, and you can wrap almost any food in it. One such snack is rolls. You don't need any culinary skills to prepare them, and as a result you will get a full, satisfying dinner in just 20 minutes.

Armenian lavash – 500 g or one package;
Hard cheese and smoked bacon – 100 g each;
Vegetable oil and ketchup - a tablespoon;
Spices - to taste;
Soy sauce – 2 tablespoons.

Place thinly sliced bacon on the spread pita bread;
The next layer is cheese cut into thin slices;
Roll the workpiece into a sausage, cut into medium-sized portions and place in a baking dish;
Mix soy sauce, ketchup and vegetable oil in a separate container, add your favorite spices. Pour the resulting mixture over our Armenian lavash roll and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 190 degrees until browned.

As you can see, making homemade pita bread is quite simple. It is a versatile ingredient for many amazing dishes. The variety of fillings is simply endless. It all depends only on your tastes and imagination.

Without yeast

Here is another version of thin pita bread, which we will cook in a frying pan. This product can easily replace wheat bread during Lent. It can be prepared very quickly and easily.

Ingredients:

Flour - 360 gr
Salt - 0.5 teaspoon
Vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon
Hot water - 200 ml

Preparation:

1. Sift the flour through a sieve into a deep dish. Then make a well in the middle and pour in hot water.

2. Next, pour in vegetable oil and add salt. Start kneading with a spoon or spatula, and then with your hands. Knead for at least 15 minutes. The dough should become soft, pliable and not stick to your hands.

3. Place the dough in a plastic bag or wrap in cling film. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. After this, roll it into a sausage and divide into 10 parts.

4. Lightly flour your work surface and roll each piece into a thin round.

5. Place the flatbread on a preheated, dry frying pan with a thick bottom. Spread and bake on each side until golden brown.

6. Place the finished pita bread on a flat dish and spray the surface with water. Then cover with a towel. Then it will become soft, will not break and can be wrapped easily. And so with each workpiece.

Lush Georgian

Cooking time: 1 hour 50 min. - 2 hours. Number of servings: 2-3. Calorie content: 156 kcal. Kitchen appliances and accessories: bowl; baking tray; parchment; rolling pin; brush; mixer; film.

Ingredients:

Flour	350-380 g
Sunflower oil	35 ml
Salt (fine)	0.5 tsp.
Water	230 ml
Yeast (fast acting dry)	15 g
Granulated sugar	1 tsp.

Preparation:

Pour 230 milliliters of warm water into a bowl. Add 15 grams of yeast, half a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of sugar.
Mix all ingredients for a minute. You can use a mixer for this. Gradually add 350 grams of sifted flour and knead the dough. At the end of the kneading, add 35 milliliters of sunflower oil.
The dough should be elastic and non-sticky.
Grease the finished dough with oil and place in a bowl under film to proof for about an hour. It should double in size.
After this, knead the dough on the table, sprinkling it with a little flour. Roll out the dough into a layer about half a centimeter thick.
Place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment, cover with cling film and leave it for half an hour. During this time, the dough should increase slightly in size. Additionally, you can cover the dough with a towel.
Bake the pita bread at 200 degrees until golden brown, about 7-10 minutes. After baking, you can lightly grease it with butter or vegetable oil. This will make it even softer and tastier. Bon appetit!

Uzbek

Cooking time: 1 hour 50 min. - 2 hours. Number of servings: 2-3. Calorie content: 148 kcal. Kitchen appliances and accessories: bowl; foil; rolling pin; culinary brush; potholders; baking tray; form for baking.

Ingredients:

Flour	2 stacks
Sunflower oil	20 ml
Salt (fine)	1 tsp.
Warm water)	1 stack
Yeast (fast acting dry)	1 tsp.
Granulated sugar	1 tsp.

Preparation:

Pour a glass of warm water into a bowl.
Add a teaspoon of dry yeast, salt and sugar. Mix.
Add 2 cups of pre-sifted flour and gradually knead into a fairly thick dough.
Cover the dough with a slightly damp kitchen towel and leave it for an hour and a half in a warm place to ferment.
After that, put it on a table sprinkled with flour. Roll it out into a flat cake. Transfer it to a baking dish lined with foil and sprinkled with flour.
Distribute the cake evenly throughout the pan. Press the middle a little with a bowl so that the dough is thinner in the middle.
We also prick the middle with a fork. Leave the cake for about 20 minutes so that it rises a little more. After that, grease the top with sunflower oil.
Cover the pan with foil. Bake at 200 degrees for 23-25 minutes.
Transfer the flatbread to a plate, cut into portions and serve. Bon appetit!

In the oven

In this recipe we use lavash on lean yeast dough (without eggs and milk) and bake it in the oven. It turns out very tasty, soft and porous inside. A good alternative to bread.

Ingredients:

Flour - 320 gr
Dry yeast - 2 teaspoons
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Sugar - 1 tablespoon
Vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons
Water – 240 ml
Sesame - optional

Preparation:

1. Pour the yeast into a deep container. Add sugar there and pour in warm (not hot) water. Stir until the yeast dissolves. Leave for 15-20 minutes for them to start working and the cap to appear.

2. Add salt to the sifted flour and combine it with the suitable yeast. Pour in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Start kneading the dough - first with a spoon, then with your hands. Knead for about 10-15 minutes.

3. Transfer the dough into a container and cover with a towel or cling film. Place in a warm place for 30-40 minutes. During this time it will increase in volume by 2 times. Gather it together with your hands and place it on a lightly floured work surface.

4. Divide the mass into two parts and roll each into a round cake, turning the edges inward.

5. Lightly sprinkle a baking sheet with flour and place the tortillas there, seams down. Using a fork, make a few light punctures and sprinkle sesame seeds on top (optional). Then cover with a towel and leave for 15 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and place a baking sheet with flatbreads there to bake for 20 minutes. Then grease the hot pita bread with vegetable oil so that the surface does not dry out and is glossy. This action is optional if you wish. The baked goods are ready to eat.

Corn lavash

If you add a few tablespoons of corn flour to wheat flour, the taste of lavash will change dramatically.

For such baking you should prepare the following products:

wheat flour - 1000 gr.;
corn flour - 200 gr.;
50 grams of live yeast (instant packet);
water - 500 gr.;
Art. spoon of salt,
sugar (optional);
1 egg
corn or sunflower oil - 200 grams.

This bread is prepared as follows:

mix two types of flour together;
add yeast to part of the flour and dilute in water, leave to dissolve completely;
add salt to the mixture;
knead a soft dough on this mash;
leave for half an hour in a warm place (at room temperature);
preheat the oven to 220 degrees;
grease the baking sheet with vegetable oil (sunflower, corn, refined or natural);
make flat cakes (you don’t even need to roll them out, but simply flatten a piece of dough rolled into a ball);
place the flatbread on a baking sheet and brush with an egg, beaten with a spoonful of vegetable oil;
You can sprinkle sugar on top if your family doesn’t mind this product.

Lavash is baked quickly, no more than half an hour, depending on the quality of the oven. If it is possible to adjust, make the heat on top a little more.

On a note. If you cannot visually determine the readiness of the pita bread the first time, you can take it out and pinch off a piece. If raw, finish baking. It will definitely work the second time!

Thin in the pan

Step 1

The recipe for this delicious bread includes only three ingredients: wheat flour, boiling water and salt. I use glasses with a capacity of 200 ml.

Step 2

Prepare the dough for pita bread - sift some heaps of wheat flour onto the table.

Step 3

Make a hole by simply raking the flour to the sides.

Step 4

Dissolve the salt in boiling water and pour everything into the well.

Step 5

With quick movements using a spoon or fork, we begin to mix the water with flour.

Step 6

This way we won’t burn our hands and the dough will cool quickly.

Step 7

Now let's start kneading - this is one of the secrets of successful thin pita bread. Without a video, it’s quite difficult to describe the essence of the process, but I’ll try (this is one of the few moments when my husband was forced to pick up a camera, since, unfortunately, I don’t have a third one). In general, it looks something like this: hold the near edge of the dough with your left hand, press on it with the back of your right hand, as if pushing it away from you.

Step 8

After this, fold the part that you pulled back towards you and repeat the movements. The left hand is still holding the dough. The dough forms a sausage, directed horizontally.

Step 9

We turn this sausage vertically towards us and repeat the manipulations again. I really hope that I described it more or less clearly. This is necessary so that the finished pita bread has a sufficient degree of layering and is not a solid, albeit baked, piece of dough. During the kneading process, the dough is saturated with air bubbles and the necessary oxygen, because it does not contain yeast.

Step 10

Forms a dense dough into a ball.

Step 11

Cover with cling film and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

Step 12

After the allotted time, the dough is transformed. A dense piece of flour turns into elastic, soft and pleasant to the touch dough!

Step 13

Divide it into 8 equal-sized pieces.

Step 14

Sprinkle the table with flour and place the first piece of dough (cover the rest with a towel so that they do not get airy and crusty).

Step 15

Roll out the dough into a flat, thin round cake. Roll out as thin as possible - ideally so that the dough is visible through. First, I advise you to roll out all the balls and only then start preparing them - pita bread bakes very quickly in a frying pan.

Step 16

You need to cook pita bread in a dry, wide frying pan over medium-low heat. First of all, heat the frying pan and, as soon as it is warm enough, add the first tortilla.

Step 17

See how the dough behaves! Literally after half a minute it is covered first with small, and then with huge bubbles. This way the dough separates. Cook the pita bread for about a minute on one side, until characteristic dark scorch marks appear on the bottom.

Step 18

Turn over and bake for about half a minute. And then a miracle happens - the almost flat cake inflates like a balloon. However, this will happen if you worked with the dough correctly - kneaded it.

Step 19

Remove the finished thin pita bread from the frying pan and immediately, while it is hot, spray it with water from a spray bottle. Be sure to cover with a towel so that the pita bread becomes soft. After this, prepare the second and remaining flatbreads in the same way.

Step 20

Well, that's it: you can enjoy freshly baked bread. Lavash can be stored for quite a long time in the refrigerator - first roll it up into a tube and place it in a bag. By the way, you can freeze them.

Step 21

I also highly recommend trying a recipe for delicious homemade bread in a bread machine - prepare aromatic French bread with a delicate crumb and a crispy crust for your family!

On kefir

From the dough according to this recipe, you can bake two types of flatbread: without oil in a dry frying pan - Armenian-style lavash, and with butter or vegetable oil - a ruddy and very tasty flatbread.

Ingredients:

wheat flour;
kefir - 1 glass;
oil - 1 tablespoon;
soda - 1 teaspoon;
salt - 1 teaspoon.

Lavash with kefir is prepared at home according to grandma’s recipe::

Pour kefir into a suitable container, add baking soda and stir. Then add salt and oil and stir.
Gradually add sifted flour while stirring to knead the stiff dough until it does not stick to your hands.
Keep the resulting rough dough under cling film for 30 minutes.
Then divide the dough into 5-6 parts, roll into balls, cover with film so as not to dry out, and one by one roll into a thin flat cake and bake in a frying pan on both sides with or without oil.

Kefir-based lavash, baked without oil, immediately cover with a towel until completely cooled. If the cakes are dry, you can save them and restore their elasticity by covering them with wet wipes.

Other options

As I already wrote, there are a lot of options for making lavash. For example, you can make pita bread in the oven with filling or cook it not with water, but with whey. For breakfast, you can make lavash sandwiches for a quick and tasty meal before work. Lavash lasagna will be very tasty, where the standard dough is replaced with a thin flatbread. If you are interested, you can look for a variety of recipes for pita rolls or shawarma, since it can be used almost anywhere.

Did you get elastic pita breads? Any problems? What did you serve them with and how did you use them? Share your ideas in the comments.

Bakery Tips

If you use whey instead of water when kneading dough for thin lavash at home, the taste of the finished flatbread will become more pleasant. The originality of the taste of lavash lies in its saltiness. For this reason, you should not reduce the prescription amount of salt.

Thick pita bread will be much tastier if before baking, brush the flatbread with water and sprinkle with sesame seeds or sunflower seeds/nuts. If you don’t have a large frying pan, you can use a smaller one and spread the edges of the cake along its sides, although the middle will bake more golden brown than the edges. Coating it with butter while hot will significantly improve the taste and aroma of thick pita bread. This method will also help out when drying out the flatbread in the oven.

Flour for lavash does not have to be only wheat; you can include rye flour in your home recipe, given that the latter does not contain gluten and for this reason you can add up to 40% of it. Ground oatmeal or bran is also suitable, which is also sprinkled on the surface of the pita bread before baking.

What can you cook

Thin pita breads are used:

For homemade chicken shawarma;
For serving shish kebab;
To prepare lasagna;
For sandwiches;
For preparing various snacks;
For rolls with crab sticks and other ingredients of your choice, such as red fish;
For making chips

Sources

https://1000.menu/catalog/lavash-domashnii
https://www.vokrugsada.ru/retsepty/lavash-v-domashnikh-usloviyakh/
https://www.alizy.club/vypechka/lavash/retsept-prigotovleniya-v-domashnih-usloviyah.html
https://povar.ru/recipes/domashnii_lavash-48485.html
https://vkusneetut.ru/lavash-v-domashnix-usloviyax.html
https://finecooking.ru/recipe/tonkij-lavash-bez-drozhzhej

What is lavash served with?

Pita bread can be used in many recipes. You can simply eat it instead of bread, or spread it with something tasty: honey, melted cheese or other sauce. You can make homemade shawarma with pita bread by adding your favorite ingredients. Or make a Ukrainian version of a burrito by frying it in a frying pan. Lavash chips are also very tasty. You can also make rolls with melted cheese or fish and herbs. In general, there are many options, the main thing is to prepare delicious pita bread.