As soon as people learned to grow grain and grind it into flour, they began to prepare bread in the form of round or oval cakes. This food is the oldest in the world. The Bible mentions unleavened bread - thin flatbread made from unleavened dough, sprinkled with spices. In the national cuisines of the world there are different types of flatbreads, the names of which may be unfamiliar to you. Wheat, rye, corn, buckwheat, and rice flour are used for their preparation. They are made from yeast or unleavened dough, with or without filling, fried in a pan or baked in the oven. At the same time, spices and sometimes filling are added to the dough, so the flatbreads of different nations are very tasty and appetizing!
Zhengyalov hats with green filling
In Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan they love unleavened flatbreads stuffed with greens, called Zhengyalov Khats. The filling is usually made from spinach, sorrel, dill, parsley, basil, mint, cilantro, chickweed, tarragon, green onions, nettles, beet tops, quinoa and lettuce, dressed with vegetable oil. The more varied greens, the tastier the cakes. Sometimes fried onions and cheese are added to the filling.
Unleavened dough for zhengyalov hats is kneaded with water, sometimes with the addition of fermented milk drinks. The flatbreads are rolled out very thin, filled with green minced meat, and then fried on a hot saj roaster.
But zhengyalov hats can also be baked at home. Mix the dough with 1.2 kg of flour, 300 g of matsoni, 800 ml of water and a pinch of salt. While the dough is resting, mix different types of greens and season them with 1 tbsp. l. vegetable oil. In total you should get 500 g of green minced meat. Place the filling in the middle of the round cake, pinch the edges and press down to form a flat pie. Fry the zhengyalov hats in a dry frying pan for 2-3 minutes on each side.
Hot flatbreads are greased with vegetable oil and served with sour milk.
Option 8: Water cakes with tomatoes in the oven
How else can you complement Lenten flatbreads? Let's place small cherry tomatoes and dried basil on their surface. You will get real Italian bread!
Ingredients:
- 12 cherry tomatoes;
- dried basil;
- a glass of purified cool water;
- baking powder/fine salt for dough;
- vegetable oil;
- 515 grams of flour (premium grade).
Step by step recipe
Step 1:
Sift the wheat flour into a dry, wide bowl. Add fine salt there. Add baking powder.
Step 2:
Now thinly pour in purified water (preferably chilled). Using your hands, gradually knead the dough.
Step 3:
Wrap the resulting mass with film. Forget about the dough for half an hour, during which it will sit.
Step 4:
During this time, rinse the cherry tomatoes. Blot each with napkins. Cut into three parts using a very sharp knife.
Step 5:
Return the dough, unrolling it. Share. Roll out 12 identical round layers. The thickness is approximately one and a half centimeters.
Step 6:
Place all the ingredients at once on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Place three pieces of chopped cherry tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with dried basil.
Step 7:
Place the cakes on water without yeast in the oven. It needs to be preheated to the required 180 degrees. Cook the fragrant bread for 5-7 minutes.
Cherries may not always be on hand. Therefore, it is quite acceptable to replace them with small tomatoes (for example, it could be the “Cream” variety). You can also sprinkle the flatbreads with coarse sea salt if desired.
Kystyby with porridge and potatoes
Bashkir and Tatar unleavened flatbreads kystyby filled with porridge (usually millet), vegetables or mashed potatoes are shaped like sochni or uncovered pies. The flatbreads are rolled out and fried in a dry frying pan without oil, and only then filled with minced meat. The filling is placed on one half of the flatbread and covered with the other half, after which the kystyby is greased with melted butter and placed in a heap on a dish.
To prepare kystyby, knead the dough from 1 egg, 125 g of sour cream, a pinch of salt and 800 g of flour. The approximate amount of flour is given, since sour cream can be thick or liquid - it depends on its fat content.
Divide the dough into pieces, roll out thin cakes along the diameter of the frying pan. Fry them without oil on both sides, fill them with mashed potatoes and place them in a stack. Serve with sour cream!
Option 7: Spicy Chili Egg Cakes
To make the flatbreads even softer and last a little longer, we recommend including fresh eggs in the recipe. But the highlight of this option is the spicy chili and piquant garlic.
Ingredients:
- 4-5 grams of chili;
- glass of water;
- large chicken egg;
- 520 grams of flour;
- fine salt/ground pepper into the dough;
- baking powder in dough;
- vegetable oil in a frying pan;
- three cloves of garlic.
How to cook
Step 1:
Peel the garlic and chili. Wash it down. Grind both ingredients.
Step 2:
Now in a tall container, mix a large egg with cold water until smooth.
Step 3:
In another bowl, combine baking powder, wheat flour, salt and a little ground pepper. Immediately add chili and garlic.
Step 4:
Pour a mixture of water and eggs inside. Knead the dough. This can be done in a food processor or by hand. Wrap the finished mixture using film and let it brew in the refrigerator.
Step 5:
Next, divide the spicy dough into 12-14 pieces. Roll out the circles, dusting them with flour so that they do not stick to the surface of the table.
Step 6:
Heat the refined oil. Fry the flatbreads in water in a frying pan for about a minute (if necessary, one and a half minutes). Turn over. Continue the process, spending the same amount of time. Place in a stack. Serve warm.
Fresh chili, like garlic, can be replaced with dried ones. Just be careful in the dosage so that the cakes don’t turn out too spicy. You can also add not just one ground pepper, but several types of pepper (paprika, white and allspice).
There is no feast without khichins in the Caucasus!
Thin flatbreads filled with khychina are popular in the cuisine of the peoples of the North Caucasus. To prepare the classic dough, only water, flour and salt are usually used, but in many Khychin recipes you can find kefir or ayran. The fillings can be different - pickled cheese, cottage cheese, meat, potatoes or herbs. The filling is laid out on the flatbreads, the dough is collected in a bag and pinched well. After this, the flatbread is pressed down with your hands, rolled out to a thickness of 3–4 mm and fried in a dry frying pan. Among the Karachais and Balkars, a feast without khychins is considered a sign of poverty, especially when it comes to meat flatbreads.
Try cooking khychin with cheese and herbs. Mix 250 ml kefir and 1 tsp. soda, and add 0.5 tsp to 400 g of flour. salt. Combine kefir with flour and knead the dough, then let it brew a little under a napkin. For the filling, mix 200 g of any hard or semi-hard cheese, 20 g of herbs and 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic.
Roll out the dough into six flat cakes with a diameter of 10 cm, place 2 tbsp in the middle of each. l. filling, collect the dough in a bag and roll it out. Fry the khychin for 2 minutes on each side, and if the dough puffs up with bubbles, pierce them to let the air out.
Khychins, of which there are a great many recipes, are generously brushed with melted butter and served with hot tea or milk.
Option 6: Cheese cakes on water in the oven
Cheese, along with herbs, is also often used in the preparation of thin flatbreads. This time we will take the hard variety.
Ingredients:
- 501 grams of wheat flour;
- 216 grams of water (cold);
- salt/baking powder in dough;
- refined oil;
- 150 grams of cheese.
Step by step recipe
Step 1:
Mix baking powder and fine salt with sifted flour in a wide bowl. Also add finely grated cheese (half the volume). Make a large depression in the middle.
Step 2:
Add filtered water. Knead the dough with a spatula and then with your hands. Wrap the non-stick mass in film. Transfer to a refrigerator shelf.
Step 3:
When about 30 minutes have passed, unroll the dough and roll it out into a rope. Cut into 12 equal pieces.
Step 4:
Using a rolling pin, make cakes on water without yeast with an approximate thickness of one and a half centimeters.
Step 5:
Place all the preparations on greased parchment, which you need to cover a baking sheet with a flat bottom.
Step 6:
Now quickly grate (finely) the remaining cheese. Sprinkle it all over the flatbreads. Add salt if desired.
Step 7:
Place the pieces in an oven heated to 180 degrees. Bake the oriental bread for 5-6 minutes, then switch to heat on top. Cook until golden brown.
In this recipe we use ordinary hard cheese, like “Dutch” or “Russian”. However, the recipe may contain suluguni, feta cheese or mozzarella. Only in this case, adjust the amount of salt, since these cheeses already contain it.
Kutaby with pumpkin and pomegranate
Kutaby are Azerbaijani crescent-shaped pies made of very thin dough filled with meat, vegetables, cheese and herbs. The dough for kutabs is prepared with water and flour, but modern housewives often add fermented milk drinks and eggs to make the flatbread softer and more tender. Kutaby are similar to khichina and differ only in shape and set of spices. For example, Azerbaijanis are very fond of woodlice and pomegranate seeds, which can often be found in kutabs.
Kutabs are eaten with your hands, rolling the flatbread into a tube and dipping it in homemade yogurt sauce with seasonings.
Kutaby with pumpkin is a favorite snack of many Azerbaijani gourmets. Among the different recipes for flatbreads with filling, pumpkin kutabs are distinguished by their ease of preparation and spectacular appearance.
For the dough you will need 100 ml of warm water, 400 g of flour, a pinch of salt and 1 coffee spoon of vegetable oil, which is added to the dough at the end of the kneading. While the dough is resting under a towel or cling film, prepare the filling from 400 g of boiled pumpkin, chopped in a blender. You can add fried onions and your favorite spices to the pumpkin.
Divide the dough into balls and roll them into flat cakes. Spread the filling on one side of the flatbreads, sprinkle with pomegranate seeds, cover with the other side, carefully combine and fry on both sides in a dry frying pan. Grease the kutabs with oil and serve with tuzluk sauce, which is made with sour cream or ayran with garlic and black pepper.
Option 5: Water flatbreads with herbs and black pepper
The composition of the flatbreads often includes various greens.
This makes them incredibly tasty. Therefore, we could not ignore the next bread option. Ingredients :
- half a kilogram of flour;
- 215 grams of purified water;
- salt/black pepper in the dough;
- sachet (11 g) baking powder;
- half a bunch of washed dill;
- oil into the frying pan.
How to cook
Step 1:
Revise half a bunch of dill. Remove stems and wash. Shake off any accumulated moisture. Grind it right there. Spread on paper towels to dry completely.
Step 2:
After forty minutes, mix salt, baking powder, black pepper and sifted wheat flour in a bowl.
Step 3:
Also add dry chopped dill. At the next stage, introduce cold water. Knead the soft dough with your hands, adding flour in small batches.
Step 4:
Having received an elastic dough with herbs and pepper, leave under the film in a cool place. The required time for infusion is half an hour.
Step 5:
Next, divide the soft mass into twelve parts. One by one (cover the remaining pieces with anti-chapping film), roll out round layers (the thickness of the blanks is up to one and a half centimeters).
Step 6:
In calcined vegetable oil, fry the cakes for one and a half minutes in water and flour in a frying pan.
Step 7:
After finishing the process, leave the bread under the film to cool partially (to a warm state).
Dill can be considered a classic herb for these flatbreads. However, it is permissible to use parsley, basil, cilantro, and tarragon. It is important, no matter which option you choose, to grind everything as finely as possible.
Indian bread paratha
Paratha is a flat Indian bread, in other words, a flatbread, which is served with soups, main courses and even fruits. The paratha flatbread is made without filling or filled with crushed potatoes, a mixture of curried vegetables, mushrooms, cheese or wild celery seeds - this is how parathas are prepared in northern India.
The dough for Indian flatbreads is usually kneaded using whole grain flour, which can be slightly diluted with regular wheat flour to make the dough stronger. The fact is that dough made from wholemeal flour is not so elastic and is more likely to break.
Parathas with potato filling are very tasty; in India they are called aloo parathas. To prepare them you will need 100 ml of warm boiled water, 40 ml of vegetable oil, a pinch of salt, 100 g of whole grain flour and 150 g of premium flour. Knead an elastic dough and leave it for an hour under cling film, during which time boil 3 potatoes and prepare mashed potatoes, adding finely chopped herbs to the filling.
The principle of preparing Indian flatbreads is the same as that of Khychin. Divide the dough into pieces and roll into balls, each of which should be rolled into a flat cake. Place the filling in the middle, gather the edges of the dough into a pouch, press down and roll the paratha again into a thin cake. Fry in a frying pan greased with melted butter and serve hot with any dishes!
Cooking sweet cakes
Especially for those with a sweet tooth, there is one interesting recipe with which you can quickly prepare incredibly tasty sweet flatbreads using ordinary water. The products are multi-layered, which gives them an additional effect.
To work you need:
- 1 raw egg;
- a pinch of salt;
- 100 ml cold water;
- wheat flour (about 2 - 3 cups);
- a little sugar;
- vegetable oil.
To make simple flatbreads, you need:
- Combine the egg with water, add salt and beat a little.
- Add flour and mix well. The dough should not be very elastic and roll out easily.
- Divide the finished semi-finished product into parts.
- Roll each into a thin flat cake. Coat the surface with oil and sprinkle with sugar. After this, fold the cake in half twice and roll it out again. Repeat this procedure 3-4 times.
- Fry each sugar-butter dough piece in a frying pan with the addition of a small amount of vegetable oil. In this case, the flame should be medium. As soon as one side is browned, the workpiece can be turned over.
The results are very tasty multi-layer sweet cakes. It is better to eat them immediately, while the melted sugar has not yet been absorbed.
Dagestan miracle with meat
Dagestan flat cakes chudu, or kachi, are also similar to khichina, since they are a closed flat pie with a variety of fillings. Dagestanis cook them with herbs, new potatoes, fresh vegetables, cottage cheese or cheese. But Dagestan flatbreads are not always flat. For example, everyone’s favorite “Dargin miracle” pie is made like an ordinary tall pie and baked in the oven. Fall recipes for miracles include pumpkin, and winter flatbreads are made with meat and chicken, with the addition of nuts and beans. However, Dagestani housewives put walnuts in almost all pie fillings. And on the festive table there is always botishtal - an Avar miracle with melted cheese, which stretches well, so the dish melts in your mouth.
If you want to make thin miracle cakes, mix 500 g of flour with a glass of water and a pinch of salt, knead into a thick and soft dough. Cover it with a towel and set it to rest, but in the meantime, start filling, for which you will need ground beef or lamb mixed with onion, salt and pepper minced through a meat grinder. The amount depends on whether you like a lot of filling or not. You can season the meat with oriental spices for piquancy. Prepare the miracle like kutabs - by rolling out the dough, putting the filling on half of the flatbread and forming crescents. Fry the tortillas in a dry frying pan and brush with oil to soften them.
Gözleme – envelope flatbreads
Turkish flatbread gozleme is a favorite delicacy of tourists who come to Turkey on vacation. They are prepared from unleavened dough, to which a little vegetable oil is added, so they turn out so soft and appetizing. The flatbread is rolled out into a circle, filled with filling, and then rolled into an envelope or semicircle, sometimes cutting the finished gozleme into strips. Gözleme with cottage cheese, cheese, herbs, potatoes, pumpkin and meat is very tasty.
Let's make gozleme with cottage cheese. Mix 200 ml of water, a pinch of salt, 4 tbsp. l. vegetable oil and 300 g flour. Knead the dough and cover it with a towel. Combine 250 g of cottage cheese with a bunch of chopped parsley, add a little salt - this is an excellent filling for Turkish pastries!
Roll the dough into flat cakes, place the curd filling in the middle and wrap it in an envelope. Place the gözleme in a dry frying pan, seam side down, and fry until golden brown spots appear on both sides.
Brush the flatbreads with butter and serve hot - it's a real treat!
Chalpak with dill from Uzbekistan
Thin Uzbek chalpak flatbreads are made with yeast dough and are delicious even without filling, hot or cold. They are fried in oil, so they are softer and melt in the mouth. Chalpak is usually served with soups and broths instead of bread, used as a base for sandwiches, or eaten just like that.
How is chalpak prepared? Dissolve 1 tsp. instant yeast in 100 ml warm water, add a pinch of salt and 2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil. Knead a soft dough with 350 g of flour, divide it into three parts and roll each into a small circle. Place finely chopped dill in the middle, connect the edges in the form of a bag and roll out a thin flat cake with a rolling pin, and then fry in vegetable oil for 2-3 minutes on each side. Instead of dill, you can take any greens; the more varied the filling, the more interesting the taste of the chalpak.
Serve flatbreads with broths and soups. You don't even need bread with them!
Water flatbreads with dry yeast
Fans of fluffy baked goods should like water cakes with the addition of yeast. Making them yourself is not at all difficult.
For this you will need:
- 200 ml of warm drinking water;
- 10 g salt;
- 3 – 4 g dry yeast;
- 320 – 350 g flour;
- 35 g sunflower oil.
How to properly make these cakes at home:
- First you need to prepare yeast dough in water. To do this, you first need to dilute the yeast in a glass of warm water. To make them start “working” faster, you can add a little sugar to them.
- Pour the solution into a bowl and add the remaining ingredients.
- Knead a homogeneous dough and let it stand for about an hour to an hour and a half in a warm place.
- Randomly divide the finished dough into parts.
- Roll them out with a rolling pin into thin cakes.
- Fry in a heated frying pan with the addition of vegetable oil.
As you can see, fluffy and very aromatic flatbreads are prepared quickly and without much difficulty.
Mexican tortillas
The Indians began to bake thin flatbreads made from wheat or corn flour. Nowadays, tortilla is one of the favorite snacks of Mexicans; dishes such as burritos, fajitas, quesadillas, tacos and enchiladas are prepared on its basis. Mexican tortillas, fried or baked, are filled with sweet or savory fillings of meat, vegetables, beans and cheese, and are also served instead of bread with various dishes. Tortillas are used to make rolls, pies, sandwiches and canapés; crispy pieces of tortilla are added to first courses for thickness. Corn tortillas also replace cutlery for many Mexicans - they are convenient for scooping up soup or sauce. True, it is better to eat such a “spoon” right away, since the corn dough quickly hardens and becomes tasteless.
We offer you a simple recipe for tortilla bread; you will surely like Mexican cuisine. Combine together 200 g corn flour, 130 g wheat flour, 1 tsp. salt, add 50 g of cold butter and rub the mixture with your hands until crumbly. Pour in about a third of a glass of water and knead into an elastic dough, adding more water if necessary. Leave it under the towel for 20 minutes.
Divide the dough into several pieces, roll each into a thin flat cake and fry in a dry frying pan without oil until lightly browned and bubbling. Now you can fill the tortilla with filling and taste it!
It is impossible to list all the recipes for flatbreads from different cuisines of the world in one article. Indian chapati and puri, Central Asian shelpeks, which are deep-fried, Russian pancakes and pancakes, Georgian khachapuri, Caucasian lavash and pasties, Armenian matnakash, oriental pita, Moldavian placindas, Lezgin afarar, Italian focaccia, Jewish matzo, French fougasse and Chechen are very tasty. khingalsh - how many more recipes can you try! Share your best recipes with us!
