Lavash

Katie holding up a piece of lavash

The first thing my husband (who by the way is a huge Monty Python fan and remembers every line from every movie he has ever seen) said to me when I told him I was making lavash was "Fetchez la vache!" To which I, of course, responded "moooooooooo!" Once I explained that lavash was not part of the Holy Grail but in fact a Middle Eastern flat bread that we know as cracker bread, he was quite excited about trying it. As a side note, we had to watch the "French Taunting" scene from the Holy Grail again. Ok- maybe we had to watch the whole movie again but whose counting?

This recipe comes from a cookbook our friend, Gail, lent us. It is a great book and it has changed the way I think about bread. The cookbook focuses on using your bread machine for all or some of the process. For instance, the lavash you make on the dough cycle and then finish it in the oven. The cookbook is The Cook's Encyclopedia of Bread Machine Making by Jennie Shapter. It ended up ordering the book online. I changed the recipe slightly because I did not have millet seeds and I wanted to cook the bread on a pizza stone.

Lavash

1 Cup of Water
3 Tbsp of Strained Plain Yogurt
3 Cups of Unbleached White Bread Flour
1 Tsp of Salt
1 Tsp of Rapid Rise Active Dry Yeast

2 Tbsp of Milk
2 Tbsp of Sesame Seeds
(I prefer a topping of olive oil and garlic brushed over the lavash and then topped with Parmesan or Asiago Cheese)

Pour the water and yogurt into your bread machine, followed by the flour and salt. Place a small indentation in the middle of the flour (not touching the salt and not down to the water) and add the yeast. (Note- If your bread machine requires that dry ingredients go in first, reverse the order).

Set the bread machine to the dough setting (use basic or pizza dough setting). Press start. It takes my bread machine an hour and forty minutes on the dough cycle.

Risen dough

At this point preheat your oven to 450F/230C/gas mark 8. Place the surface you are baking the lavash on in the oven. When the dough cycle is finished take the dough out and place on a lightly floured surface.

Gently punch the dough and then divide into 10 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and then flatten into a disc.

Place under an oiled piece of plastic wrap and let rest for 5 minutes.

After the dough has rested, roll each ball of dough out until it is very thin.

If the dough starts to tear, let it rest for a few minutes after rolling. Stack the lavash between pieces of oiled plastic wrap.

I like lavash topped with olive oil, garlic, and cheese

Brush the lavash with milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds or brush with olive oil and garlic and sprinkle with cheese. Bake the lavaah for 5-8 minutes or until puffed and starting to brown. If you use a pizza stone, you should check the lavash after 4 minutes.

Baking on the pizza stone

If you use a convection oven, reduce the temperature to 425F/220C/gas mark 7 and check after 4 minutes.

Finished lavash