A leavening agent, from the Latin levare - to lift or raise, is used to entrain bubbles of a gas - such as carbon-dioxide - into the dough. Adding living yeast, which coverts starch into carbon-dioxide, is a common leavening method.
Unleavened Flat Breads
Unleavened flat breads are arguably older recipes.
Yufka , "saj bread" bread made on a saj pan. |
- Markook, shrak, also called sac ekmeği (saj bread) , or yufka, in Turkish, are made with a saj or tava , a large metal pan. Traditional village sac pans are large and convex facing up. They are mounted over a wood fire on stones, brick or metal frames. The thin dough, also called yufka in Turkish, is similar to filo dough - see below.
- Roti - also known as chapati, is made from atta flour - a whole wheat durum flour - and baked in a tandoor oven. Paratha is a related bread.
- Paratha - Paratha is made by using a roti dough and making layers by repeatedly coating with ghee and folding - creating a puff pastry effect. Parathas can be filled with layers of potato or
- Filo dough , called yufka in Turkish, is the base for many flat breads and pastries. Filo (phyllo), leaf in Greek, is about as thin as a sheet of writing paper.
- Börek is a class of filo-based pastries many of which can be considered flat breads.
- Su böreği - 'water börek' - a thin filo-like dough (with eggs) is boiled briefly in large pans, A mixture of feta cheese, parsley and oil is scattered between the layers. The whole thing is brushed with butter and laid in a masonry oven to cook.
- Lavash - (Armenian) is soft, thin, unleavened flatbread baked in a tandoor oven. It is common all over southwest Asia.
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Leavened Flat Breads
- Bazlama - is a Turkish, sourdough flatbread with a light yellow color. A fermentation starter is added to the dough and it is left for a day to ferment . It is baked on a hot plate.
- Pita - is a slightly leavened flat bread that puffs up during baking and forms a internal pocket. This is due to high oven temperature, thickness of the dough form, leavening, and moisture content.
- Naan, or nan, is a leavened, oven-baked, south Asian bread. Nan tends to be made from refined, white flour these days. Nan is traditionally baked in a tandoor.
- Sangak - from Persia, based on whole-wheat flour, is baked on a bed of small river stones in an oven.
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