Lahvoshlavosh Armenian Cracker Bread Food

LAVASH

Steps:

• Place the flour in a large mixing bowl. Sift the salt, baking powder,and sugar into the flour. Stir well.
• Add the melted butter and MOST of the water.
• Mix well until a dough forms. If the dough seems too dry, add some of the remaining water and continue to mix.
• Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth.
• Divide the dough into 6 balls.
• Roll one ball of dough at a time into a rectangle shape that will fit on a 16"x12" baking sheet.
• Fold the rectangle-shaped dough into thirds, then in thirds again, creating a little bundle.
• Re-roll each bundle into a large rectangle again. (This process helps to create flaky layers.) Place rolled dough on an ungreased 16"x12" baking sheet.
• Preheat the oven to 425°F.
• Brush the surface of the dough with egg wash.
• Bake on the lower oven rack for about 15 minutes, or until bottom starts to brown.
• Move the tray to the upper oven rack for about another 5 to 10, or until the top becomes a golden brown.
• Remove from oven. Cool completely. Carefully cut each 'loaf' into 12 or 16 pieces.
• Continue this process until all balls of dough have been shaped and baked. NOTE: Depending on how thick or thin the dough is rolled out, will determine whether the lavash will be chewy or -crispy. Either way, it's great!
• Store in an airtight container.
• Serve lavash with cheese, fruit, and your favorite coffee or tea!

LAHVOSH/LAVOSH ARMENIAN CRACKER BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl dissolve yeast in the warm water and then add sugar.
• Next add the flour, the butter and salt. Knead the dough until it is very smooth. Cover and let stand in a warm place for 4 hours. Divide the dough into balls the size of two hands cupped together.
• On a floured board, roll out the balls until they are the size of a 14" pizza pan. Place the dough in the pan and poke the dough in several places with a fork.
• Sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds, pressing them in so that they don't fall off and bake on the bottom shelf of a 400 degree oven for 5 - 6.minutes. After the 5-6 minutes are up move the pan up to the middle shelf of the oven until lightly browned. Enjoy!

LAVASH CRACKER - BREAD

Steps:

• Add all ingredients to a medium bowl and mix one minute until ingredients are uniformly distributed.
• Place in an oiled 2 cup measuring cup and cover. Let rest for 10 minutes and begin kneading on a lightly floured surface.
• Knead for 5 minutes (it's a stiff dough) and place back into the cup and cover.
• in 20 minutes, remove the dough, stretch into a rectangle as large as possible without tearing and fold letter-style, top to bottom third and bottom to top third. Do this from sides as well. Replace into measuring cup and cover.
• In 20 minutes, do another stretch and fold and replace into cup. Let rest in a warm place until doubled in volume. This make take another hour to hour and 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350°F A baking stone can be used if desired.
• Divide the dough into 2 equal halves and roll one half out on a lightly floured surface until it resists rolling. Do the same with the other half. Return to the first dough piece and continue to roll out until each piece is a 12" x 15" rectangle or a 15" diameter circle. Lift the doughs occasionally and return to the surface and re-flour lightly as needed.
• Cover each dough with a thin towel or plastic wrap lightly to prevent sticking (can use flour or oil to prevent sticking but not usually necessary). Let rest for 5 minutes.
• Lift the dough and place onto a half size baking sheet (12" x 16" or so) that has been fitted with parchment paper or silpat pad.
• Spray the doughs with water lightly and sprinkle toppings (sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sea salt, Italian seasonings and/or paprika). Lightly press or roll the toppings into the dough. Instead of water, an egg wash or milk wash can be applied.
• Using a fork, press holes into the dough to reduce the bubbling that flatbreads all do.
• Bake for 4 minutes and rotate pan or pans and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until the crackers are uniformly browned lightly and crispy. Remove and cool on the pan, counter or rack.

LAVASH ARMENIAN CRACKER BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine 1/4 cup of flour(s) with water, yeast and salt and mix until well combined.
• Gradually add the remaining flour, mixing well.
• Add in the oil and honey, adding more water at this time if the dough is too dry, or more flour if the dough is too sticky. The dough is supposed to be very stiff.
• Knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes (see below), until a stiff, firm ball has formed.
• Allow the dough to rise until doubled in a covered bowl. Time will vary depending on room temperature, but should take approximately 2 hours.
• Knead the dough a second time and roll out until extremely thin.
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
• Spread the dough over a baking sheet and bake at 500 degrees for 3 minutes until the dough is brown.
• NOTE: You can mix knead the bread or use your food processor to knead dough for both kneading stages.

LAVASH ARMENIAN THIN BREAD

Steps:

• Place the tepid water in your electric mixing bowl and add the olive oil, sugar, and yeast. Using the batter blade let the electric mixer blend these very well.
• It will take about 5 minutes on low speed.
• Stir in the salt. Gradually add 2 cups of the flour and beat on low speed until a thick and smooth batter forms.
• Change the blade to a bread dough hook and knead in the additional 2 cups of flour.
• If you do not have a heavy mixer such as a KitchenAid, incorporate the flour with a wooden spoon and finish the kneading by hand.
• Kneading should take about 10 minutes in the machine, 20 minutes by hand.
• Place the dough on a plastic countertop and cover with a large stainless-steel bowl.
• Allow the dough to rise until double in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Punch the dough down and divide into 8 pieces.
• Let stand, covered, 15 minutes.
• Roll out each piece of dough into a 12-inch-diameter circle. Working with 2 pieces of dough at a time, arrange breads on ungreased baking sheets.
• Brush with milk and sprinkle sesame seeds over tops.
• Pierce with a fork many times, all over.
• Bake on the lowest racks in the oven, at 375F, for 8-10 minutes, or until light brown.
• Rotate the pans in the oven from top to bottom, to insure even browning.
• Serve dry or wet. (To wet, hold the cracker under running water until lightly moistened all over, and then wrap in a moist towel for 10-15 minutes.) If the cracker is too dry to roll, it will crack.
• Sprinkle with a little more water and let stand a few minutes.
• If it is too wet, cover with a dry towel and let it stand.