So you claim to not know how to bake bread? Perhaps you think that bread making is reserved only for those types who walk around with tote bags, smugly displaying self-righteous slogans (you know the ones), get up half an hour earlier before work to feed their Rye sourdough starter and have a general air of got-their-shit-togetherness about them. Wrong.
Here’s a recipe for Bazlama, a Turkish flatbread, also known as “village bread” that’s about to challenge all your preconceptions of bread-making as a hobby reserved only for wizards. This flatbread is light, pillowy, super versatile, uses just two simple ingredients and doesn’t require hours of impatiently waiting for it to prove.
Jump to RecipeI very rarely make bread anymore. I live in France with more boulangeries than corner shops in my five mile radius. When you can pick up a thick crusted baguette which contrasts against its springy interior and perfectly irregular crumb, smells yeasty but also ever-so-slightly sweet and tastes like every good picnic in the sunshine – all for around about a euro, the saying “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” comes to mind. The only bread I make nowadays is this flatbread – taking top place in my most “used & abused” arsenal. Sorry, half-neglected sourdough starter, pushed to the back of the fridge – you were always the most high maintenance of all my fermentation babies.
This recipe calls for flour and yoghurt. That’s it. There are advisories to add a little more flavour but those two simple ingredients are the fundamentals. Natural yoghurt is traditionally used but you could substitute it for greek yoghurt or coconut yoghurt if you wanted a vegan option. If you don’t have self-raising flour then add a teaspoon of baking powder to plain flour. If you wanted to cook these authentically then you’d slap them in a stone oven, I use a frying pan or you could use a griddle pan if you wanted aesthetically pleasing griddle marks. It’s no secret that I cook these often for clients as accompaniments to huge Middle-Eastern feasts and no matter how many I pile onto plates, I always find myself back at the stove making more as they get eagerly snatched up. The taste and texture of these breads is sublime; you’ll never want to buy an overpriced, synthetic-tasting shop bought packet of wraps ever again.
WHAT TO EAT THEM WITH
- With a drizzle of honey and sliced bananas for a sweet treat.
- Dipped into hummus, baba ganoush or any of your other preferred dip choice.
- For breakfast – with a fried egg and smearing of chutney or as the perfect scoop for Shakshuka.
- For lunch – dipped in a soup or as the beginnings of a falafel/ shawarma wrap.
- For dinner – as a side for a slowly roasted leg of lamb in Persian spices or as a pizza base!
- By themselves! They’re good enough – you’ll see!