Lavash is a traditional food of Easterners, an alternative to our bread. It is made from a thinly rolled sheet of unleavened dough, which contains only 3 products - water, flour and salt. Sizes and shapes can be very diverse and depend on the manufacturer’s technology.
Despite its foreign roots, lavash has become very popular in Russia both as an ingredient in the preparation of various snacks - shawarma, rolls, stuffed envelopes, and as a side dish for main courses. It is also loved by supporters of proper nutrition due to its completely natural composition and low weight required per serving. Therefore, it is important to know how to properly preserve thin pita bread at home so as not to spoil its original qualities.
Briefly about the main thing
The love for lavash came to us from Armenian and Turkish cuisines. This is the usual unleavened bread in the form of a flatbread without additives. It is served as a side dish, baked into pies, pizza, and rolled into envelopes with various fillings.
The flour product contains only wheat flour, water and salt. It is impossible to prepare classic Armenian bread at home, since to preserve the original recipe it must be baked on the back wall of a special oven - a tandoor.
Hot, freshly baked pita bread has a consistency similar to a tortilla, and acquires elasticity and firmness after it cools. These qualities made the product popular in Russia. It is convenient to wrap hard and soft fillings in it. And you don’t need a knife to eat it; it’s customary to tear the bread with your hands.
Do you know that…
Translated from Armenian, “lavash” sounds like “good food”; in another, less poetic version, it means “thin flat bread”.
How to cook homemade thin pita bread without yeast in a frying pan
Methods for storing salted and fresh lard in the refrigerator or freezer
Vegetable oil is added to the dough as desired - so that it stretches when rolling. It can be replaced with olive, corn, sunflower and even rendered pork fat. If you prefer bread baked goods without fat, then simply exclude it from the composition of the products. Pour wheat flour into a deep container and make a small depression in the middle. Don't forget to leave some flour for rolling.
Pour salt into it, add vegetable oil and pour in boiling water.
Immediately start kneading the dough with a fork. Since it is steamed in boiling water, this dough is called “custard”.
Form it into a ball and leave it to cool for 8-10 minutes as it will be very hot.
Then divide the ball into several parts - the proportions are about 7-8. Roll out each part with a rolling pin into a thin, thin layer. If you want to get round pita bread, simply attach a plate of the required circumference to the layer and circle it with a knife. Then roll out the rest of the dough again.
Heat a frying pan and fry the first portion of dough on it. Simmer on one side for no more than 1 minute!
Turn over to the other side as soon as a slight blush appears on the first. Bake also - 1 minute.
Place the fried pita bread on a plate and immediately cover it with a damp scarf or towel so that it does not dry out - then you will not be able to roll it up.
In this way, fry all the prepared pita breads and keep them under a towel, taking them out only when serving.
Yorkshire pudding with salmon
Enjoy your meal!
What to look for when purchasing
In store-bought packaging, pita bread stays fresh for 2-3 days, so you need to look at the date of its manufacture. The fact is that during production, tortillas are packaged while still hot, so that they remain soft and elastic, and the moisture does not have time to evaporate.
To increase the shelf life of the finished product, special food additives are used, which are placed in bags with lavash. This is provided for by the technical specifications. These additives are effective only until the package is opened and the cakes are removed from it.
Without preservatives, you cannot store pita bread in a plastic bag. In bags, it quickly becomes moldy, like any type of bread. Therefore, when buying in a store, it is important to also pay attention to the packaging - it should not be completely sealed.
Correct pita bread from the store:
- matte, with a smooth surface without breaks;
- elastic and resilient. It does not stretch or crumble;
- No alcohol or vinegar smell. They can be added to the dough or sprinkled on the finished product.
The bread is very thin, takes up little space and takes the desired shape perfectly. A lavash cake weighs no more than a quarter of a kilogram
Lavash roll stuffed with canned food
Period and conditions for storing salmon in the refrigerator and freezer
You can make rolls using the same principle from any product. But what’s also interesting is their combination in the filling and even the layout order.
It would seem that it would be delicious with ordinary canned fish sprinkled with cheese and herbs.
Let's try making our favorite Mimosa salad in a roll, it will be very original.
We will have a three-layer roll, that is, we will need three sheets of pita bread.
The ingredients are the same as for the salad: a can of tuna (saury, sardinella, etc.), 100 g of cheese, 4 eggs, herbs, sauce.
We take the first layer, grease it with mayonnaise, but not too much, so that it doesn’t get soggy right away, but also isn’t dry.
Rub chicken eggs onto it, distributing evenly.
Lightly sprinkle with chopped herbs and wrap tightly in a roll.
On the second sheet, also coated with mayonnaise, the filling will be grated hard cheese, spread it in a thin layer and add a little greenery on top.
We will place our first roll on this sheet along the edge and roll it up together.
Mash the canned fish with a fork and place it on top of the mayonnaise layer on the third sheet. Let's roll it together with the already made two-layer roll.
Now, tightly packed in cling film, put it in the refrigerator for an hour. There is no need to hold it longer, otherwise the pita bread will become very soggy. Therefore, it is better to prepare such a roll immediately before the festive dinner.
How to store at home
- At room temperature. Opened pita bread should be stored indoors, in a room with low humidity. A bread box will do, preferably a wooden one. Of course, the bread bin needs to be closed so that its contents do not absorb foreign odors.
- In a refrigerator. If you received “wet” pita bread, you should put it on the top shelf of the refrigerator, where the temperature is the lowest. In this case, the cakes must be wrapped in a bag, preventing air from entering the product as much as possible.
Note to the hostess
It is important to check that there are no strong-smelling foods nearby or on adjacent shelves in the refrigerator. Lavash, like any flour product, actively absorbs odors.
Storage conditions
How long pita bread can be stored depends on external conditions. To keep the product fresh longer, you need to choose a dry place for it. It is best to wrap it in a linen napkin or other natural, breathable fabric and place it in a bread bin. It is better if the bread box is wooden. But polymer and metal products are also quite suitable.
It is not advisable to store Armenian lavash in sealed bags, where the product will quickly become damp and moldy.
Flour baked goods have increased hygroscopicity. Therefore, in addition to moisture, Armenian thin bread is able to absorb all surrounding aromas.
For those who purchased obviously wet pita bread, there is a good recommendation. Keep it in the manufacturer's airtight container near the freezer. Depending on the refrigerator model, this may be the top or bottom shelf.
How to extend the shelf life
In rare cases, housewives need to keep pita bread fresh for a long time. In this case, the freezer will help. At a temperature of -18 °C the product can be stored for up to 90 days.
- Bread that you plan to store for a long time should be wrapped tightly in cling film or parchment and placed in the freezer.
- It’s better to put the tortillas at the bottom of a box in the freezer, so they won’t get wrinkled or break.
- Don't forget to move the pita bread to another cold place when you plan to defrost the refrigerator.
When you need the pita bread, you need to defrost it directly in the film in the microwave. Ten seconds are enough to give the product freshness and softness.
There is a type of flour product based on yeast. This type of bread is higher in calories and has a shorter shelf life than traditional bread.
Features of defrosting yeast and puff pastry
Most often, housewives have a question about how to defrost yeast dough without spoiling it. The mass is indeed very capricious and if the processing technology is violated, it will become unusable and refuse to rise.
To minimize risks, you can try the following approaches:
- The option of using warm water is allowed, only there should be two packages. They need to let out as much air as possible.
- A good result is obtained by defrosting the composition on the lid of a pan with hot water. We put the workpiece in foil or a bag, turn it over regularly, and change the water if necessary.
- Another mass can be placed in a clean and dry pan, which is placed in close proximity to the stove with burning burners.
- As a last resort, the dough is defrosted in a water bath. The main thing is not to miss the right moment, otherwise the mass will run away.
But it is better not to defrost such dough in the microwave. Due to the specifics of processing, yeast may lose its properties and the product will no longer rise. Before quickly defrosting puff pastry in a microwave oven, you should also think several times. The consequences of such an experiment can be the most unpleasant. It is better to keep the product at room temperature; it will reach the desired state in just a couple of hours. For emergency defrosting, you can use a battery, but this will noticeably change the taste of the product.
How to restore softness
If the pita bread has become stale, there is a way to “bring it back to life”:
- Pour water into the pan, place a wire rack or a smaller pan on top, turned upside down. Place bread on top.
- This structure must be covered with a lid from a large saucepan and placed on low heat.
- The water will boil, and in an improvised steam bath the pita bread will regain its softness.
In its native Armenia, after cooking, lavash is dried in the sun, laid out in piles and stored in special large bread bins that look like cabinets. However, with such long-term storage, the flatbreads become brittle, so Armenians spray them with water from a spray bottle before eating, restoring their elasticity. Or the bread is placed on a damp towel and served after half an hour. At the same time, it retains its taste if it does not absorb foreign odors during storage.
Tip of the day
If it was still not possible to properly preserve the pita bread, dry, brittle strips can replace the crackers served with a hot dish.
Apple marshmallow, recipe
What do you need:
- 2 cups baked apple puree (Antonovka or other sour apples)
- 200 g sugar
- 2 squirrels
- Bake the whole apples in the oven at 180 degrees until fully cooked and soft. Baking time depends on the size of the apples.
- Cool slightly and use a spoon to transfer the pulp into a blender and blend until pureed. Add sugar and stir. Cool the puree with sugar completely.
- Turn on the oven to preheat to 80 degrees.
- Add the whites to the cooled puree one at a time and beat at high speed until a white, fluffy mass is obtained and the volume increases 2-3 times.
- Line the mold with baking paper. The mold should be of such a size that the prepared mass lies in a layer of approximately 3 cm.
- Pour the prepared mixture into the mold and place in the oven for 6 hours.
- Cut the finished marshmallow into strips, sprinkle with powdered sugar and store in a tightly closed jar.
What do you need:
- 200 g premium wheat flour
- 500 ml cold milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp. spoon of granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
To extend the life of thin Armenian lavash, you can freeze it for future use. We will find out how to do this in a step-by-step recipe with photos. Video recipe. Recipe content: Thin, oval flatbread is the center of the Armenian diet. But after a while, oven-baked lavash became no less loved in oriental cuisine and throughout the world. You can wrap anything in it: from juicy meat to fresh fruit. The bread product has the ability to be combined with any ingredients. And just in its own form - an excellent addition to borscht, soup, shish kebab, etc.
Thin bread is prepared from a minimum set of ingredients: flour, water, salt and oil. You can find a detailed recipe for making lavash on the pages of the site using the search bar. Real pita bread can be stored for a long time. In the old days, it was prepared for the whole winter, stacked in stacks of 10 sheets. During storage, the cake dried out, and simple water helped bring it back to life. It was enough to simply sprinkle the bread with water and wait until the water dries a little, or hold the dried pita bread over steam. In addition, fresh pita bread can be frozen for future use. However, it will not lose its quality throughout the year. How to properly freeze thin Armenian lavash will be the topic of the article.
- Calorie content per 100 g - 235 kcal.
- Number of servings - any
- Cooking time - 5 minutes
Ingredients:
Thin Armenian lavash - any quantity
Compound
Lavash is a healthy product as it contains many vitamins and minerals. It is quite nutritious and contains proteins, fats, carbohydrates, ash and dietary fiber. Also, unleavened bread contains quite a few vitamins: B vitamins (B1, B2, B4, B5, B6, B9), vitamin E, vitamin K, vitamin PP, choline.
Lavash also contains minerals: sodium, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, copper, selenium, magranium, iron. Both amino acids and fatty acids are present there - Omega-3 and Omega-6, but in small quantities.
Cheese pita bread for shawarma
Cheese pita bread can be used not only to decorate shawarma; the product can be served with different fillings and eaten with soup instead of bread.
What ingredients will you need?
Before preparing the cheese pita bread, you should prepare:
- hard cheese (preferably moderately salted or unleavened) grated – 100 g;
- wheat flour (sifted to remove litter, highest grade) – 250 g;
- granulated sugar (preferably use white sugar) – 15 g;
- butter (choose butter without additives) – 60 g;
- filtered water – 130 ml;
- pressed yeast – 10 g (or 3 g dry);
- fine crystalline salt (table or sea salt) – 7 g.
Step-by-step cooking process
The process for making cheese lavash is as follows:
First, pour water into a container of suitable volume and dissolve granulated sugar, yeast and salt in it. Next, you need to add chopped cheese and flour to the ingredients. Mix the ingredients until a homogeneous mass is obtained. Finally, melt the margarine, cool it to about 40 degrees and add it to the finished dough. Then the dough must be kneaded for at least 10 minutes. It should become elastic and not stick to your hands. Form dough into balls. The desired diameter of the pieces is 5 cm. Cover the dough balls with a clean cloth and let them rest for approximately 15 minutes. It is recommended to preheat the oven to 200 degrees for 15 minutes and place parchment paper on a baking sheet. Roll out each ball one by one into flat cakes about 1.5 mm high. Place the cake on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until golden brown.
It is important not to dry out the pita bread. Make all the dough balls in the same way.
Ready-made pita breads should be laid out individually until completely cooled. After this, they can be stacked and used to prepare shawarma.
