Eastern flatbread. Kutaby afar flatbreads with herbs Uzbek onion flatbreads: recipe with photos of products

Real Uzbek flatbreads turn out very soft, tender and rosy. Such products, prepared at home, cannot be compared with the bread sold in stores. That is why we decided to devote this article to the simple culinary question of how to prepare Uzbek flatbreads yourself.

General Product Information

Uzbek flatbreads can be made using different bases. Today we will present several of the most popular recipes with which you can make delicious and tender bread yourself.

It should be especially noted that in the original, Uzbek flatbreads are baked in a tandoor. This is a stove made of baked clay. Of course, no one will build it specifically for preparing flour dishes. In this regard, we decided to present to your attention a detailed recipe for Uzbek flatbreads in the oven and on the stove.

Cooking Uzbek bread with dry yeast

As mentioned above, Uzbek flatbreads can be baked in the oven from different doughs. But the most popular in our country are products made with yeast.

It should be noted that the recipe for creating Uzbek bread is so simple that even the most inexperienced cook can use it correctly. By strictly following the requirements of this method, you will definitely get very soft and tender cakes with a delicious taste.

So, how is homemade Uzbek flatbread prepared? The recipe for creating such flour products requires the use of the following components:

Kneading yeast dough

The Uzbek flatbread, the recipe for which we are considering, turns out to be very rosy, fluffy and tasty. Before placing it in the oven, you should knead the yeast dough well. To do this, you need to slightly warm up fresh milk with maximum fat content, and then pour sugar and dry yeast into it. After the last component has completely dissolved, you need to add egg yolk, table salt and melted salted margarine to the bowl. Moreover, cooking fat should not be hot. Finally, add high-grade light flour to all ingredients. It is recommended to knead the dough for about ¼ hour. At the same time, it should move away from the palms quite well. If this does not happen, then a small amount of wheat flour must be added to the base.

In order for Uzbek flatbreads to rise well in the oven, become soft and fluffy, it is advisable to cover the kneaded dough well with a dry cloth and a lid, and then place it in any warm place. It is recommended to keep the base in such conditions for approximately 1.2-1.6 hours. During this time, it should be “beaten” by hand about 3-4 times.

Formation process

As you can see, there is nothing difficult about kneading yeast dough for Uzbek flatbreads. Once the base is suitable, you can safely begin to form the products. To do this, it must be sprinkled with wheat flour and divided into 10-11 parts. Next, each piece needs to be converted into an even ball and rolled into a flat cake 1 centimeter thick.

Heat treatment

Uzbek flatbreads take a relatively short time to bake in the oven. And before placing them there, the products should be placed correctly on a baking sheet. To do this, a large sheet needs to be generously greased with butter or other cooking fat. Next, you need to place some of the cakes on it so that the distance between them is about 3-4 centimeters. Finally, each product should be pierced in the middle with a fork and then brushed with heavily beaten egg white. In this form, it is recommended to keep the semi-finished products warm for about 15-26 minutes. During this time, the products should rise slightly. Next, the filled baking sheet should be placed in the oven, where it is advisable to keep it for 30-45 minutes. In this case, the temperature must be maintained at about 200-220 degrees.

How should Uzbek bread be served?

After the Uzbek flatbread is baked properly at home, the baking sheet with the products should be removed from the oven and immediately greased with fresh butter or salted margarine. Next, the product must be removed from the sheet using a spatula and served along with any first or second hot lunch. By the way, such flatbreads can be consumed with sweet and fatty kefir. Bon appetit!

Let's prepare Uzbek puff pastry together

Uzbek flatbread at home turns out delicious not only from yeast dough, but also from a puff base. To prepare this bread we will need:

• salted butter - approximately 100 g;

Preparing the base

Undoubtedly, Uzbek flatbreads in a tandoor turn out much tastier than in a conventional oven. But if you don’t have such an oven, then you can bake flour products using the mentioned kitchen device. And before placing it there, you should knead the puff pastry well. To do this, you need to slightly warm up the drinking water, add a medium pinch of salt and sugar to it and, stirring regularly, gradually add the sifted flour. As a result of such actions you should get a fairly cool base. To make it fit, it should be wrapped in cling film and left warm for ¼ hour.

After the specified time, the dough must be rolled out into a very thin layer using a rolling pin. Next, the resulting sheet must be greased with softened butter. After this, the dough needs to be folded in half, rolled out and seasoned again with cooking oil. Similar actions should be performed about 12-16 times. Finally, the dense square of many layers must be placed back into the bag and left aside for half an hour.

How to shape and bake correctly?

After the specified time has passed, the puff pastry must be removed from the bag and immediately rolled into a thin flat cake. Next, you should make holes on its surface using a fork. After this, the semi-finished product must be placed on a greased baking sheet and sent to the oven. It is advisable to bake Uzbek flatbread from puff pastry at a temperature of about 195 degrees for 15-25 minutes. At the same time, the product needs to be monitored regularly. After all, if you miss the moment, then you will not end up with a tasty and tender flatbread, but an ordinary cracker.

Uzbek onion cakes: recipe with photos of products

Uzbek bread with onions turns out to be very aromatic and tasty. It should also be noted that the calorie content of these products is much higher than those presented above. After all, such flatbreads need to be thermally processed not in the oven, but in a frying pan with oil.

So, to make onion bread we need:

• high-grade light flour - about 500 g;
• filtered water - 400 ml;
• granulated sugar - a full small spoon;
• salted butter - 2 large spoons;
• large sweet onions - 2 pcs.;
• table salt - a medium pinch.

The process of preparing dough and forming products

To make onion cakes, you should warm up drinking water a little, and then add sugar, salt and light flour to it. It is advisable to knead the dough until you have formed a fairly dense and homogeneous base. To make it fit, it should be placed in a bag and left aside for 16-22 minutes. After this, the dough needs to be rolled out very thinly and greased with a large spoon of vegetable oil. After wrapping the base into a roll, this rolling procedure must be repeated. At the end, the dough should be wrapped again in film and left warm for ¼ hour.

While the base arrives, you can start preparing the filling. To do this, you need to peel large onions and then finely chop them. Next, you should roll out the dough again into a large and thin layer. Place chopped onion on it and then roll it tightly into a roll. To get flat cakes, you need to cut it into pieces 3-4 centimeters thick and press it with your hands so that you get a small and round sheet. For beauty, it is recommended to pierce it several times with a fork in the middle.

Roasting on the stove

After preparing the semi-finished products, you need to put the frying pan on medium heat and pour sunflower oil into it so that it covers the bottom of the dish by 1 centimeter. Next, place the prepared onion cake in the hot fat. Fry it on each side for about 3-5 minutes. After the product has browned, place it on a plate, pour a little more oil into the frying pan and place the next semi-finished product.

Serving Uzbek bread to the table

After frying the onion cakes in a frying pan, place them in a stack on a plate and serve immediately. You can eat such products not only with hot first and second courses, but also just like that, along with sweet, freshly brewed tea. Bon appetit!

Let's sum it up

Now you know how you can make delicious Uzbek flatbreads at home using yeast and puff pastry, as well as adding sweet onions. It should be noted that these are far from the only ways you can make flour products yourself. After all, some housewives cook them not only with water or milk, but also with kefir. As practice shows, such cakes turn out to be very fluffy, soft and tasty.

Flatbreads with herbs, no matter what they are called: kutabs, afars, Baku, Karabakh, Lezgin, Caucasian or Armenian flatbreads, are certainly a very tasty thing, believe me! Such flatbreads are found in oriental cuisine of many nationalities, so I consider it pointless to argue about their origin, but I advise you to simply prepare them.

Afars or flatbreads with herbs can be served as an appetizer with wine or at the table instead of bread; this is a dish of Lezgin cuisine. Most often, flatbreads made from unleavened dough are prepared with herbs and cottage cheese (cheese); in Azerbaijani cuisine they are called kutabs. Any greens can be used for these flatbreads: dill, parsley, cilantro, green onions, nettle, chickweed, sorrel, spinach; it is mixed with cottage cheese and a raw egg. Unleavened dough for afar
or kutaby is rolled out thinly, like pasties. Flatbreads with herbs are baked in a dry frying pan (!), and in Caucasian cuisine even on a metal sheet, then generously greased with butter on a plate. Kutabs are also prepared with meat.

Initially, Galina decided to cook kutabs on our website, it was in February. Now it’s June, it’s time for lush summer greens, which means it’s time to make these delicious flatbreads stuffed with greens and cottage cheese. Let my step-by-step photo recipe help you. I’m updating this post with new photos that I took while visiting my mother (I apologize for the quality, I took them with my phone, and in a hurry I forgot the camera at home).

Personally, I learned the taste and recipe for these flatbreads with herbs from my brother-in-law, a Dagestani by nationality. It was from him that I picked up this recipe for Caucasian cuisine and the technique for preparing unleavened flatbreads with filling. So every summer for many years we cook and eat them with pleasure! I also really like that the flatbreads are not fried, but baked in a completely dry frying pan without carcinogens. And when they are ready, they are greased with a piece of butter while still hot.

Advice:

Instead of cottage cheese, you can put any cheese or feta cheese into the filling.

Vegetarian or Lenten flatbreads with herbs are quite possible; only greens are used in the filling, and the dough is kneaded without eggs. This version of flatbreads with herbs is similar to the recipe for Karabakh flatbreads, Zhengyal Khats.

Galina Kotyakhova offers her version of the recipe for the Lezgin dish “afara”:

“I found a very interesting recipe in one of the culinary groups, I decided to cook “Afars” using it, it turned out very tasty.”

Afari (flatbread made from unleavened dough with herbs)

For the flatbread recipe you will need:

• 1 glass of water,
• 2 cups wheat flour,
• salt,
• cottage cheese-200 grams for filling,
• raw chicken egg,
• green onion,
• dill,
• parsley,
• cilantro (coriander),
• sour cream,
• vegetable oil.

How to cook afars or kutabs

Knead unleavened dough from flour and water, like dumplings or dumplings. It should rest in the cold for 30 minutes under film.

While the dough is resting, prepare the filling for the afar:

• In a bowl, mix cottage cheese with chopped herbs and onions, beat in an egg, add salt and pepper and add 2 tbsp. spoons of sour cream, mix everything.

Then roll out the dough into a thin layer (you need to be comfortable with a rolling pin), take a tea saucer and cut out mugs from it. Next, spoon the prepared filling of cottage cheese and herbs onto one side of the flatbread, cover it with the other side and pinch it like a cheburek.

Afars or kutabs are fried in a dry frying pan with a thick bottom (but I didn’t really like this method of cooking and I greased it with a little lard).

Place the finished flatbreads, 2 pieces each, in a frying pan and fry on both sides until golden brown.

Then we place the afars on a plate, greasing each flatbread with butter. You can cover it with a lid. Let the flatbreads with herbs sit for a while. When the afars are soaked and become soft, they can be eaten with matsoni, kefir or sour cream.

Video recipe from YouTube channel

Kutaby with meat, cheese or herbs

as well as quick lavash kutabs in the air fryer

Well, now, I’ll tell you how I prepare Caucasian-style flatbreads with herbs.

From the words of my relative, I tell you that greens should ideally be from wild herbs, which they call pasture. In their recipe, they use almost any edible herb that grows underfoot (in our case, the one that can be found in the garden or at the market):

• nettle,
• Woodlice (a very healthy juicy herb that grows like a weed here),
• Carrot (mountain cilantro),
• Lebed,
• Cilantro,
• Young dandelion leaves,
• Young green onions,
• Wild onion
• Dill,
• Sorrel,
• Young beet leaves,
• Spinach…

It is not necessary to use all the herbs at the same time, although this is encouraged.

But it is better not to add parsley, mint and tarragon to kutabs, afars, and Caucasian flatbreads, as they will interrupt the delicate taste and aroma of delicate greens.

Flatbread with herbs and cottage cheese

The dough for flatbreads is kneaded stiff, like... It needs to be kneaded well and allowed to rest for at least 30 minutes under the film (so as not to get windy). In my recipe this time, I kneaded unleavened dough for flatbreads in a Panasonic bread maker; I took the recipe from the instructions for it.

Ingredients:

Dough:

Cooking process:

Greens for flatbreads should be rinsed with running water and dried thoroughly.
I cut nettles with scissors in my mother’s garden, choosing young branches. Burnt... I couldn’t cut it with my bare hands, so I poured some boiling water over it in a colander and cut off the juiciest leaves from the stems. I put the nettle leaves together and cut them into thin noodles.
The rest of the greens were finely chopped with a knife. You cannot salt the greens right away, otherwise they will produce a lot of juice, which will soak the thinly rolled dough.

Once the unleavened flatbread dough had rested, I put all the ingredients into a cup: herbs, cottage cheese, raw egg, salt and melted butter.

Only then did I mix all the filling for the flatbreads.

The dough ball should be rolled into a sausage and divided into small pieces. Roll them into balls the size of a small chicken egg.
Each bun needs to be rolled out very thinly into a flat cake (I roll them out the size of a small plate so that the flat cakes will fit when baking).
Place a thin layer of cottage cheese and herbs filling on half of the flatbread and cover with the other half. This process is similar to making pasties. It is good to seal the crescents with your hands; before modeling, you need to release the air from the cake, lightly patting the cakes with your hands.

The frying pan needs to be warmed up well, without greasing it with anything, and the flatbreads should be baked in a dry frying pan on each side until golden brown.
If the pan is large in diameter, you can bake two crescents at a time.
With skill, you can simultaneously bake a flat cake and roll out the next one.

The hot flatbread with herbs should be immediately greased with butter on all sides.

Serve the flatbreads with herbs and cottage cheese warm. As a main dish or bread. Not only with wine, but also with a cup of green sweet tea or kefir. Delicious, mind blowing!

Best regards, Anyuta.

Good afternoon, my dear subscribers and readers!

I am sure that many of you have already prepared such delicious oriental flatbreads with filling , To which are called, as well as prepared, differently.

You will find similar recipes for dishes with oriental notes in many of my other recipes.

I cook oriental dishes, which I absolutely adore, using my own special recipes. I love everything related to the East, including food, so I cook with love in my heart. Join us!

So today I am sharing my recipe for a delicious low-calorie dough dish with you, friends. Try them, these flatbreads are simply delicious!

I know that you will like the result, but still, I would like to know your opinion about the recipe and your taste sensations after preparing the flatbreads and taking a sample.

Cooking oriental flatbreads with filling

Ingredients:

• 1st grade flour – 3 cups (+- ½ cup)
• Bran with milk thistle – 2 tbsp.
• Kefir 1% fat. – 0.4 l.
• Salt - to taste
• Baking powder – 1 tsp.
• Baking soda – ½ tsp.
• Butter or – for greasing finished flatbreads

Any filling. I have:

• Potatoes, boiled in their jackets, peeled and grated on a coarse grater with chopped green onions and herbs
• And cottage cheese mixed with sea salt and herbs

Yield from this amount of dough: 10 servings of 2 pieces.

My cooking method:

1. Stir kefir with salt, baking powder and soda until bubbles form.

2. Add sifted flour and bran, knead a smooth soft dough, put it in a bag and leave it for 40 minutes. or one hour at room temperature

3. At this time, prepare any (or several different) fillings that you have chosen for yourself

4. Form balls from the finished dough

5. Roll the balls into flat cakes

6. Place the filling on each flatbread, like this (curd):

Or this one (potato):

7. Or any other and carefully pinch the edges

8. Turn the resulting ball over with the smooth side up and again, without pressing hard, very smoothly, gently and femininely, as if in a dance, roll out the flatbread with filling

9. Bake in a dry, heated frying pan (ideally cast iron, as in the photo) on both sides

10. Place the flat cakes on a flat dish and grease each with butter

The taste and aroma of freshly baked flatbread was always with me throughout my childhood. Not far from the house there was a flatbread shop, where a stern Tajik man in a white robe and a chef’s hat kneaded the dough with his strong hands, cut it, and rolled it out. He sent the flatbreads to a huge tandoor, which was heated with charcoal. It was incredibly hot in the tortilla shop, but the tortilla maker didn’t seem to feel the heat at all - he climbed into the tandoor headlong, bravely throwing tortilla after tortilla into it. The flatbreads stuck to the hot walls of the tandoor and literally rose before our eyes, becoming covered with an appetizing blush.

From time to time, the flatbread maker looked into the tandoor and doused the baking flatbreads with splashes of water from a huge spray bottle. In response to this ritual, the cakes blushed bashfully, becoming covered with a beautiful crust. Finally, the cook had a homemade device in his hands, with which he removed the cakes from the walls one by one and laid them out in a row in front of the customers.

I always took a huge tablecloth with me and wrapped the purchased flatbreads in it. As a rule, one or two flatbreads did not survive until I came home; my hand itself tore off piece after piece and put them in my mouth - and how could I resist! No one could resist this smell and taste!

I spent a lot of time watching the flatbreads being baked. I know many different recipes, from the most complex to the simplest (by the way, I would caution strict vegetarians from buying flatbreads at eastern markets; many recipes not only include dairy products or eggs, but the starter can also be made with meat broth). Unfortunately, not all flatbreads can be prepared at home in the oven. The temperature in a tandoor can reach 350-400 degrees, plus the very shape of this oven is such that the heat goes to the front side of the baked flatbread. This largely gives the taste and texture to real oriental flatbreads - Tajik, Uzbek, etc. But we can prepare the simplest flatbread in the oven and with a minimum of ingredients available to everyone.

So, a video recipe for making flatbreads:

Recipe:: Oriental flatbreads

Ingredients:

• 8 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tsp salt
• 3 tsp yeast
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 600-700 ml. water
• Kalonji seeds (nigella)
• sesame seeds

Instructions:

1. Knead the dough from flour, sugar, salt, yeast, vegetable oil and water.
2. Let it rise for one and a half to two hours.
3. Divide into 6 equal parts from which we roll out flat cakes.
4. Press the flatbreads in the center and place them on a baking sheet, cover with a towel and leave to rise for 15-20 minutes.
5. Flatten the flatbreads in the center, sprinkle with water and decorate with kalonji seeds in the center and sesame seeds around the circumference.
6. Bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes. At 7-8 minutes, open the oven and again spray the cakes with water.
7. After removing from the oven, spray with water again.