How to Make Lavash: Armenian Flatbread (Lavash) Recipe

Lavash is a traditional thin, unleavened, Armenian flatbread made in a tandoor oven. It is also popular in Turkey, Iran, and other Middle Eastern countries. It’s typically made with common ingredients like flour, water, and salt. Lavash is served with hummus, baba ganoush, and other dips, and used as a spread in wraps and sandwiches.

Lavash is a bread of Armenian origin, and is considered the country’s national bread. The bread is also popular in the Caucasus region, and in Iran and Turkey. In 2014, Lavash was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity with Armenia’s Foreign Ministry announcing that the “preparation, meaning and appearance of traditional bread as an expression of culture in Armenia.”

Traditional Armenian lavash is baked in a tandoor oven, giving it a unique taste and texture: bubbly, soft, and crunchy, and infused with wood smoke. The dough is rolled out flat and slapped against the hot walls of a clay oven. The dough adheres to the heated surface of the tandoor oven, cooks very quickly, and is peeled off when done. In Armenian villages, dried lavash is stored in stacked in layers; when the time comes to rehydrate the bread, it is sprinkled with water to make it soft again.

• A substitute for naan and pita bread: Dunk pieces of soft lavash into your favorite appetizer dips like hummus, baba ganoush, and labneh.
• Serve with curries and stews: Lavash is perfect tearing up and scooping spicy curries and savory stews.
• Greek veggie wrap: Use lavash to make a vegan roll-up filled with cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, and tahini sauce.
• Turkish kebab: Sliced meat, such as lamb, beef, or chicken from a Turkish doner kebab can be stuffed into a wrap with tomato, lettuce, cabbage, onions, and sauce.
• Falafel wrap: Use lavash to make a falafel wrap with hummus, olives, tomatoes, and lettuce.
• Lavash pizza: If you love thin crust pizza, you can use lavash as a pizza base. Top with marinara sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, and freshly torn basil.
• Quesadilla: For an easy low carb snack, try using lavash as a base instead of tortillas for quesadillas. They can be filled with shredded cheese, chicken, pulled pork, or mushrooms.
  
• Spiced crackers: Lavash can also be baked until crispy to make crackers. Brush the tops with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sumac, or za’atar spice.

To enjoy lavash while it’s soft, eat soon after baking. This bread dries out quickly and often becomes brittle and difficult to chew. If you don't plan to eat it immediately, freeze it in a resealable plastic bag as soon as it cools to room temperature, for up to a month.