#BakingBloggers ~ Laffa Bread

Welcome to February's #BakingBloggers! Sue of Palatable Pastime and Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm have brought together some of their blogger friends to create #BakingBloggers - every month we have a general theme (such as pies, muffins, cakes, etc.) and we get to share any recipe we'd like! This month we are sharing some Middle Eastern Baking recipes with you. 

I couldn't be happier with this simple recipe - it is very similar to pita or naan, and the majority of the "time" you will spend on this one will be ignoring it completely while it rises. The texture and flavor are mild, with a lovely chew, and it's a very pliable bread (making it ideal for a sandwich wrap), but it crisps up beautifully in the oven and worked so well for personal pizzas. It's incredibly versatile and you just can't beat homemade bread - plus look at how huge it puffs up during it's 3-minute baking cycle, it's just fun to make! 

Baking Bloggers February 2020

Middle Eastern Baking

• Apricot Pistachio Cake from Food Lust People Love
• Basbousa Cake from Pandemonium Noshery
• Cottage Cheese and Veggies Borek from Sneha's Recipe
• Easy Middle Eastern Puff Pastry Cheese Bourekas by Fatih, Hope, Love & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Laffa Bread from Making Miracles
• Lebanese Sesame Cookies from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Mana'eesh (Palestinian Flatbread) from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Parda Pulao - Iraqi Parda Plau from The Schizo Chef
• Roast Chicken Shwarma from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Umm Ali from Caroline's Cooking

Laffa Bread from The Spruce Eats

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
4 cups all purpose flour (plus extra for rolling out the dough)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the water, sugar, and yeast. Stir gently to combine and then allow to rest about 10 minutes, or until yeast is bubbly and activated.
2. Add in the flour, salt, and olive oil. Fit your stand mixer with the dough hook and set on medium speed and allow dough to combine and come together into a ball - about 5 to 8 minutes.
3. Cover the dough with a tea towel and allow to rest about 60-90 minutes or until dough doubles in size.
4. Punch down and remove the dough from the bowl, break it into 8 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Return dough balls to the bowl and cover again with the towel. Allow to rest another 20 minutes or until dough doubles in size again.
5. Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees and place 2 baking sheets upside down on the middle rack (make sure your top rack is out of the way to make it easier to move the bread in and out).
6. Roll out each dough ball on a lightly floured surface to about 8-10 inches in diameter. Prick gently all over with a fork. Place a dough round on each of your upside down baking sheets and bake 3-6 minutes (I only needed 3 minutes). Laffa bread should puff up and be golden and browned on the side touching the baking sheet, and still pale on the top side. Use tongs to remove the bread and place on a platter as they are baked. 
7. Repeat until all dough is baked.
8. Use immediately or wrap in foil and use later as a wrap for sandwiches, pizzas, dip in hummus, slather with butter and jelly - use your imagination!

My favorite photo assistant and taste tester wanted to make an appearance today! Hi Lindsey!