Bazlama -- Turkish Flat Bread

I really enjoyed making this -- it was a lot of fun and I think the possibilities are endless.  Whoops, I'm getting ahead of myself.  It's probably pretty obvious that I like flat breads and pancakes, well, bread of any kind really, so it was a Turkish Flat bread - bazlama - that first caught my eye.

Because this recipe is a cross between unleavened bread and a more western yeast loaf, it seems like it will be very flexible and have many uses.  The ingredients are simple, but the texture and taste are a treat for the mouth.  The instructions here are for making it in the fairly traditional way, but I can imagine the dough being used for pizza crust, dinner rolls, or even a casserole's top crust. 

All the Bazlama recipes I found called for Mediterranean yoghurt, but I forgot to pick some up, so I used sour cream instead.  I'm pleased with the results though.
(Ros)

Bazlama
1 cup Warm Water
1 tbsp Instant Yeast
3 cups Flour (plus one cup more for kneading)
1/2 cup Yoghurt (or Sour Cream)
1/4 cup Olive Oil
2 tsp White Sugar
2 tsp Salt

• Add the yeast to the warm water and set aside to let the yeast activate.  If the yeast is good, it should only need 10 or 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, combine the yoghurt and the flour.  I used my hands to mix it in until the dough was damp and crumbly.
•  Next add the sugar, salt, and oil. Stir and/or knead this into the dough.  I think I just used my hands to mix it at this stage too.
• Once the yeast has started to foam nicely, add the yeast/water mixture to the dough and knead it in.  The dough may be quite sticky by now, so additional flour might be needed.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until it has a smooth texture like in the picture below.

 

The dough should be easy to handle and not very sticky.  Pretty easy to roll out with a rolling pin as well.

•  Form the dough into a ball, cover it, and let it rise for about an hour or so.
• Once it has risen nicely, divide the dough into six or so pieces -- depending on what size you would like.
• Roll out one of the pieces with a rolling pin until it is fairly thin, but still easy to handle.
• Heat a good sized frying pan to a medium-low heat.  A bit of canola oil to help the cooking is optional, depending on personal taste.  Many recipes call for it to be cooked in butter, but I find the butter burns to easily, so I prefer the oil.
• Place the rolled out dough into the pan and cook until done on each side.  It took me between 5 and 8 minutes per side, depending on the size and thickness.
• Repeat until all pieces are cooked.
• For a couple of the pieces, I tried a stuffed version.  The fillings I used were cheese in one and friend onions in another.  Spread the filling over half of the dough circle and then fold the dough in half like an empanada or a calazone.  The cooking instructions are pretty much the same, but they take a little bit longer because of the extra layers.

Cooking the Bazlama stuffed with fried onions.

My first attempt -- I learned that for the second attempt, I needed to use the rolling pin.