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Syrian Bread

A yeast‑leavened flatbread made with flour, salt, yeast, and water, kneaded and cooked on a stove.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Syrian Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

  1. Combine the flour and salt in a bowl.

  2. Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water.

  3. Mix in enough flour to make a very soft biscuit.

  4. Place the biscuit in a quart jar of warm water until it rises to the surface, about 5 minutes.

  5. Add the risen biscuit to the flour and salt mixture.

  6. Add more warm water to knead the dough.

  7. Knead the dough until smooth.

  8. Place the dough in a warm area to rise until light.

Shape and cook

  1. Take a small portion of the risen dough and press it flat on a board, leaving the center thick.

  2. Stretch the dough until translucent.

  3. Place the dough on a pad or pillow and stretch the edges.

  4. Invert the pad over the stove to cook the bread.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure and stretch.
Compressed yeast
Produces carbon dioxide gas as it ferments, making the dough rise and become light.
Coarse sea salt
Controls yeast activity and strengthens the gluten for a more elastic dough.

The step that matters

Stretching the dough until translucent. If the dough is stretched unevenly or too thick in places, it will not cook through evenly on the stove. Thin, even stretching lets heat reach the whole sheet quickly, while the thick center keeps it from tearing.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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