Homemade Armenian bread matnakash. Armenian rural bread How to bake Armenian simple Armenian yeast-free bread

You can buy it, or even better, make it at home. Read below how to prepare Armenian bread.

Matnakash - Armenian bread at home

Ingredients:

instant dry yeast - 1 teaspoon;
odorless vegetable oil – 50 ml;
Warm drinking water – 400 ml;
premium wheat flour – 0.5 kg;
salt – 20 g;
sugar – 10 g.

Preparation

Sift the flour.
Pour warm water into a bowl, add all the dry ingredients and oil into it and start kneading. This is a rather long process that will take about 20 minutes.
Cover the container with the dough with film and put it in a warm place to rise.
The dough will double in size in about an hour, then wet your hands warm water and crush it. Cover it again and remove it to rise.
After about half an hour the dough will rise again. Punch it down and divide it in half.
Grease a baking sheet with oil, lay it out and level it over the surface of the mold. Leave for 20 minutes, grease the top with warm water and put in the oven.
Bake Armenian bread at 200 degrees for 20 minutes.

Armenian bread - distributed

Ingredients:

wheat flour – 500 g;
sugar – ½ teaspoon;
warm drinking water– 300 ml;
dry instant yeast – 5 g;
– 50 ml;
salt - a pinch.

Preparation

Pour salt, sugar and yeast into warm water. Pour in the oil, add flour in portions and knead the elastic dough.
Place the dough in a greased container, cover it and leave for an hour.
Divide the risen dough into parts, put it in molds and bake at 220 degrees for about 17 minutes.

Armenian bread – recipe

Ingredients:

greenery;
wheat flour – 250 g;
water – 100 ml;
salt.

Preparation

To prepare Armenian bread with herbs, you can use nettle, dill, parsley, green onions, cilantro, spinach, sorrel.
Wash all greens well. Dry and finely chop.
Knead the dough from salt, flour and water. Roll it out very thin. Place the greens on top, which can be lightly sprinkled with olive oil and lightly salted.
We fasten the edges of the cake.
Ideally, bread with herbs is baked on a cast iron sheet. Well, at home you can use a frying pan with a non-stick coating.
We bake Armenian bread with herbs until golden brown on one side, then turn it over and bake on the other side.

Armenian bread - lavash

The recipe for Armenian matnakash contains yeast, and therefore turns out to be many times more fluffy than its bread counterpart, has

a completely different texture and served with other dishes.

If you've worked with yeast before, making fluffy cakes shouldn't be a problem. Thanks to this recipe, you will be able to get bread with the most airy crumb and dense crust.

Ingredients:

flour - 530 g;
a pinch of salt and sugar;
dry yeast - 10 g;
vegetable oil - 55 ml;
water - 380 ml.

Preparation

The main guarantee of delicious bread is the right flour, which before kneading the dough must be passed through a sieve and then mixed with a good pinch of salt.
Heat the water to a temperature no higher than 40 degrees. Sweeten the liquid slightly and add the yeast.
Immediately after the yeast, you can add flour and half the vegetable oil.
Start kneading the dough by hand and continue it for at least 10 minutes, or better yet, work the dough for all 20. Such a long kneading is critical to ensure that the pita bread is as fluffy as possible.
Round the well-kneaded dough and leave it to proof in a warm place. Once doubled in size, the dough can be divided in half and stretched into flat cakes.
The Armenian matnakash cakes are left for another 20 minutes, then longitudinal and transverse grooves are made on the surface, the surface is sprinkled with water and left in an oven preheated to 220 degrees for 20 minutes.

Homemade matnakash recipe

Ingredients:

flour - 540 g;
sugar - 15 g;
a pinch of salt;
yeast - 10 g;
sour cream - 35 g;
water - 370 ml;
vegetable oil - 45 ml.

Preparation

Before preparing Armenian matnakash, you should make a starter. For it, dilute sour cream in warm water and pour dry yeast onto the surface of the solution. Leave the solution for 15 minutes or until active foaming occurs.
Separately, you need to sift the flour, combine it with salt and make a well in the center of the flour mound.
Pour vegetable oil and yeast solution into the well. Picking up flour from the edges, knead the ingredients together and work the dough with your hands for another 15 minutes.
The kneaded dough is sent into the heat to proof and double in volume, after which it is divided in half, grooves are made across the entire surface and left to proof for an additional 20 minutes.
Matnakash bread is baked at the highest possible temperature for about 10 minutes.

Classic matnakash is usually prepared from wheat flour, and the baked goods take on an oval shape and can be decorated with patterns.

The main feature of the culinary process is processing the dough with your fingers rather than with a rolling pin. It was this factor that determined the appearance of the corresponding name for the bread, because matnakash can be translated from Armenian as “brush”.

How should Armenian matnakash bread turn out?

Features of the finished bread:

There must be a golden brown crust. At the same time, you cannot cook fried baked goods.
It is assumed that it is necessary to prepare a porous crumb.
It is advisable to sprinkle sesame seeds on top of the bread, thanks to which the baked goods will become especially original.

It should be noted that matnakash can be prepared even in a bread machine, and in this case the culinary process will require about 1.5 hours.

Ingredients:

Water.
Two tables. spoons of sour cream.
Sugar.
2 tsp. spoons of salt.
Ten grams of dry yeast.
0.5 kilograms of wheat flour.

How to prepare matnakash at home: learning the methods

Bread can be prepared in a bread machine or by hand. What features do both methods have?

Cooking in a bread machine. In this case, you need to pour in 400 milliliters of warm water, add sour cream, sugar, salt, and sour cream. butter, flour, dry yeast. It is assumed that the flour must first be sifted. After this, the bread can be cooked in the “dough” mode. If the instructions for a kitchen appliance suggest the possibility of varying the placement of components, a different course of action is allowed.
Cooking by hand. In this case step by step recipe matnakasha with a photo can become a worthy assistant. It is assumed that it is necessary to pour 100 milliliters of water to dissolve dry yeast from a teaspoon. Sahara. After the yeast becomes active, it must be combined with the remaining 300 milliliters of water and other ingredients. The dough must be kneaded until smooth, then rolled into a round ball and left to infuse under cling film. After 1.5 hours the dough will be ready. Then the dough needs to be divided into 2 parts and used to form an oval, and then for baking. Before the bread is baked, the dough needs to be greased egg yolk and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Delicious bread will certainly delight you, and the calorie content of matnakash is lower than that of many other types of baked goods.

Step 1: prepare the flour.

Matnakash is the most authentic Armenian bread, which must be prepared at home. It turns out very tasty, with a delicate airy crumb. That is why before kneading the dough, it is necessary to process the flour. To do this, pour it into a sieve and sift directly into a free deep bowl. Thanks to this process, the flour is saturated with oxygen from the air, and the dough becomes softer and airier.

Step 2: prepare the dough.

Pour warm purified water into a free deep bowl. Then add all the dry ingredients to the same container. And now with clean, dry hands we begin to knead the dough. This process is quite painstaking and takes approximately 20 minutes. It is thanks to this labor-intensive work that Armenian bread turns out tasty and airy. Then wrap the bowl with cling film and set aside in a warm place to infuse. about 1 hour. During this period of time the dough mixture will increase 2 times. After this, remove the film from the container and lower the dough using hands soaked in water.

Then knead the dough mixture a little again, wrap the bowl with cling film and put it back in a warm place to rise a second time for 30 minutes.

Step 3: prepare Matnakash.

When the dough rises again, divide it with your hands into two equal parts. We will get two Matnakashas. Now pour vegetable oil onto a baking sheet and spread it over the entire surface with dry hands, not forgetting the walls of the baking sheet. Place each piece of dough on a baking sheet and shape it into a round shape. After this, set one bun aside on a cutting board to rise, and flatten the second one with your hands into a flat cake and leave it on a baking sheet for 15-20 minutes.

After the allotted time, grease the surface of the dough cake with water using a pastry brush, and then use your fingers to make grooves lengthwise in several rows and in a circle. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to temperature 220°С. Place the tray in the oven and bake for 20 minutes until a golden crust forms on the surface of Matnakash. Thanks to the fact that we lubricated the surface of the flatbread with water, the bread will be covered with a crust, and the inside will be soft and airy. As soon as this happens, using oven mitts, remove the baking sheet from the oven, and transfer the Matnakash aside to a serving dish to cool until warm.

Immediately after this, place the second bun on a baking sheet and repeat the procedure from start to finish. Attention: If necessary, you can add vegetable oil.

Step 4: serve Matnakash.

When ready, still quite warm, Matnakash is transferred to a cutting board and served. You can immediately cut it into portioned pieces using a knife, or you can invite guests to break off as much bread for themselves as they see fit.

In fact, Armenians love bread very much and prepare this dish with special love and care. When they invite everyone to the table, they often say “let’s eat bread.” And to quickly grab something for lunch, Armenians can break off a piece of bread and enjoy it along with cheese and fresh herbs. I usually bake Matnakash and serve it at the dinner table along with soup.

Enjoy your meal!

To make the process of kneading the dough easier, you can use a mixer. In this case, the process of preparing Matnakash will be easier and more enjoyable. We make sure to use the electrical appliance at low speed, but do not change the kneading time.

In order to speed up the process of baking the second bread, you can give it the appropriate shape of a flat cake on the kitchen table, lightly dusted with flour, even while the first Matnakash is baking.

You can make Matnakash preparations; to do this, we form a flat cake, and then put it in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer for long-term storage. But before baking the bread, you need to remove it from the freezer, cover it with a cloth towel and set it aside to defrost to room temperature.

The name of the national Armenian bread – matnakash – literally translates as “stretched with fingers.” It really is formed without the help of a rolling pin. The yeast bread dough is stretched by hand into a circle or oblong flat cake, and then a characteristic pattern in the form of a circle or oval with longitudinal grooves inside is squeezed out on it with the edge of the palm. Matnakash, unlike another Armenian bread - lavash, is not intended for long-term storage. It should be eaten fresh, hot.

Traditionally, matnakash is baked in a tonir or deck oven, but in a good oven you can also prepare delicious and aromatic Armenian bread. It has a hard, golden brown crust and a soft, porous crumb. The process of making bread takes a lot of time, since it requires thorough kneading of the dough and long breaks for its fermentation.

Ingredients

dry yeast – 1 tsp.
salt – 1.5 tsp.
granulated sugar – 1 tsp.
vegetable oil – 3 tbsp. l.
water – 350 ml
wheat flour - 4 tbsp.

Preparation

1. From this quantity of products you can bake matnakash weighing 400–450 g.

Preparation of the dough begins with dough. You need to sift 1 cup of flour and mix it with yeast and sugar. For good bread you need wheat flour, you can mix different varieties.

2. Pour 100 ml into the dry mixture warm water. Without stirring, the future dough should be left for 2-3 minutes so that the yeast softens.

3. Then you should stir the dough with a whisk. The mixture should look like pancake batter, without lumps. The dough must be covered with a towel and left for 30–45 minutes.

4. You need to wait until the resulting foam begins to subside and large pores appear on it from burst bubbles.

5. After this, pour the remaining water into the dough. Pour the sifted flour into a large bowl and make a funnel in the middle. Pour the liquid dough into it, add salt and mix thoroughly.

6. Traditional bread in Armenia is always kneaded by hand. However, if this task is overwhelming, then you can use modern kitchen appliances - a mixer or food processor. You need to knead a sticky dough. It is better to add flour gradually; you may need a little more or a little less than indicated in the recipe. It all depends on the properties of the flour. It is very important to knead the dough for matnakash for at least 15 minutes, and preferably 20. Only in this case the bread will turn out soft and airy. As a result, the gluten of the flour will fully manifest its properties, the dough will thicken and will easily separate from the hand or the walls of the dish, leaving sticky, smeared marks. To make kneading easier, add 2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil.

7. The soft dough must be covered with a towel and left for 2 hours. During this time, it will need to be kneaded twice, releasing carbon dioxide and thereby reactivating the fermentation process.

8. When the dough has risen for the third time, place it on a warm baking sheet lined with oiled parchment. Hands should also be lubricated with vegetable oil. Now you need to form matnakash. The dough should be pressed and stretched with your hands. You should get a round or oval cake. Make sure that it is the same thickness over the entire area.

9. Once again wetting your palms in oil, you need to apply a pattern characteristic of this bread onto the dough. First, you need to press a closed line along the edge of the cake with the edge of your palm, stepping back 3 cm from it. Then make 3-4 longitudinal grooves inside this contour. The dough must be pressed deeply, almost touching the baking sheet with your hand.

10. Turn on the oven and preheat it to the highest possible temperature. After this, the cake should be covered with a towel and left to proof for another 30 minutes.

11. Meanwhile, you should prepare the flour tea. Matnakash is greased with it before baking. In a small container mix 1 tbsp. l. flour and 3 tbsp. l. cold water.