Pita

Armenian lavash is unleavened white bread rolled into a thin sheet. The product is prepared from a minimum set of components: water, wheat flour, sourdough and salt (optional). Traditionally, bread is prepared in the Caucasus and the Middle East. It is baked on the inner wall of the tandoor. This is a brazier of a special spherical type. Since ancient times, the peoples of Asia have been using the tandoor for daily cooking.

Ready unleavened leaf is eaten as an independent snack, smeared with sauces or creamy cheese snacks. It is convenient to wrap the filling in pita bread (meat, cheese, vegetables, chocolate, fruits, and so on). Snacks, sandwiches, main courses and even desserts are prepared on its basis. What you need to know about Armenian bread, what is it famous for and what position does it occupy in the modern gastronomic world?

General product characteristics

Lavash is unleavened white bread that is rolled into thin flat cakes. The product is especially popular in the regions of Western Asia. In English-language publications, the flatbread is called “paraki”, “Armenian brittle bread”, “breakable bread” or “Armenian flatbread”.

Traditional Armenian bread has been included in the UNESCO cultural heritage list since 2014 ^[1][2]. The recipe, historical and cultural significance of this product is important not only for Armenia, but also for the world community.

Lavash is prepared in the form of a flat oval cake. Its thickness is from 2 to 5 millimeters, length – from 90 to 110 centimeters, width – from 40 to 50 centimeters. The weight of the finished bakery product is 250 grams.

Sometimes the dough is sprinkled with poppy seeds or sesame seeds to diversify its insipid taste. Immediately after cooking, pita bread is very similar to tortilla. As it cools, it dries out, becomes hard and begins to crumble.

Cakes are stored in a suspended state, 1 piece each. As soon as the bread cools, the sheets are stacked in small piles of 8-10 rows. Lavash dries very quickly when exposed to air. In dried form, it can be stored from several days to several weeks without losing its nutritional properties. Dried pita bread changes its taste and structure: it breaks and it is impossible to wrap the filling in a leaf.

Lavash is considered one of the most useful and dietary types of bread. Actually it is not. It all depends on the quality of the flour and the additional components of the composition. Useful properties of rye bread are similar to pita bread based on rye flour, just like pita bread based on refined white flour is practically no different from a regular loaf. The use of pita bread is a matter of taste and personal preference, and not a healthier analogue of “harmful” bakery products ^[3].

Etymological reference

The word “lavash” has no clear etiology. There is a version that the term originated from the proto-Armenian “law” (flat) or from the Middle Armenian “lawš” (thin flat bread). In the literature of the Middle Ages, the second option is more often used. Apparently, the term appeared much earlier and simply migrated to languages ​​in a modified form. The term “dryakva” is found in the literature of the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries and describes a layer of thin unleavened bread. Versions of origin are also associated with the Proto-Indo-European root “lab” (thin elastic something) and the Turkic “liv aš” (set table). The term entered the Russian language precisely from the Turkic.

A Brief Historical Reference

The first step towards the creation of lavash was the invention of mortars and hand mills. Grain or thick grain porridge was ground into dough, after which unleavened cakes were baked from this mass. This practice was common among the ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Assyrians and Etruscans. An identical recipe is popular today among the peoples of the Caucasus.

Gil Marks, an American specialist in the history of Jewish cuisine, claims that lavash first appeared in the Middle East. Another researcher, Willard B. Moore, continues Marx’s theory and calls Iran the birthplace of flat cakes. In the Oxford food guide, lavash was classified as an ancient dish that originated in the Caucasus and Iran.

Most researchers tend to the Armenian theory of origin ^[4]. This is evidenced by archaeological excavations in the country. Archaeologists everywhere found tandoors with the remains of unleavened cakes on the inner walls. Perhaps the bread simply stuck to the oven due to the inattention of the housewives. One of the pieces of burnt bread was found at the end of the XNUMXth century in the medieval capital of Armenia. The excavations were carried out by the Russian Archaeological Society not far from the local church.

The chemical composition of the food product

Traditional cooking technology

Traditionally, lavash is baked from white wheat or barley flour. The rolled dough is placed in a tandoor (special oven), baked until tender, cooled and served. To prepare the dough, a minimum of ingredients is used. One of them is sourdough. Previously, a piece of dough from a previous batch of cakes was used as a starter. The dough was kneaded in large wooden troughs. Traditionally, the oldest woman in the house has to knead the wheat mixture.

The finished dough was rolled out on a low round or 4-corner table. This process was usually entrusted to daughters-in-law. The woman should sit on the floor and methodically drive the rolling pin over the elastic dough. The daughter-in-law must pass the thin dough to the mother-in-law. The mother-in-law tosses the pita bread from hand to hand several times, pulls it over a special willow pillow, and then sharply molds the dough onto the inner wall of the tandoor ^[6].

The process of directly baking unleavened bread takes 30-40 seconds. As soon as the product is ready, it is pulled out with a special iron rod with a rounded tip. The multi-stage cooking process was considered an obligatory ritual, without which pita bread would have no meaning. ^[7].

The benefits and possible harm of bread

Most of the bakery products that are on the market are made from white flour of the 1st grade. This flour is made from grain that has undergone industrial processing and has lost its main component – the shell. It is in the shell that contains most of the beneficial nutrients. Refined grains are essentially an empty product, low in vitamins and minerals, but high in calories. Lavash made from white flour does not provide long-term saturation or nourishment of the body with nutrients. On the contrary, this product causes spikes in blood glucose, abnormal cholesterol levels, overeating and other unpleasant symptoms.

You can eat white flour pita bread if the remaining 80% of your diet consists of fresh fruits, vegetables, high-quality grains, and meat. It is preferable to choose a flatbread based on rye flour or mixtures of various varieties such as flaxseed, oatmeal, buckwheat or whole wheat. Introduce pita bread into your diet in the same way as regular bread, which you like.

Lavash from whole grain flour is capable of:

• normalize the gastrointestinal tract;
• regulate cholesterol and blood glucose levels;
• stabilize the functionality of the intestine;
• neutralize the feeling of hunger for several hours;
• reduce the risk or prevent the development of gastrointestinal diseases;
• saturate the body with vitamins and minerals from the outer shell of the grain ^[8].

There are no clear contraindications to the use of cakes. The only prohibition is individual intolerance to the components of the product.

use Features

In Armenia, lavash is considered one of the most important products in the food system. One of the traditions of the local culture is a reverent and respectful attitude to bread. This tradition is rooted in the history of the people, their habitual rituals and the structure of life. ^[9].

Unleavened cakes are traditionally served with khash. Khash is a hot soup prepared in the Caucasus, Transcaucasia and a number of countries in the Middle East. Previously, the use of khash was of a ritual nature, but now it is a national soup that is prepared in every home.

Interesting: one of the most extravagant dishes of Armenia is fish stewed in lavash. Local chefs had special secrets that made it possible to place fish in an unleavened cake without disturbing the structure of any component of the dish.

Armenian lavash is a symbol of abundance and family. The product is even brought to church on Easter instead of traditional Easter cakes. There are many traditions based on the transfer, preparation and eating of unleavened cakes. For example, at a wedding, parents put a long pita bread on the shoulders of the newlyweds. Such a ritual provides happiness, prosperity and mutual understanding in a new family.

The ritual of making sacrificial lavash is popular among Armenians. To prepare the dough, a person must go around 7 houses and ask the owners for a few pinches of flour. The sacrificial cake is baked without leaven or salt, so the finished product is dry and insipid. Ready-made lavash is distributed to 7 houses that need bread or additional help. Those who donated flour for its preparation have the right to distribute the sacrificial cake.

On the territory of Armenia, cakes were baked at least 3 months in advance. They were pre-dried, stacked and stored in dry places with protection from moisture and the sun. Before use, the product was sprinkled with drinking water and covered with a towel for 30 minutes. After such simple manipulations, lavash again became soft and elastic.

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