Lavash is a thin, unleavened flatbread originating from Armenia and commonly eaten in Middle Eastern and Armenian cuisine. It can be flavored with spices or seeds and is eaten fresh or dried. Other similar breads include sangak, taftan, matnakash, and barbari.
Lavash is a type of flatbread – most likely originating in Armenia – which is one of the main characteristics of Middle Eastern and Armenian cuisine. This thin unleavened bread is made using simple combinations of traditional ingredients; however, it can be spruced up by adding spices or other edibles, such as seeds. The flatbread is widely eaten throughout the Middle East, along with similar breads, such as sangak, taftan, matnakash, and barbari.
Middle Eastern cuisine often includes lavash, both in the soft form when freshly made, and as crusty bread when it has dried and hardened. Fresh focaccia is popularly made into sandwich wraps with yogurt and vegetables; it is also eaten with kabab, usually made with portions of grilled lamb or chicken. When eaten fresh, this bread can also be cut or torn into small sections as an appetizer by folding goat cheese with onions and greens, such as parsley.
Lavash is made by combining flour, water and salt, but without yeast. The thickness of the bread can vary depending on how thin it is rolled out into an oblong-shaped flat square. Spices such as fennel, pepper, cumin or even paprika or curry can be added to the basic recipe for added flavour. Seeds, such as sesame, cumin or poppy seeds, can also be added to vary the taste.
This flatbread is one of the most commonly eaten types of bread in the Caucasus region of Russia and in the Armenian diaspora, including countries such as Iran, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. Other types of bread common to these regions include sangak, taftan, matnakash and barbarian bread. All of these other breads, however, are leavened, made with yeast added to raise the dough.
Sangak, made from wheat or sourdough and baked in a clay oven, has the same shape as lavash and is a very popular bread in Iran. Taftan is also a leavened bread made from yeast and rice flour; shirmal is a flatbread similar to taftan, and is a sweeter bread to which fruit has been added. Matnakash is a traditional Armenian bread, made with yeast or sourdough and shaped into small loaves that turn golden after being coated with sweetened tea while baking. Barbari bread is a traditional Persian favorite in oblong shapes, leavened and baked in clay ovens.
The word “lavash” is said to have various derivations, depending on the dictionary or language specialist consulted. For example, Turkish-Armenian sources claim it comes from the word lavuk, or “bucket,” while the American Heritage dictionary simply attributes lavash to be of Armenian origin. Also, the Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia describes “lavash” as Armenian and consisting of two parts: lav, which means “good” and ash, which means “food” or “meal”.
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