How to bake Armenian matnakash bread at home

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Matnakash - Armenian white yeast bread, which is a thick oval or round flatbread with a firm golden crust and an airy crumb. On top there are several longitudinal grooves that are pulled out with fingers. It is from this that he got his name: “matnakash” in Armenian means “stretched out with fingers”. It is believed that this national Armenian bread has no analogues and is one of a kind. Sometimes they call matnakash lavash, but this is a completely different product. Armenian lavash is a very thin flatbread made from unleavened dough.

About Matnakash

Traditional matnakash was baked in tonir ovens, which were equipped in the floor of the dwelling. The walls of the tonirs were laid out with stone. The cakes were stuck to the walls of the oven and taken out when they were ready.

As a rule, wheat flour is used to make Armenian flatbread. The dough is made on sour sourdough in different ways - according to two- or three-stage technology. Out of himflattened cakes are formed, covered, allowed to rise, then sent to the oven. The bread should be soft, elastic, airy, with large holes in the crumb.

Matnakash may differ in shape, number and arrangement of grooves. It is round, oval and elongated. The grooves can be located both along and across.

In modern conditions, you can bake matnakash in the oven. The principle of preparation is the same, although the methods of baking may differ slightly. Next - a few matnakash recipes.

With flour brew

What you need:

• 0, 5 kg wheat flour (230 g for dough, 270 g for main batch).
• Teaspoon dry yeast.
• Half a teaspoon of sugar.
• One and a half teaspoons of s alt.
• 250 ml of water.

For flour brewing, you will need 150 ml of water and 30 g of flour.

How to bake Armenian matnakash bread at home:

1. First you need to prepare the matnakash dough. To do this, dissolve dry yeast in 250 ml of warm water, then pour 230 g of flour and mix. Leave the dough for three hours.
2. After 3-3, 5 hours, when a lot of bubbles appear in the dough, add s alt, sugar and the rest of the flour to it and knead the dough. Leave it to rise in a warm place for another three hours.
3. Prepare flour tea leaves. To do this, in a suitable bowl, you need to combine 150 ml of water and 30 g of flour, put on fire and heat with stirring until thickened,then cool.
4. Divide the dough in half, roll each half into a ball and leave under a towel for 15 minutes.
5. Dip your fingers in the flour mixture and stretch each ball into a cake, draw a groove along the circumference, then parallel grooves inside the cake. Leave blanks for half an hour.
6. Preheat oven to maximum temperature. Before putting the bread in the oven, walk along the grooves with flour-dipped fingers.
7. Bake matnakash for 20-25 minutes at the highest temperature with steam. To create steam, you need to put a container of water on the bottom of the oven.

Homemade Armenian bread matnakash is just as good as store bought bread.

With sesame seeds

What you need:

• 400 g flour.
• Glass of water.
• Teaspoon of sugar.
• Half a teaspoon of s alt.
• One third of a teaspoon of fresh yeast.
• Two tablespoons of vegetable oil.
• Egg yolk for brushing.
• Sesame.

How to cook:

1. Crush fresh yeast, put in a bowl, pour water at room temperature, add sugar and flour. Then pour in vegetable oil and s alt.
2. Knead the dough so that it does not stick to your hands, they need to be greased with vegetable oil. Put the dough in a bowl, tighten with cling film, cover with a towel and leave to rise for an hour and a half.
3. After this time, punch down the dough and let it rise again. Then do the secondpunch down, sprinkle it with flour, put on a towel and leave for 15 minutes. After that, the dough will be ready to go.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment, grease it, put the dough on it and form an oval or round cake out of it with your hands. Press the furrow along the circumference with your fingers to form a ring. Push several parallel grooves inside the ring. Stretch the cake to the sides so that it becomes flatter. Cover with cling film and let stand for a while.
5. Before putting in the oven, brush the matnakash with egg yolk and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
6. Heat the oven to 220-250 degrees, put the bread into it and bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

The finished cake should be soft inside, but with a crispy hard crust.

With sour cream

Armenian bread matnakash can be prepared at home in many ways, for example, adding a little sour cream to the dough.

What you need:

• 550 g flour.
• 10g yeast.
• Two tablespoons of sour cream.
• Two tablespoons of vegetable oil.
• 400 ml of water.
• 12g s alt.
• 20g sugar.

How to cook:

1. Slightly warm half a glass of water, add sour cream and sugar, then gradually add the yeast and mix everything.
2. Put the dough in a warm place for 20 minutes. When it starts to fall off, it means that it is ready for further work.
3. Sift flour and s alt into a large bowl, make a well in it, pour into itdough and the remaining water (warmed up).
4. Shoveling flour from the edges, knead the dough. If the dough is too hard, add more water.
5. Transfer the dough to the table and knead it for about 20 minutes, after greasing your hands with vegetable oil. When the dough becomes elastic and sticks to your hands, shape it into a ball, grease with oil, put in a bowl, cover and put in a warm place to rise. This will take at least an hour. The dough should triple in size.
6. Put the finished dough on the table, knead again with your hands and cut into two halves.
7. Put one half on a baking sheet covered with parchment, stretch it with your hands to make an oval cake about one and a half centimeters thick.
8. Make a groove along the perimeter with your fingers and several grooves in the middle. Cover with a damp towel and leave to rise for 15 minutes. After that, grease the surface of the cake with a mixture of vegetable oil and water and draw grooves again.
9. Put the matnakash in a very hot oven (to the maximum) and bake for 10 to 20 minutes (depending on how hot the oven is). You need to focus on the appearance of a golden crust.
10. Sprinkle the finished bread with water, cover with a towel and start baking the second cake.

Matnakash stuffed

To prepare stuffed matnakash you will need the following ingredients:

• Buzhenina.
• Fresh tomato.
• Hard cheese.
• Fresh mushrooms.
• Sweetpepper.
• Some sour cream.
• S alt.
• Garlic.
• Ground pepper.
• Fresh parsley.
• Tomato hot sauce.

Preparing the dish is very simple:

1. Mushrooms should be cut into medium pieces and fried until golden in vegetable oil.
2. Cut the cake in half lengthwise. Lubricate the lower part with sour cream, then with tomato sauce. Put mushrooms, chopped boiled pork, bell peppers, tomatoes on top of the sauce. S alt, pepper, sprinkle with grated cheese. Cover with the top of the tortilla.
3. Put the matnakash in the oven preheated to 200 degrees and bake for 15 minutes.
4. From olive oil, crushed garlic, chopped parsley, s alt and pepper, prepare a mixture. Remove the matnakash from the oven, immediately put the prepared mixture on it and serve.

Conclusion

Now you know how to make Armenian Matnakash bread at home. Its features are a ruddy crispy crust, a porous crumb and characteristic grooves.