A traditional Indian flatbread and one of the best-known types of naan, butter garlic naan is prepared much the same as regular naan. Flour, water, yeast, salt, sugar, and yogurt or curd are needed to make the dough. The yogurt or curd is added because it relaxes gluten, making for a soft and supple flatbread. The dough is shaped into a teardrop or an oval and baked traditionally in the tandoor oven. When prepared at home, it is oven-baked or fried in a tawa (a wide pan). When baked, it is brushed with a mixture of melted ghee and chopped garlic, which will occasionally also include chopped cilantro.
Amritsari kulcha is a stuffed flatbread from the city of Amritsar, valued for its crisp outer surface, soft interior, and seasoned filling. The preparation relies on a simple dough made from maida, curd, salt, a small amount of sugar, and baking powder or soda, with ghee added to improve softness and layering. The dough is kneaded until smooth, then left to rest so it becomes easier to roll and stretch without tearing. The filling is traditionally made with boiled potatoes, grated or mashed, and mixed with onions, green chilies, fresh coriander, and dry spices such as cumin, coriander, chilli powder, garam masala, aamchur (dried mango powder), ajwain (carom), and salt. However, the spice blend will often vary from recipe to recipe. The mixture must be firm, not watery, to prevent the dough from breaking. To form the kulcha, a portion of dough is flattened, filled with the potato mixture, sealed, and then rolled gently to an even thickness. The surface is brushed with water to help it adhere during cooking and topped with nigella seeds, dried pomegranate anardana, sesame seeds, coriander, or a combination of these. Kulchas are traditionally cooked in a tandoor, where they cling to the hot clay surface and puff under high heat, creating their characteristic blistering and texture. At home, a tawa is commonly used: the kulcha is placed water-side down on a very hot tawa, allowed to stick, and the pan is then inverted over the flame so the top cooks directly over the heat. Once cooked, the kulcha is brushed with ghee or butter. Most differences come from the spice mix used in the potato filling, which ranges from mild to heavily seasoned. Dough preparation also varies: some cooks use yeast instead of curd, while others use yogurt in place of curd for a softer texture. Toppings differ slightly as well, typically switching between kalonji, sesame seeds, or coriander. Amritsari kulcha is usually served hot straight from the tandoor or tawa, brushed with ghee or butter, and paired with chole, sliced onions, and tamarind chutney. Some versions are served with a side of raita, but chole and chutney remain the standard accompaniment.
Roti canai, a traditional Malaysian flatbread that can also be found in other Southeast Asian countries, is made with only a few ingredients, namely flour, water, salt, and, traditionally, ghee (clarified butter). However, nowadays, cooking oil is often substituted for ghee, mainly due to price reasons. After combining the ingredients, the dough is kneaded until it becomes smooth and elastic, but the prowess of the cook shows itself in the shaping process. The dough is skillfully spun, tossed, and stretched into a thin, almost translucent layer, which is then folded and shaped into a round or a square, creating multiple flaky layers in the process. Roti canai is typically cooked on a flat griddle until golden brown, revealing its flaky texture and buttery flavor. It's commonly served as a delicious breakfast or a side dish, usually accompanying dhal (lentil curry), chicken, or fish curry. The combo of roti canai and teh tarik, a sweetened hot milk tea, is a well-established breakfast staple. The flatbread can also be enjoyed filled, whether with savory or sweet fillings, the most typical being cheese, egg, bananas, onion, and minced meat.
This authentic pão de queijo recipe uses real sour and sweet cassava starch along with traditional Canastra cheese for true Brazilian flavor. The dough is carefully scalded and mixed by hand, just as it’s done in Minas Gerais homes. Light, chewy, and irresistibly cheesy, these pão de queijo capture the heart of Brazil in every bite.
The dough for naan, the traditional Indian flatbread, is made with maida (white wheat flour), salt, sugar, yeast, and water, but in some cases, oil is also included. Occasionally, depending on the recipe, yogurt can be added, or milk used instead of water. Sometimes, for a softer dough, an egg can be included. The traditional leavening agent is yeast, but some recipes call for baking soda or a combination of the two. Once the dough has had time to rise, it is divided and shaped by hand into rough teardrop-shaped pieces that are slapped against the sides of a tandoor, a cylindrical clay oven for baking. This blistered flatbread is typically served buttered with ghee or butter, topped with garlic or a mixture of garlic and coriander. It can be eaten on its own, but it's also a typical side to dishes like butter chicken, tikka masala, dal, and korma. Additionally, there are also stuffed varieties of naan, such as paneer naan (naan stuffed with paneer cheese), aloo naan (stuffed with a potato filling), keema naan (minced meat filling, typically beef or lamb) and peshwari naan (usually with a filling of almonds, coconut, and raisins).
According to traditional recipes, this simple Romagna fare is made with flour, salt, baking powder or baking soda, water, and lard, typically produced from Mora Romagnola, an Emilia Romagna breed of pigs. The kneaded dough is divided into portions and rolled into rounds, traditionally baked on a teggia, a shallow and wide terracotta dish. If cooked to perfection, piadina will be crumbly, rough, and interspersed with amber-colored bubbles. The size and thickness of piadina differs from place to place. For example, the one produced in Rimini, characterized by being thinner and larger than an average piadina, is especially noted. Some recipes use olive oil in place of lard to make the piadina lighter, while others make the dough with milk and not water. Piadina is delicious on its own, but it is usually served either cut in quarters with various cold cuts and cheese or filled, somewhat like a sandwich. The most popular fillings include prosciutto and Squacquerone cheese, sausage, fried pork meat, various herbs, and greens, but also sweet fillings like Nutella, honey, and jam. There is also cassone, a piadina traditionally filled with watercress, but today more often with other kinds of greens and cheeses, that is shaped similar to a calzone pizza and then baked.
With its recognizable shape, crispy golden brown exterior, and undeniable charm, a baguette is a world-renowned staple of French cuisine and culture. Extremely prominent in its home country, the bread can be bought nearly everywhere, in one of the numerous boulangeries. This elongated, slender kind of bread is traditionally made solely with wheat flour, water, yeast, and salt. The authentic dough composition is defined by law, and can, besides the essential ingredients, incorporate small amounts of broad bean, soya, or wheat malt flour. Artisanal loaves are sometimes made with bread starter instead of yeast, which enhances the flavor complexity. A typical baguette weighs about 250 grams (8.8 oz), has about 5 or 6 cm (2 inches) in width, and is approximately 65 cm (25.6 inches) long. The preparation starts by mixing the required ingredients and kneading a smooth dough, which is then left to rise for several hours. The risen dough is then shaped into a baguette form, sliced with a knife to acquire the recognizable diagonal scores, and baked in the oven. There are three somewhat distinct variations of the bread: the baguette ordinaire with its crunchy exterior, the baguette moulée, which is industrially made and has a grid marking on the bottom side, and the pallid baguette farinée, which is covered in flour before baking. Slices are often served for breakfast, covered in butter and jam, and dipped into hot chocolate of coffee. It is also commonly served with pâté or cheese and used in the making of sandwiches.
This is a type of filled naan. In this case, the filling is a fresh acid-set cheese paneer. The dough is made with yogurt, which makes for an extra pillowy and fluffy bread.
Both a favorite Turkish street food and a part of Turkish breakfast, Anatolian stuffed flatbread, gözleme is traditionally made with unleavened dough and can have an array of fillings — cheese and spinach, cheese and parsley, potato, eggplant, meat, and a herb filling are the most common ones. However, gözleme can have a sweet filling as well. The preparation starts with making the dough from just flour, water, and salt, but some recipes will also include yeast, oil, and yogurt, which make the dough less brittle once cooked. The dough is divided into smaller portions, then rolled until paper-thin, filled and folded either in half or as an envelope. It is then griddled on a sac, a heated convex iron plate, and brushed with butter to moisten the dough. Gözleme is typically served with either a yogurt drink ayran or Turkish tea cay.
Typically a special occasion only bread, served for Shabbat and other holidays, challah is made with leavened egg dough which is usually shaped like a braid, but other shapes such as a round, a key, a ladder, a hand, a triangle, or an oblong are also traditional. Challah can also be classified depending on what ingredients are used. The challah of Ashkenazi Jews, considered to be the original version of the bread, will include eggs, oil, either poppy or sesame seeds, honey, and, if made specifically for Rosh Hashanah, raisins. Because sugar and eggs were scarce in North Africa and the Middle East, Sephardi Jews, season their challah with spices such as anise, caraway, cardamom, coriander, and za’atar. The bread is also enriched with either olive oil or nut oils, and orange blossom and rose water are also often added, as well as saffron and raisins. Mizrahi Jews, on the other hand, prepare a very plain challah with just a speck of sugar and with no fat. This version, which can be seasoned with spices, is often called water challah and is different from others in that it has a very crisp crust, similar to that of a baguette. Although challah dough is classified as enriched (over 10% fat), because kosher laws do not allow eating meat and dairy in the same meal, oil and eggs are the only fat in the dough. The amount of sugar or other sweeteners such as honey is also high, which is why this bread is baked at lower temperatures, only up to 180°C, so the exteriors are soft and golden-brown and not burned. The dough is typically twice proven, once when kneaded, and once when shaped. It is brushed either before going into the preheated oven (meanwhile, it's been covered with a damp cloth during the entire proving time) or right after it's been shaped so that the surface does not dry out during proving. As the last step, challah is generously sprinkled with either poppy or sesame seeds, or a combination of both, then baked depending on size, anywhere from 30-40 minutes to up to an hour.
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