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When I used to get donor kebabs in Brisbane, Australia, the store I would frequent would serve them in a particular stretchy flatbread, who the store owner told me was a type of bread from lebabnon.

The distinguisihing features I noticed were the complete lack of brown spots commonly found on pita breads and middle eastern breads, and that it was stretchy.

I've begun making my own kebabs at home in the style of the Australian ones, and have been completely unable to find a recipe for anything like this bread. I've been to Turkey, Israel, Lebanon and live in NYC, and I've had no luck even finding a bread I could buy that was similar.

What was this mystery bread?

Is there any middle eastern bread known for being stretchy and completely white?

James Hudson
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    I've seen packaged naan that was little stretchy once it was warmed up, but I can't remember if it had any color on it. (it was par-cooked, so you'd go and cook it a second time.) The only really stretchy bread-like item that I can think of is Ethiopian injera, which doesn't tend to be white, and most people describe as a pancake, not flat bread. – Joe Jan 26 '16 at 03:19
  • Thanks Joe. It's literally been puzzling me for years. I wish the kebab shop was still around so I can ask. I've been all over Australia and the Middle East and I've never seen that type of bread again. It didn't look at all like traditional pita bread. It's an interesting mystery. – James Hudson Jan 26 '16 at 21:20
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    After a little digging, the closest that I can find to your description would be man'oushe without the toppings : http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/lebanese-zaatar-pizza-manoushe-bi-zaatar . Even if you can't find exactly what you had, you might be able to find a good alternative. – Joe Jan 26 '16 at 23:19
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    Thanks Joe. I actually tried that, and it was too far off from what I remember. This mysterious bread was far softer and thinner. I tried Lavash as well, and have been unable to find it. – James Hudson Jan 27 '16 at 00:11
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    lavash is usually very thin and pale, but in my experience, not usually that stretchy. Maybe when it is very fresh it might still have some stretch to it but it dries out quickly because it is so thin. BTW, in Lebanon they call it khobz marquq. http://www.discoverlebanon.com/en/recipes/paper_thin_bread.php – NadjaCS Feb 12 '16 at 16:21

3 Answers3

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In Melbourne, Australia, there are several types of flatbread termed Lebanese and one I know is stretchy-like. If you check out Australian chefs for recipes - Donna Hay, Greg Maloof and you'll need to check others online. If I find out what the brand is I'll put up another note.

isabel
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Well I am Lebanese, and there is few small steps to make a good authentic Lebanese bread that looks like that:

enter image description here

There is another type of bread called Saj Bread:

enter image description here

Here is a video about it.

Another type of bread is the tanour bread, where an indian tandour is used to make the bread. Well Lebanese and most of levant countries think that the tandour is their invention and not the indians (anyway this is not our area of interest):

enter image description here

NAAN Bread is not a Lebanese bread:

enter image description here

The main step of the Pita bread (first image), is to roll out a dough into circular form, and get it into hot oven (>300 C), and within seconds, it will puff up:

Here is a video about it.

The recipe is nothing more than wheat flour, salt, sugar and water with yeast of course.

The flour used should be good enough to be stretched.

So if you have a good oven, do a simple dough, roll it into thin layer, and bake it for couple of minutes in a very hot oven. The upper side should be brown, and the bottom side should stay a little bit white and slightly under cooked.

Feel free to ask me about any Lebanese recipe and I will be glad to help.

alim1990
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I have been making own flatbread as I too could find the soft thin and stretchy either. Using warm to hot water to mix the flour develops the gluten and that provides the stretch. Here are some recipes to play around with. *1and3/4 cups flour + 3/4 cup boiling water pinch salt oil to roll. *400g fine wholemeal flour + 150ml hot water + 1/3 cup gee I/2 tsp salt. *1 cup fine wholemeal flour + 130ml hot water + pinch salt. *300g flour + 150ml hot water + 60ml oil I/2tsp salt. Mix, cool, knead, rest 30 mins roll out cook on stove top.

Mim
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