This is a traditional bread, generally baked over wood fire in villages. When my grandpas were alive, we used to visit them very often. They used to live in a village and whenever we went there, grandma would always bake bazlama for us. She would also brew a teapot of tea again over a wood fire. I don’t know why, but the fire of wood changes the taste of everything. If you have the chance of cooking a dish over wood fire, you’ll understand what I mean. Even tea gets a different flavor when brewed over it.
Grandma would always serve bazlama with a piece of butter she herself made and with some olive oil which they themselves produced. So this simple breakfast became a feast for us. Imagine a piece of newly baked bazlama, still fuming, and dipping it into some very natural olive oil or spreading some fresh butter, which has a milky scent, on it.
As I don’t have a chance of baking it on a wood fire, I bake it on a non stick pan over the lowest heat of the oven. Today the special item for our big Sunday breakfast was this bazlama. We ate it dipping in olive oil.
Bazlama
Ingredients
• 3 cups flour
• ½ cup yogurt
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 dessert spoon instant yeast
• ¼ olive oil
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt
Put the flour in a bowl. Add yogurt and mix it. Then add olive oil, sugar and salt. Mix the warm water and instant yeast in a cup very well and pour it in the mixture. Then knead all of them. You see my measurement cup here.
The dough should still be sticky, don’t worry. Cover the bowl and wait it in a warm place at least 5 hours to rise well. Waiting it for a day is better.
When the dough is OK, you can bake it and eat hot. Sprinkle some flour on the counter, take a piece of dough, a bit bigger than orange. Round it in your palms, then put it on the counter. Widen it by pressing your hands on it. You don’t need to use a rolling pin as the dough is so soft.
Heat a non stick pan, and put the shaped dough on it. Cook it turning it out continually over the lowest heat. It will be done in about 10 minutes. I make five bazlamas from these ingredients.
You can serve it with olive oil near it. We also sprinkle some dry thyme in our natural olive oil.
Note: I made this before reading the article, 10 pre-polluted Americans by OysterCulture, which is about food safety including the harms of teflon. And now, I’m definitely confused about using non stick pans. There should be a substitute.
Sabiha Gökçen
March 22 is a very special day for Turkish women. We are so honored by Sabiha Gökçen, who is the first woman combat pilot of the world, and first woman pilot of Turkey. She was born on 22 March 1913 and was one of the adopted daughters of Atatürk.
18 Comments on "Bazlama Bread"
That looks yummy and easy! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Zerrin,
I am definitely moving to more cast iron, and need to work on seasoning my pans – I love the way food cooks in cast iron, but confess to appreciating the ease of usining non-stick – but no more!
I love these artisan-like breads.
Joie de vivre – It’s really so easy.
OysterCulture – maybe I should do the same.
Cynthia – Glad you like it.
Zerrin
This looks soooo yummy, I really want to make it now. It is very similar to naan bread actually, just a bit thinner and when I made naan it turned out well, so I hope this does too…..shame I don’t have wood fire oven though : (
I love your blog, it is fantastic!! Can’t wait to see what you cook up next.
Trish
I love the smell of wood burning stoves although we ourselves only have gas stoves. I can imagine how delicious this bread would be made over an open flame!
This sounds delicious, and baked over a wood fire it must have been amazing!
Oh, delicious bread! I love that you serve it with olive oil and a little thyme!
This bread looks just like our indian Naan…But Naan is little bit thinner than this ,instead of olive oil v use butter.By the way i have posted the award logo yesterday with your name on it…Thanx again
Indeed Zerrin, this looks so easy & so yummie!! Thanks for the info!!
This is fantastic – a local middle eastern shop here used to stock fresh Turkish bread – at least that’s what they called it and this looks pretty similar. I adored it, but they seem to have stopped making it, so perhaps I can give this a try instead!
What a sweet tradition! It looks really good! I like to use cast iron skillets. All they need is a light coating of oil or baking spray and they are virtually non stick.
Beautiful looking bread! It reminds me of pagach which is often filled with both cabbage and potato. I second the recommendations for cast iron. Once you get a good one and take care of it, they work as well as any non-stick pan.
oooh, this looks so good!
I believe you can buy non-stick pans that are not coated with Teflon … instead, the metal itself is treated somehow? I’m not sure. Is it anodized? Go to a good cooking supply store or website (like Williams Sonoma) and do a little research … I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to find something.
Thanks, easy to follow instructions I’ll give it a go
I am currently trying this recipe out…ive mixed up the ingredients and waiting for it to rise. I really hope it does as i tried a different recipe last night that was a disaster…I will be back with the result
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