Lavash is a thin flatbread made of leavened or unleavened wheat dough, baked in a tandoor (a type of clay oven) or on a saj griddle. Some forms are sourdough fermented with dough from previous batches. Lavash cooks very quickly in a tandoor, being placed on the sides using a cushion. It is large and thin, though there are many variations in size and shape. It is soft when fresh but is often dried. Lavash is common to the cuisines of South Caucasus and West Asia. It is a staple food in Armenia, eastern Georgia, and parts of Iran.
Soft lavash can be used for wraps, which use ingredients such as kebabs, barbecued meat, or cheese. It may also be served with dip or with stew to be eaten by hand. Lavash is often prepared in large batches. It lasts months once dried and can be hydrated to restore softness. Dried lavash is sometimes broken up and eaten in dishes such as the Armenian stew khash.
Lavash originated in ancient times, with several countries claiming its origin. In the modern day, lavash is widespread in many parts of Asia between Turkey and Kashmir, and also exists in other regions where it was introduced by Armenian immigrants. It is served at many restaurants, as well as at weddings. In Armenian culture, the preparation of lavash by women is a community event. The UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List inscribed lavash "as an expression of culture in Armenia" in 2014. This was controversial in other countries in the region, and a separate listing regarding the culture of lavash and other flatbreads in Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey was inscribed in 2016.
Etymology The word lavash entered English partly from Armenian (, ), Persian (, ), and Turkish (). Similar names are used in many Asian languages, including Georgian (), Azerbaijani (), Tatar (), Turkmen (), and Pashto (). Lavash is the most common name for the bread in American English; the spellings lavosh, lahvosh, lawaash, and lawasha are also used. Other English terms include cracker bread, Armenian cracker bread, mountain bread, and paraki. The Arabic equivalent is called , or in Lebanon.
The etymology of lavash is unknown. A widely held theory states that the word spread to other languages from Persian. Sevan Nişanyan connects the Persian word for lavash to the Aramaic root meaning 'to knead' and recorded al-Faraj ba'd ash-Shiddah from 1451 as the oldest text to use the term in Turkish. Hrach Martirosyan tentatively connects the Armenian word with words derived from Proto-Armenian 'flat'.
Preparation
Lavash is made with wheat flour—usually white flour—kneaded with water and salt, forming a stiff dough. High-extraction flour is typically used, at about 80–82% extraction. Leavened and unleavened forms of lavash exist. It may be leavened with yeast or with a sourdough starter known in Armenian as , which consists of dough from the previous batch. Some producers in Iran instead use baking soda, although this is prohibited by the Ministry of Health. A mixture of yeast and baking soda may also be used. The dough of lavash and the similar sangak contain about 83% flour by weight, higher than other breads in Iran. For every 100 g flour, lavash dough may have about 45–55 g water, 2 g salt, 1 g least, and 0.25 g baking soda.
The leavened dough may be fermented for 30–60 minutes, at about 30 °C, before being shaped into 100–300 gram balls, then risen again for 5–20 minutes. The dough is rolled with a rolling pin, commonly a thin rod known as an . Then, it may be rolled with a spiked rolling pin that forms indentations.
The dough is slapped against the hot walls of a tandoor (also known as tonir or tanoor), a type of clay oven. To place the dough in the oven, it is stretched over a round cushion with a handle, functioning as a peel. This tool is known in Iran as and in Armenia as or . Lavash cooks very quickly—about 15 to 40 seconds—due to thermal radiation and convection from the flame and conduction from the wall. The bread is removed using a metal hook and stacked. Aside from a tandoor, lavash may be baked on top of a saj, a metal griddle. This may be placed in or on a wood-powered oven, or over an open fire. In the modern era, electric ovens are commonly used.
Lavash may be produced automatically, using rollers to extrude a continuous sheet of dough, which is die-cut and placed in an oven using a conveyor belt. Lavash bakeries in Iran use a rotary machine with a heating element underneath, but there are also many that use tandoors. Producing 100 kilograms of lavash requires about 4.76 hours. The process to produce one kilogram requires approximately 26 megajoules of energy—mostly from flour production, followed by gas burning—higher than other breads in Iran.
Being cooked on the side of a tandoor causes irregular coloring in lavash, comparable to naan. It bubbles and browns while cooking, and the final product is cream-colored with spots across the surface. The colour of machine-produced lavash is more regular. Lavash is pliable and strong enough to hold other foods.
Lavash is classified as a single-layer flatbread. It is very large and thin, typically with a length of 60–70 cm, a width of 30–40 cm, and a thickness of 2–3 mm. It weighs about 225–250 g. The shape and size widely vary. Some lavash is very thin, enabling it to dry quickly. Lavash in Iran is particularly thin, sometimes slightly translucent. Iranian lavash may be rectangular, circular, or oblong, with a width from 30 cm to over 50 cm. Georgian lavash is distinctly thick and round.
While quite flexible when fresh, lavash dries out quickly and becomes brittle and hard. Hard lavash may have a longer cooking time and be left uncovered. It may be rolled up or placed on a rack to dry. For soft lavash, the bread is removed from heat immediately after the bottom begins to brown, then finished with water and covered with cloth or plastic. Hard and soft lavash may also differ in thickness. The soft form is easier to use when making wrap sandwiches.
Serving
Lavash is often prepared and stored in large batches. The dryness of lavash makes it very shelf-stable; dried lavash lasts three to six months. It is sprinkled or soaked with water to make it softer again, enabling consumption after 15–20 minutes. In Armenia, it may be eaten as a breakfast with jam and curd, or a snack with cheese. Lavash is similarly eaten for breakfast in Iran.
Lavash is commonly used for wraps, with toppings such as cheese, greens, or meats including kebabs or kofta. In Armenia, lavash is used to wrap the barbecue dish khorovats, which is eaten for lunch or dinner, while tarragon-spiced eggs are wrapped in lavash for breakfast. Lamb or beef is wrapped in lavash to prepare tantuni, a specialty of Mersin, Turkey. In Kashmiri cuisine, a lavash wrap with barbecued meat and chickpeas is known as masala lavasa.
Lavash can be used to wrap around and pick up accompanying dishes, such as stew. This is typical in parts of the Iranian plateau, where it is considered the central part of the meal. It may also be served with dips, such as hummus or muhammara.
In Armenia, the dried bread is broken up for stews such as khash, a hoof meat stew, which is also eaten with soft lavash instead of a spoon. Another preparation in Iran uses hard lavash, mashed with butter to form bite-sized balls. In Turkish cuisine, lavash can be used also for sweet dishes, served alongside Turkish desserts like , , ('braised fruit leather'), and .
Nutrition and properties Based on various bakery samples from Iran, lavash contains about 61–62% carbohydrates, 21%–25% water, 8.7%–8.9% protein, 1–4% ash, and 0.4%–0.8% fat. A 100 g serving contains 291 dietary calories. The glycemic index is about 72, lower than that of breads with higher baking times as there is less time for starch gelatinization.
The sodium content of lavash in Iran is about 1.1%, higher than recommendations, while lavash has a lower sodium content than other breads in Turkey. Lavash is high in iron, with about 3.8 mg per 100 g serving, and low in zinc, with about 0.6 mg per 100 g serving. Yeast in lavash increases breakdown of phytic acid, thus increasing the ability to absorb nutrients. Using baking soda results in worse nutritional value.
According to a study by H. A. Faridi et al, the ideal flour for Iranian breads such as lavash is made from soft wheat containing 9.8% protein. Commercial flour blends designed for lavash in Iran contain, on average, 13% moisture, with the remaining mass consisting of 66% starch, 12.3% protein, 11.0% dry gluten, 6.7% fiber, 1.5% fat, and 0.8% ash. The addition of hydrocolloids may improve shelf life and other physical qualities of lavash; for example, a study by Hamid Tavakolipour and Ahmad Kalbasi-Ashtari found that carboxymethyl cellulose may increase shelf life by 45%. Studies have also found that the addition of whey protein may increase softness, thinness, yellow color, and acceptibility of taste.
History Origin and historical record Lavash has existed since ancient times. Food historian Gil Marks states that lavash originated in the Middle East and traces it to the early innovation of cooking thin flatbreads on terracotta griddles rather than directly on embers. When griddles started to be used, breads had to be made thinner to fully cook through without burning, like the bread rakik described in the Bible. According to Marks, lavash is one of the oldest breads in Persia.
The origin of lavash is attributed to countries including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and Iran. Russian food writer Stalik Khankishiev argued that it is futile to claim lavash as being from a specific country as it is eaten in a large part of Asia, and stated that the tandoor spread to this region from East Turkestan. Claims of lavash as a uniquely Iranian tradition have existed as far back as the Arsacid dynasty of ancient Persia.
Lavash features in Armenian folklore. One story tells that King Arame of Urartu was captured by Assyrian forces, who would free him if he won an archery competition after ten days without food, but his messenger secretly brought him lavash hidden in his armor, enabling him to win. Lavash is also mentioned by West Asian writers of the Middle Ages, such as Nizami Ganjavi, Mahsati, and Khaqani, as well as in the Book of Dede Korkut.
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage listings
The government of Armenia filed for lavash to be included on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2013, as announced by the Deputy Minister of Culture, Arev Samuelian. Armenia alone filed the nomination, which described lavash as a "traditional Armenian bread" and described its significance in Armenian culture without mentioning that it is also eaten in the rest of the region. This was opposed by officials from Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey, and Georgia. Many groups in Iran protested the nomination, including the Ministry of Culture, which stated that the country would file a similar nomination, while state officials including Yonatan Betkolia called for Armenia's nomination to be cancelled. The ninth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, in 2014, accepted Armenia's original proposal under the name "lavash, the preparation, meaning and appearance of traditional Armenian bread as an expression of culture", facing objections from Azerbaijan's delegation. Turkish media reported on the committee's decision with headlines saying that Armenia had taken the bread from Turkey.
After protests against the listing, the committee changed the name of the listing to "lavash, the preparation, meaning and appearance of traditional bread as an expression of culture in Armenia"—using the phrase "in Armenia" rather than "Armenian". The same title had been proposed by the Azerbaijani delegation. The official listing was published with a note that said: