LAVOSH CRACKERS

Making homemade lavosh crackers is delightfully simple, you just whisk together flour, a pinch of salt, a splash of olive oil and enough water to bring it into a soft, rollable dough, then roll paper thin and bake until crisp. No fancy equipment needed beyond a rolling pin and a baking tray, you can flavour them with za'atar, sesame, cracked pepper or just sea salt and olive oil for a classic finish. They bake quickly, store well in an airtight tin, and the whole process turns out far more rewarding (and tastier) than any packet store version, and work so well with a bougie cheese board.

Lavosh (also spelled lavash) is a thin, crisp flatbread or cracker originating from Armenia and popular across the Middle East and Caucasus. What makes a cracker lavosh:

  • Dough: Simple blend of flour, water, salt, and sometimes a little oil or yeast for pliability. For cracker style lavosh the dough is rolled very thin and often unleavened.

  • Rolling and shaping: Rolled paper thin into large sheets, the extreme thinness is key to the cracker’s crisp texture.

  • Baking method: Baked at high temperature on a hot stone, tray or in a tandoor/tonir until it blisterly browns and becomes brittle.

  • Texture: Light, delicate and shatteringly crisp, unlike softer flatbreads; can be snapped into shards.

  • Flavouring: Often plain but can be sprinkled with sesame, nigella seeds, za’atar, sea salt or brushed with olive oil for extra taste.

LAVOSH CRACKERS

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LAVOSH CRACKERS 〰️

Time: 45 minutes

Serves: 16 large lavish crackers

1 cup plain flour

Pinch salt

1/3 cup sparkling water

2 table spoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to brush

Toppings: white and black sesame seeds, sea salt flakes

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, fan forced.

In a large bowl mix together the plain flour and pinch of salt. Make a well and add in the sparkling water and EVOO, and mix with a rubber spoon until combined, using you hand to knead everything in until the flour has been worked in. If it’s a tad dry, add a dash of sparkling water at a time until it’s just wet enough.

Lightly flour a clean surface and knead the dough until its smooth. Half the dough and cover the second piece with a tea towel. Rolling the dough piece over lightly floured surface until it half the size of your baking tray. On baking paper (sized to the baking tray), add the rolled out dough, and then sprinkle a mixture of black and sesame seeds over it, and sea salt flakes. Then roll the dough out to the edges of the baking paper until its super thin and the topping have been rolled in, before finishing with brushed on EVOO on top.

Pull the dough lined baking paper onto the baking tray and using a pizza cutter, roll your desired shaped into the dough, making sure to not cut deeply through, just creating lines over the dough to make it easier to break. Place into over and cook for 15-16 minutes or until it has golden brown colour and looks to be crunchy. Repeat this process with the second piece of dough.

Once cooked remove from oven and break into pieces before enjoying on a cheese board. Store at room temperature in an air tight container for up to 4 days.