Yemeni Layered Flatbread- Khobz Al Tawa

To represent Yemen in our 7 Countries Dinner, I chose this flatbread.  Out of the 7 recipes I made for that meal, I was the most apprehensive about this one, but it was pretty much my favorite thing out of the whole dinner, and not as hard to make as I thought.  I got this recipe from the Queen of Sheba blog, and on the bottom of the post is a super, super helpful video on how to make this. (I posted a link in the recipe directions below.)  I watched it a few times before starting.  This is a simple bread using only flour, water, salt, and butter, when cooking it.  It's amazing that such simple ingredients make bread that is so good.  My family LOVED this.  They couldn't get enough.  I actually made it again a few days later.  Both times, we ate it so fast that I wasn't able to get very good pictures of the finished product.  But I took some step-by-step pics.  I made this into 6 breads and they were still very large.

Let balls of dough rest 30 minutes.

 Roll out on a floured surface.

 Spread with butter.

Fold sides up (butter the top part, too)

 Fold over into a little package.

 Let rest again;at least 10 min.

 Roll out again very thin.  Heat up your griddle very hot and butter one side. Cook butter side down. Spread raw side with butter while first side is cooking.

Flip when one side has brown spots, and then cook the other side.

Yemeni Layered Flatbread- Khobz Al Tawa

adapted from Sheba Yemeni Food

4 cups bread flour
about 1 1/2 cups water
2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, melted

1. Mix together the flour, water, and salt and knead until soft, about 10-15 minutes. (Use a stand mixer and the kneading hook if you have it.) 

2. Break the dough into 4-6 (I did 6) equal size pieces and form into smooth balls. Cover and let the dough relax for at least 30 minutes. This will allow you to roll out the dough very thin.

3. Begin rolling out the dough into a very thin and large sheet, you can do this using a rolling pin or by tossing it out by hand. If you are having difficulty, at any point you can let the dough relax for a few minutes and then continue.

4. Once you have a large sheet, then sprinkle some melted butter on top. Fold the dough into thirds, see the video for more info. Then fold into thirds again so you end up with a square shape with many layers.

5. Once again let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes before you begin to roll out the breads into their final shape. Use a rolling pin for this- it's easiest for me to make a square shape, but one can also do circles.

6. Brush some more butter on the top and bottom and then place onto a preheated griddle on medium-high heat. It should sizzle. Cook for approx. 4-5 minutes on one side and then flip when you see it is brown. Cook on the other side for another 5 minutes.

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **