Lepinja Bread | Somun | Croatian Flatbread
Lepinja Bread, Croatian Flatbread, is a crusty bread with a lovely crumb that is perfect to be served with any dish. Somun is a great bread to soak up any flavor that we serve it with.
Doing the A to Z International flatbread has been such a big exposure to baking bread. Just the basic flour, yeast, and water can have such a different flavor depending on the method we use to proof it and bake it.
This Croatian Flatbread is one such flatbread that I had so much fun baking. The Lepinja bread had the most beautiful crumb, and it was so airy and porous.
This Lepinja bread went through a 3-rise cycle instead of the regular 2-rise. This allowed the bread to have a beautiful flavor and also gave it a wonderful texture.
I also used steam when baking. Using steam when baking has become one of my personal favorite methods to bake bread. It is so simple to attain that rustic crust when using steam.
Lepinja bread, which is also called Somun, is a popular street food in the Balkans region, especially in Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia. The bread can be served with any kind of dish, as it can absorb any flavor it is served with.
Somun bread is baked at a very high temperature, which gives it an amazing rise, somewhat like pita bread. My son thought it was great bread to slice in between and make a sandwich bread.
So, the options are unlimited as to how you want to serve this Croatian flatbread. Use it for a sandwich or serve it with soups and stews to soak up all the flavor.
My Other recipes in the A-Z International Flatbread Series -
A for Aish Baladi
B for Boulanee Katchalu
C for Chickpea Flatbread / Socca
E for Emirati Khameer
F for Fruit Focaccia
G for Gozleme
H for Himbasha
I for Indian Fry Bread
J for Janta Roti
K for Ka'ak
Preparation time - 15 minutes plus about 3 to 4 hours of rising time
Baking time - About 6 to 8 minutes per batch
Difficulty level - Intermediate
Recipe adapted from - A Spicy Perspective
Ingredients to make Lepinja Bread - Makes 6
- Bread Flour - 3 cups
- Active Dry yeast - 1 ½ tsp
- Sugar - 1 TBSP
- Milk - ⅓ cup
- Warm water - 1 cup (may need more or less)
- Salt - 1 ¼ tsp
Procedure to make Croatian Flatbread -
Making the Dough -
- In a small bowl, add the warm milk along with sugar and yeast. Mix well and let the mixture proof for about 10 minutes. At the end of 10 minutes, the mixture will appear frothy and bubbly.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of your mixer, add the yeast mixture, ½ cup of warm water, and salt. Add the flour and start kneading.
- Add more water to make a very soft dough. The dough will be quite sticky. Knead the dough for 6 to 8 minutes and then let it rise for about an hour or until doubled in volume. I love using the proof setting in my oven to rise the dough.
- Once the dough has risen, bring it out and punch it down gently. Now, using the stand mixer or your hands, knead the dough for a couple of more minutes and then let it rise again until doubled in volume. This time, it took me only about 45 minutes for the dough to rise.
Shaping and Baking the Lepinja -
- Once the dough has risen for the second time, place the dough on a heavily floured surface.
- Using well-floured hands, divide the dough into 6 equal pieces.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Make a ball out of each piece of dough and place it on the prepared sheet.
- Press down on each ball to flatten it and let the dough rise again for 20 to 30 minutes or until slightly puffy.
- In the meantime, preheat the oven to 550°F. Place a tray filled with water on the bottommost shelf of the oven when it is preheating.
- Once the dough has risen for the 3rd time, place it in the oven for 6 to 7 minutes or until the Lepinja bread is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and place the somun bread on a cooling rack to cool completely.
Soups to go with Somun bread
If you made this recipe and liked it, give a star rating on the recipe card or let me know in the comments below. You could also share it with me on Instagram using #MyCookingJourney and tagging me @sandhya.ramakrishnan. You could follow me and my recipes on Facebook |Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter/X
Recipe
Lepinja Bread | Somun | Croatian Flatbread
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Oven
Ingredients
- 3 cups Bread Flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon Active Dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon Sugar
- ⅓ cup Milk
- 1 cup Warm water may need more or less
- 1 ¼ teaspoon Salt
Instructions
Making the Dough -
- In a small bowl, add the warm milk along with sugar and yeast. Mix well and let the mixture proof for about 10 minutes. At the end of 10 minutes, the mixture will appear frothy and bubbly.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of your mixer, add the yeast mixture, ½ cup of warm water and salt. Add the flour and start kneading.
- Add more water to make a very soft dough. The dough will be quite sticky. Knead the dough for 6 to 8 minutes and then let it rise for about an hour or until doubled in volume. I love using the proof setting in my oven to rise the dough.
- Once the dough has risen, bring it out and punch it down gently. Now using the stand mixer or your hands knead the dough for coupe of more minutes and then let it rise again until doubled in volume. This time it took me only about 45 minutes for the dough to rise.
Shaping and Baking the Lepinja -
- Once the dough has risen for the second time, place the dough on a heavily floured surface.
- Using well floured hands, divide the dough into 6 equal pieces.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Make a ball out of each piece of dough and Place it on the prepared sheet.
- Press down on each ball to flatten it and let the dough rise again for 20 to 30 minutes or until slightly puffy.
- In the meantime, preheat the oven to 550 F. Place a tray filled with water in the bottom most shelf of the oven when it is preheating.
- Once the dough has risen for the 3rd time, place it in the oven for 6 to 7 minutes or until the Lepinja bread is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and place it on a cooling rack to cool completely.
Just to be clear, this is actually Serbian bread.
The "Somun" and "Lepinja" are Serbian words and this is traditional Serbian bread.
Igor, Just to be clear, this is Croatian as well as Bosnian bread. In the Croatian,"somun" translates to flatbread and lepinja translates to bun.They are not only Serbian words. It is our traditional Croatian bread
It's also Croatian and Bosnian as well as many countries in the Balkans. It's a traditional bread in all of these countries
One portion of your page says 3 cups of bread flour but the recipe when jumping to the recipe says 2 cups. Am I missing something?
Thanks for pointing it out. It's a typo and I have fixed it. We use 3 cups of flour.
Sandiya Ramakrishnan
Your recipe really unique i can see your passion in the final result , Thanks a lot. All The very Best. keep Going.
Happy to see a Tamil Culture Doing a Europes Breads Research.
Thanks .
Hi Sandhya, I see bake time of about 7 minutes, is that for convection or traditional oven please?
And thanks for sharing this recipe , so excited to pair this with cevapi 😆
Great recipe, I used a little more water and actually did the first rise overnight in the fridge in a covered bowl as I had time constraints. Worked beautifully, tastes as good if not better than the balkan bread I buy in the shops. Thank you!
That is so good to hear and the the long rise definitely helps with more flavor!
Hi you mention adding the tray of water while pre heating. Do you remove it before cooking?
Hi Casey, we leave the water in the oven when baking. That is what gives the bread the texture when baking.
Thank you for sharing! First time making it and was blown away by the complements I received! Will hold and treasure it forever ❤️
Thank you Mandy for trying the recipe. I am so happy that the recipe worked well for you.
This is a terrific recipe that I have made multiple times. My problem is I have an old oven, and baking the flatbreads at 550° essentially burns them. So I’ve had to lower the temperature to about 450 or 475. My result is not as crusty, but quite delicious just the same
Ovens can be so tricky. I have had different ovens heat differently and I have always asked my readers to use an oven thermometer to get the actual temperature. Sorry that the higher temp burns them and glad you are able to lower the temperature and make it work.
Hi! What kind of milk is needed in the recipe? Fresh milk? Evaporated milk? Thanks a lot.
Hi Valeria, I used fresh milk in the recipe.
Spot on tastes exactly like being back in Croatia. 10/10, thank you!
Thanks so much John! So glad that you liked the recipe.
These turned out really great even though I only have all purpose flour. I imagine they are excellent with T400 flour. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for your feedback! These do come out really well. I am so happy that the recipe worked well for you.
I like the name of this bread! I rarely bake these days and looking at all the international breads, I feel so tempted! I have heard about steam being used in baking results in a better textured bread but never tried it!
faboulous, you have excelled this recipe, so spongy, and look at that texture. I loved your baked bread recipes dear. and bookmarked few of them. You showcased wonderfully each and surely got mastery on baking. good job.
This is another wonderful addition to my bookmark folder. The bread has got a wonderful crust color and spongy crumb... excellent pick
It sure looks like an artisan bread with such fantastic crumb to it Sandhya. You are a pro when it comes to baking breads and this one surely showcases that..very good pick for the letter!
As each day goes, you present us with a new bread... I want to try them all! Lepinja bread looks like a flattish bun, so versatile.Baking at high temperature has resulted in a beautiful crust.
So true, the same ingredients, but makes so much of a difference in taste and texture. Interesting pick for the Letter L and perfectly baked bread.
OMG! the bread looks amazing. My husband loves such airy breads and is a die hard fan of middle eastern breads. I am sure this one will be a favorite too for him. Shhh...I want him to stay away from White flour 🙂
Wow! This looks amazing Sandhya. The crust is so beautiful, like a sourdough loaf and that crumb is fantastic.
The bread looks delightful Sandhya! Now I guess I should also start the 3 rise process....all I need now is some creamy pasta to go with this! Yum
How rustic and crusty this bread looks, am bookmarking to try as we love these sort of crusty breads for our sandwiches. Can guess the flavor of the bread already through your pictures Sandhya.. Well done yaar.