Yufka | Turkish Unleavened Flatbread
Yufka is a very thinly rolled Turkish flatbread made with just the basic ingredients. It can be used to make wraps or as a pastry sheet for desserts.
Yufka is an unleavened flatbread from Turkish cuisine. They are very thinly rolled flatbread almost resembling pastry sheets and are used for layering in some desserts. The Yufka is very similar to Lavash and uses just the basic ingredients like flour, salt, oil, and water.
The yufka is rolled very thin and then cooked on a heavy iron plate called Sac. I used a heavy flat pan to cook the yufka. These flatbreads can become very hard and dry if not served immediately. To make it soft again, it is sprayed with warm water and rested for a few minutes in between a kitchen cloth and then served.
We can use the Yufka flatbread as a wrap or also serve it with a spicy side dish. The shelf life of this flatbread is quite long as they are quite dry in texture. They can be kept sealed tightly inside an airproof wrap and can be sprayed with warm water and rested just before serving.
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
L for Lepinja
M for Mahjouba
N for Norwegian Crisp Bread
O for Onion and Poppy Seed Pletzel
P for Pol Roti
Q for Qutab
R for Roomali Roti
S for Samoon
T for Taftan bread
U for Uyghur flatbread
V for Veechu Parotta
W for Whole Wheat Phulka
X for Xian Bing
Ingredients needed
- All Purpose flour - 1 ½ cups
- Salt - 1 tsp
- Olive oil - 2 TBSP
- Warm Water - as needed to make a soft dough
Step-by-step process
- In a wide bowl, add the flour and the salt. Mix well to combine.
- Slowly add the warm water to form a dough.
- Add the olive oil and start kneading the dough until it is very soft and smooth.
- Cover the dough and let it rest for about 4 hours or even overnight. The longer it rests, the easier it is for us to roll as we have to roll the dough really thin.
- Once the dough is rested, divide the dough into 10 equal pieces.
- Let the dough balls rest for about 15 minutes.
- Dusting each ball with enough flour, start rolling the dough. Roll it as thin as possible without tearing the dough.
- If the dough resists rolling, rest it for a few more minutes and then roll again.
- Heat a heavy pan and cook the rolled Yufka on medium-high heat until golden brown on both sides.
- Remove from heat and keep in between kitchen cloth until ready to serve.
- The yufka tends to harden very quickly. It can be sprayed/sprinkled with warm water before serving to soften it.
Expert Tips
- Resting the dough is very important. The more it rests, the easier it is to roll the flatbread.
- Resting allows us to roll the yufka really thin which is the special characteristic of this Turkish flatbread.
- When rolling, if the dough resists and rolls back, let it rest for a few minutes and then roll again.
- Cooking the yufka on a heavy pan is essential.
- Keep the cooked flatbread covered until ready to serve.
Frequently asked questions
Yufka can be stored for a while as it does not have any ingredients with lower shelf life. We can leave it at room temperature for a day or two or can freeze it for up to 2 weeks.
Yufka can become hard and brittle if not used immediately. We can spray some water and then reheat it in the griddle for a few seconds before serving.
Yufka is a thin almost pastry sheet like flatbread. Yufka is used to make wraps, pastries, and borek. Some recipes that we can use are this Albanian Spinach pie / Byrek Me Spinaq or Turkish Cigar pastry
Yufka is a flatbread that is thinner than a tortilla but thicker than phyllo. Though a few of the recipes made with phyllo can be replaced with yufka like the Boreks, they are not the same.
More Turkish Recipes
- Cezerye | Turkish Carrot and Walnut Bars
- Turkish Semolina Pudding | Sutlu Irmik Tatlisi
- Gozleme | Turkish Spinach and Feta Flatbread
- Sekerpare - Turkish Soft Cookies in Sugar Syrup
- Acma | Soft Turkish Bagel Recipe
- Mercimek Koftesi - Vegan Turkish Red Lentil and Bulgur Kofte - Turkish Lentil Balls
- Peynirli Poğaça - Turkish Poğaça With Feta And Herb
- Turkish Cigar Pastry - Savory Spinach And Feta Cigars
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
Recipe
Yufka | Turkish Flatbread
Equipment
- bowl
- Griddle
- spatula
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups All Purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 Tablespoon Olive oil
- Warm Water as needed to make a doudh
Instructions
- In a wide bowl, add the flour and the salt. Mix well to combine.
- Slowly add the warm water to form a dough.
- Add the olive oil and start kneading the dough until it is very soft and smooth.
- Cover the dough and let it rest for about 4 hours or even overnight. The longer it rests, the easier it is for us to roll as we have to roll the dough really thin.
- Once the dough is rested, divide the dough into 10 equal pieces.
- Let the dough balls rest for about 15 minutes.
- Dusting each ball with enough flour, start rolling the dough. Roll it as thin as possible without tearing the dough.
- If the dough resists rolling, rest it for few more minutes and then roll again.
- Heat a heavy pan and cook the rolled Yufka on medium high heat until golden brown on both sides.
- Remove from heat and keep in between kitchen cloth until ready to serve.
- The yufka tends to harden very quickly. It can be sprayed/sprinkled with warm water before serving to soften it.
Notes
- Resting the dough is very important. The more it rests, the easier it is to roll the flatbread.
- Resting allows us to roll the yufka really thin which is the special characteristic of this Turkish flatbread.
- When rolling, if the dough resists and rolls back, let it rest for few minutes and then roll again.
- Cooking the yufka on a heavy pan is essential.
- Keep the cooked flatbread covered until ready to serve.
Delicious flatbreads and I found the instructions so straightforward to follow!
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing yufka turkish flatbread recipe! Will surely have this again! It's really easy to make and it tasted so delicious! Highly recommended!
Made the dough this morning, rested for 3.5 hrs then cooked and ate them for Lunch, so simple and fabulous. We tried them with chutney, tomato paste, marmalade, jam, honey and Nutella. Not all at the same time!"$ all were great. Yufka should work with anything.
Thanks so much for your feedback! Glad you liked the recipe.
What a nice Flat bread to make wraps with. I am imagining this with a semi dry panner stuffing and some cheese on top!
I loved these rotis which can be used to make wraps. looking great and surely will make a perfect wrap. well said with just few ingredients such a nice bread is made.
Same pinch Sandhya, even I made Yufka for the letter Y. They look so soft. Beautifully done.
This was surely one of the favorite ones when I did the theme last time..you have got it done so well. I loved it when we used it as a wrap..so neat!
Yufka are so soft and delicious, had them stuffed with vine leaf, soft cheese and cranberries at a Turkish restaurant in Montreal. A wonderful share for the letter Y.
The yufka looks really good Sandhya. It reminds me of the thin chapati mom used to make. This would be perfect with a filling.
Yufka the Turkish bread looks very soft and just like our Indian rotis . I just read about it on Renu’s .. she made a wrap but I am sure this can be served with various accompaniments .
This turkish bread looks so soft and perfectly cooked.. good to further use as wrap or roll.
Wow! they look perfect for using like wraps. Beautifully done, Sandhya.
Excellent flatbreads there, they are just prefect to make wraps na.. And they came out extremely prefect. Lovely flatbread for Y Sandhya.Well done.
Those yufkas look lovely! Perfect for taking on a road trip or train ride! Great pick for Y