Kulaç: Albanian Soda Bread

According to my sources (thanks Wikipedia!), Kulaç is substituted in Albania for regular bread because of how quickly it cooks. Traditionally, it was taken to important events such as baptisms, engagements, and for weddings it was baked the day before and then eaten the day after by the bride and groom. While it was baking, it made my flat smell absolutely incredible – the scent you would expect a bakery to have first thing in the morning, when all the bread and cakes are fresh out of the oven. Heavenly!

This is not something that I have heard of before, but looking at photos of it online, it looks billowy and beautiful and I was very excited to try it. After making all the dough for my Afghanistan meal earlier in the week, I wasn’t particularly keen on making more dough, but because Kulaç uses Greek yogurt rather than water, it seemed more of a variety.

Once again, self-raising flour was substituted for plain flour. The original recipe I was following called for plain flour, salt and baking soda, but when I was looking up the differences between self-raising and plain flour, it seemed that they were basically the same thing, except for the fact that self-raising flour has baking powder added to it, to allow bakers to skip a step when they’re making bread and pastries.

Each cup of self-raising flour contains 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder. And if you’re out of baking soda or plain four, you can just use self-raising flour instead! Cookies, biscuits, and quick breads (such as kulaç) won’t brown as easily in the oven without the soda, but if you just brush the top of it with oil or a beaten egg then the same result should occur.

So! Making kulaç was surprisingly easy seeing as all I needed were three ingredients: self-raising flour, Greek yogurt, and salt.

On a clean surface, mix together the flour and salt, then create a well in the middle of it and add the yogurt. Slowly and gently, start incorporating the yogurt into the flour mix, until you have a sticky dough the consistency of pizza dough – this took me less than 5 minutes and it was super easy!

Throw it on a baking tray and shape it into a circle about 5cm tall, cover it with a bit of olive oil, and bake it as it is! Alternatively you can add patterns – the most common is to use the back of a fork to create a lined pattern all over, or use the prongs of the fork to spike the dough.  Throw it all in the oven and bake for 40 minutes. Yum!

All of what is left after we demolished the kulaç

Ingredients

Serves 8

·      450g self-raising flour

·      ½ tsp salt

·      500g Greek yogurt

·      Olive oil

If you’re using plain flour rather than self-raising, then also add 1tsp of baking soda.

Instructions

1.     Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius.

2.     On a clean work surface, mix together the dry ingredients.

3.     Make a well in the middle and add the Greek yogurt.

4.     Slowly start to incorporate the yogurt and flour mix together until it forms a pizza dough texture. If it’s too sticky then add a little more flour. This shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes!

5.     Oil a baking tray with olive oil and place the dough on top. Push it to a rough circle shape, about 5cm high.

6.     You can either bake it as it is, or use a fork to create patterns on the top of the dough, which helps it to bake more evenly. A common option is to use the back of a fork to make lined grooves all around, or alternatively you can use the prongs of the fork to create dots.

7.     Rub it over with olive oil, and make sure it is completely covered.

8.     Bake in the middle of the oven for 40 minutes or until golden.

9.     If you’re eating it while warm, use your hands to tear it apart rather than cut it. Otherwise, once cooled, cut it like you would a cake into 8 equal parts.