Lepinja (Serbian Flatbread)

Description

I had a Croatian coworker who would bake this anytime we had a celebration at work. I finally got her to share her recipe with me. I’ve had to tweak it quite a bit because some ingredients she doesn’t measure and of those she does, she uses metrics.

Ingredients

  • 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
  • 2 tablespoons warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
  • 1 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees F)
  • 1 tablespoon white sugar
  • 2 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  1. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk in a small bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam. Stir the warm water and sugar into the yeast mixture.
  2. Stir the flour and salt together in a separate bowl; add all but about 1/2 cup of the flour mixture to the yeast mixture; mix with your hands until a soft dough forms
  3. adding the last of the flour mixture a little at a time until it clears the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with a light cloth and let the dough rise in a warm place (80 to 95 degrees F (27 to 35 degrees C)) until doubled in volume
  4. about 1 hour.
  5. Deflate
  6. or ‘punch down
  7. the dough and turn out onto a work surface lightly dusted with flour; knead for about 5 minutes. Return the dough to the bowl
  8. cover again with a light cloth
  9. and allow the dough to again rise until doubled in volume
  10. about 30 minutes more.
  11. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
  12. Deflate the dough and turn turn out onto a work surface lightly dusted with flour; knead lightly. Place the dough onto the prepared baking sheet; shape into an oval about 1/2-inch thick. Set aside to rise a third time for about 30 minutes.
  13. Bake in the preheated oven until nicely browned and hollow sounding when thumped
  14. 20 to 25 minutes.

Prep Time: 30 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Total Time: 2 hrs 50 mins

Servings: 12

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