My husband is from Iran, where lavash was born. It will be perfect with the soup. We have been making our own, which is thicker because we like it that way, but this is what we do. I have not bought the TJÂs lavash. We have a gas stove, if you have electric this will not work. The person with the steadiest hands does this (which is not me).

Have everybody ready to eat. Dish up the soup ahead because you will be moving fast. My husband does this with the whole piece but until you get the hang of it, cut the bread into manageable pieces, like quarters. Or sixths if itÂs really long. Quarter it with a scissors, not a knife. Have a plate warmed and ready right nearby. Turn on a small burner on low and put the bread piece right on the stove grate, a few seconds to char a bit, move it around to toast evenly, then flip to the other side. You are not trying to get it brown like toast: just to char the parts that stick up a bit and make them crispy. Not make the whole piece crispy. We use a pair of restaurant tongs for this. If the bread catches fire just blow it out. Onto the plate and do the next piece. Serve immediately while warm and toasted. The toasting brings out the flavor. People roll their portion and eat it that way.

Since the bread is thin, you donÂt want to dry it out. ThatÂs why you canÂt use the oven, toaster, or toaster oven. Please be careful and donÂt burn yourself.

When you are not having soup, thin bread like this is often eaten for breakfast. Roll up some pieces of feta cheese in it, some Italian flat leaf parsley is good in with the feta if you have it. Cilantro leaf is also good, though this is not found in the middle east. Bread and cheese is the standard breakfast in this part of the world. Most add some kind of fresh green like dark green lettuce or spinach, usually on the side, eaten plain. ItÂs called "sabzi" which means just "green". They have many fresh herbs also eaten for breakfast that we donÂt have here.

When my husband gets back I will ask him what else to do with lavash.

I use the ones from Trader Joe's, too! I wish I had gas burners, it sounds so good to crisp it up!

I just use it for lunch. Turkey, lettuce, tomato and roll it up! Nice change from bread.

Maybe you could make a kind of pizza with it?

Looking forward to hearing what else to use it for!

The crispy lavash sounds good with the bean and barley soup!

Lavash is our preferred bread to have with hummus:

Lars Hummus

I like Hummus with a strong garlic flavor, and so you may want to use a bit less than I do, but I think it improves the flavor. The important thing to remember when you make hummus yourself is to use fresh or dried beansÂnever canned, as they always have a "can" flavor. If you must use canned garbanzos, make sure you rinse them thoroughly.

Ingredients

1/2 pound (1-1/3 c) dried garbanzo beans, (about 3 to 3-1/2 cups cooked)
1/4 - 1/3 cup lemon juice
3-4 cloves of garlic
1/3 - 1/2 cup olive oil
3-4 tbsp toasted sesame seed oil
1/2 cup tahini (toasted, if available)
2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 to 1-1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper (or to taste)
1-2 tbsp water, if needed

Directions

Cook beans according to package instructions. I generally boil them for two minutes in a large pan, with triple height of water. Then I turn off the heat and soak for 1 hour covered and then wash them. Garbanzos will require about 2 hours to cook, after being soaked. After cooking, I rinse them twice with cold water to remove the cooking water.

Put the drained beans in a large food processor with the peeled garlic cloves (coarsely chopped) and the rest of the ingredients. Process until smooth. If it is too thick, thin with water, a tablespoon at a time.

It is difficult to find tahini made from toasted sesame seeds, and this is why I add the toasted sesame seed oil.

Variations

There are lots of ways to vary hummusÂthis is just a basic recipe that you can save and then alter smaller portions of it by adding kalamata olives, roasted red pepper, roasted onions, or roasted garlic. My recipe has a fairly strong lemon flavor, which you can adjust by using more or less lemon. When you alter the amount of lemon juice, you may need to adjust the salt as well, as lemon juice reduces the amount of salt required.

Serve with lavash bread, table water crackers (unsalted), or thinly sliced sourdough or French bread. Or make Melba toast by baking thinly sliced French or Italian bread for 20 minutes at 250°.

Lars

linnea - we have an electric stove :( If it stops blowing this awful wet snow sideways, we could use the gas grill right outside the door. I will definitely try what you suggest - we also have a portable gas cooker - so when the weather gets better, we will try it. thank you so much.

Lars - thanks for the hummus recipe - we are serious garlic lovers~I never decrease the garlic! My hummus I've made in the past wasn't really great - it was probably the canned beans. I will make yours as you suggest with the dried beans.

I will report back if I make anything worth bragging about.

A hot hot cast iron pan will give a similar toasty result if you have one.

Yes...that was just what I was thinking.

I used my paninni -since I did not know what I was aiming for, I toasted a few 1/2 sheets until crisp & had those toasted marks, then rolled 1/2 sheet (2) and put into the paninni - they smoosh to folded, took them out when they were still kinda soft. We ate it all~the crispy ones were like thin crackers. We liked it - but we like almost everything-I will definitely buy more and cook outside on the grill. Thanks!

Linnea, thanks for the explanation on how to grill the lavash. I've been getting the whole wheat lavash at Trader Joe's but never thought to crisp them up. They're pretty large, so I cut them in half and then separate the pieces with parchment paper. I fit everything into a freezer bag and stick the pieces in my freezer. It works well for me because I can't go through an entire package before they either get hard, stale, or moldy. Usually I spread the thawed lavash with cream cheese and then pile on the filling before rolling them up. But I really like your idea of crisping them.

Magothy, another thing different about my hummus recipe is that it does NOT include cumin. I use cumin in a lot of other recipes, but I find that it masks the other flavors that I like in hummus. Omitting it gives the hummus a cleaner and fresher flavor and allows the other flavors to dominate, especially the lemon. When I first made the recipe, I had nothing to go on except my memory of how hummus I had eaten tasted, and so I just started putting together the flavors that I remembered and adjusted the proportions to my own taste. I didn't start with a written recipe, which is possibly why I was unaware (at that time) that hummus frequently has cumin. I wasn't trying to make anything authentic - I just wanted to make something that I liked.

Lars

I can vouch for Lars' hummus! It's yummy! (Lars, I add a sprinkling of sumac in a swirl over the top for color. Turns out sumac tastes pretty good.)

They are also perfect for making thin crust pizzas!

Cut into triangles, any size, but tiny is best. Roast/toast in your oven at 375 for 20 min on a sheet pan...all ovens are different but watch them the first time.

Some are already very oily so no need to add oil. Toast and enjoy with stew or soups. Store bought bread of any kind is best toasted/heated.

I prefer to just go ahead and freeze most ethnic purchased breads if i don't use it right away. (don't wait for the expiration/ best by date)

We always have homemade bread ends and half loaves we freeze to make toast points and croutons for soups...after thanksgiving stuffing and such we are all out...but found a half wheel of cornbread and made cornbread croutons for soup tonight.

Freeze it/thaw it/toast it. Don't waste it.

If you like and eat cheeses you can grate some parm or hard style cheese and top before toasting.