Flatbread Pizza Recipe: Lavash Bread Pizza

Los Angeles is home to a huge Armenian and Persian community so the local grocery store where we shop carries a type of flat bread called lavash, a very thin flat bread made of flour, salt and water commonly found in these cultures.  Lavash is much thinner than pita and comes in large flat sheets.  They're great for making lavash chips (see our pita chip post) and wraps. A few weeks ago, our friends the The Food Addicts made their own flat bread pizza---inspired, but not quite as talented or industrious to make our own dough, we decided to experiment and make lavash bread pizza since when baked, lavash becomes ultra crispy and light.  So if  you like ultra thin and crispy pizza crust, then this bread is for you. Lavash bread can be found at middle eastern and mediterreanean markets and goes for about $1.50 for 1lb of bread. Here in LA you can find it at Jons.

We made a date night at home and created a mini pizza bar of various ingredients including Roma tomatoes, basil, feta cheese, mushrooms, caramelized onions, roasted garlic, and slices of Italian pepperoni.  For a tomato sauce, we had a jar of LaFamiglia Del Grosso's Puntannesca sauce we received as a gift from the recent Stir It Up event.

This isn't so much a recipe, since it's just a matter of putting on any toppings that you like. Because the lavash is very thin, there's just a few tips you should keep in mind.

Lavash Bread Pizza

• 1 package of lavash bread, cut into rectangular pieces 
• Olive oil or olive oil spray
• Italian seasonings, herbes de provence, or montreal steak seasoning
• Tomatoes: cut thinly and make sure you use just the meaty portion, and drain any juices
• Sauce: go lightly--too heavy a hand will make it soggy
• Fresh herbs: we like to add the basil after baking so it doesn't wilt.

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly brush or spray olive oil on the lavash bread and sprinkle your desired seasoning on top.

Place your "dry" toppings--mushrooms, tomato, pepperoni, cheese, etc. Since the bread is quite thin, don't overload it and spread toppings around. On a baking pan or cookie sheet, bake approximately 8-10 minutes or until lavash is golden brown at the edges.  If you have a pizza stone use that instead, but we're not sure if it make a big difference in this case.

If you're using wet ingredients such as tomato sauce, bake the lavash first for about 4 minutes, then remove and as the lavash bread cools, it will become quite crisp. Add a light layer of sauce at this point, then any additional ingrediants and place back in the oven and bake until edges turn golden brown, another 4-6 minutes.

It's really fun to try different combinations and something your kids can help create and be proud of. No messy dough and something you can put together from common items in your fridge in minutes.

Scrounging around for ingredients, we had some left over Spicy Shrimp Curry from one of our favorite Thai restaurant, Jitlada and made shrimp curry lavash pizza.  Crazy we know, but after the first bite, both stared at each other and agreed--it was our  favorite of the night!

I shared this experience with my Persian and Armenian coworkers and they've never heard of this and they eat lavash all the time! So while pita may be more well known, lavash is actually our favorite flat bread because it's so thin and so easy to work with. Get creative and try our easy lavash pizza with your family! 

 If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe and