More podcasts by Chef WalterFree Flavors + Knowledge Newsletter Show NotesHello friends, welcome back to the Quick Bites podcast. I am your host, Lily Parker.In this episode, we'll uncover the myth of Turkish Bazlama.Bazlama is the quintessential everyday bread of rural and traditional Turkish cuisine, a humble yet supremely satisfying flatbread that showcases the timeless alchemy of flour, water, yeast, and fire. Unlike its thinner cousin, yufka, bazlama is a soft, slightly leavened, pillowy round, typically hand-shaped to about two centimeters in thickness. Its beauty lies in its simplicity and the distinctive cooking method that gives it character: it is baked not in an oven, but on a sac—a convex, dome-shaped griddle, often over an open fire.The dough is a basic yeast-leavened mixture, sometimes enriched with a touch of yogurt or milk for extra tenderness. After a brief rest, portions are rolled out and cooked on the hot, unoiled metal surface. The process is mesmerizing; the bread puffs up dramatically as it cooks, developing a speckled, golden-brown crust with darker, toasted spots, while the interior steams into a soft, elastic, and tearable crumb. The result is a bread with a delightful duality: a faintly smoky, chewy exterior giving way to a cloud-like, warm center.Bazlama’s role is fundamental and versatile. It is the perfect edible utensil, used to scoop up stews, wrap around kebabs, or mop up eggs and mezes. Fresh off the sack, it is often brushed with butter and consumed on its own, a sublime, simple pleasure. It represents the soul of Turkish home baking and pastoral life—a bread made quickly with few tools, meant to be shared straight from the heat, embodying a warmth that is both literal and deeply cultural. In every soft, steaming round, one tastes the enduring rhythm of the Anatolian hearth.And that is all for this episode. Be sure to tune in to the next round for another exciting, content-filled episode with Knowledge and history.Until then, be safe and eat well.Ciao!

Ver todos los episodios