These steamed buns are really Chinese. They are delicious, chewy, and simple to create. For you, they are light. Your family would be proud of you! We used to prepare these as a breakfast or snack. You’ll like it, I’m sure of it.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 rounds |
Ingredients
- 1 1 ⁄ 16 cups water
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon white sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
Instructions
- Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough cycle; press Start.
- When the Dough cycle is almost complete, preheat the oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into eight equal pieces and form into rounds. Cover the rounds with a damp cloth and let rest.
- Roll dough into thin flat circles, about 8 inches in diameter. Cook two at a time on preheated baking sheets or a baking stone until puffed up and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Repeat for remaining loaves.
- If you don’t have a bread machine, combine 1/2 cup lukewarm water and 1/2 teaspoon sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir in yeast, and set aside until yeast is creamy and bubbly, about 5 minutes. Add remaining water, oil, salt, and flour. Mix on low speed using the dough hook until the gluten is fully developed, about 10 minutes. (You can also knead by hand on a floured surface until dough is springy and feels silky to the touch, 10 to 15 minutes.) Transfer dough to an oiled boil, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Proceed with the recipe as directed in Step 3.
Reviews
475 was too high. I’ll try 425 next time. Overall, a great flat bread, I also love to utilize my bread machine.
Delicious! …and not real difficult
I love this recipe it was simple and easy to follow
I used a ratio of two thirds whole-wheat flour and one third all-purpose and the bread still turned out very well.
Three stars because this is a decent pita recipe but it is most definitely not Syrian bread.
So easy! My young daughter and I loved the experience and the end result!
This was my mom’s, Sue Litster’s, recipe. She passed away last year (2017). I wish I could convey how important this bread is to our family. It is at every family holiday get together, every potluck, and at every weekly family gathering. Mom, I miss you. I didn’t know you posted the recipe here. I did a search for ‘Syrian bread’ and your recipe was the number one search result. Thank you. I now can make this bread and carry on the tradition. It is perfect.
I have made this bread about a dozen times now using the exact directions except I cook it at 500 degrees and of course I use my preheated baking stone. I have used both instant and active dry yeast. The active dry is denser and the instant is fluffier. My husband is from Syria and says it tastes exactly like the bread served in the high end restaurants. He’s over the moon excited every time I make it.
I made this for a Syrian friend and she loved it! She suggested after baking to cover it with a damp towel. That made the bread very soft and delicious!
Great job, Sue.
I made this bread for my family, and we all loved it. I will definitely make it again!
Simple in terms of ingredients, moderate in terms of work, but worth every minute.
I am very glad to find this recipe. These are just like the bread we get at a local Mediterranean restaurant, and I made them to pair with bowls of Greek lemon chicken rice soup. The changes I made were to use bread flour (instead of all-purpose), and I did not use a bread machine. I mixed the ingredients in my countertop mixer for about 7 minutes using the dough hook. Once mixed, I drizzled a little oil along the sides of the bowl, turned the dough to coat, and let the dough stand to rise for an hour at room temperature. I then turned the dough out on a lightly floured surface, kneaded a few more minutes by hand, and divided into 8 equal segments. I covered the dough with a towel to let it rest for about 15-20 minutes, then I started to roll out the rounds into 6-8″ circles using a rolling pin. I placed two circles at a time on a pizza stone I had heating in the oven. Per the recommendations of other reviewers, I heated the oven to 500 degrees. Using a long pair of tongs, I turned the first few circles over half-way through the five minute baking time, but did not do so for the last several circles. Turning them over did not make much difference. I will definitely use this recipe again.
This recipe is very easy and so good. I have made this bread twice and mixed the dough in the food processor. The first time I used half white flour and half whole wheat and this time I used all whole wheat. I divided the dough into 12 pieces and baked on a pizza stone. All but one puffed beautifully. This really is a great recipe!
This is so easy and turned out great!!! I’ll be making this again. I gave one to my Palestinian friend and he loved them.
I made homemade hummus and was looking for a recipe to use it with. I found this Syrian bread. So easy in bread machine, and smells delicious when baking. Used a pizza stone, 475*, flipped and took out before too brown. Nice chew, but tender. Enjoyed it waaaayyyy more than the disappointing hummus I ended up making and throwing away. Served bread as a pita pocket with tuna salad, only sandwich fixing I had here. Big hit! Will make these again.
Very good recipe and perfectly authentic. The flour/salt/sugar ratios are spot-on. I wanted to wait before reviewing to make sure I wasn’t doing something wrong with the recipe. I’ve made this many, many times and the bread always comes out just a little too tough. No, I’m not kneading too much. I do make sure to cook just under the time recommended or else on day two it is a little too crispy and breaks easily. I will continue to use this recipe though as I’m sure it is the best. As a side note- this is more like Lebanese bread. Syrian bread would be kept in a slightly flattened ball and baked for about an hour and turn out more like a crusty dinner roll. Both are delicious though. Thank you!
Best flat bread recipe I’ve encountered!! It was so exciting to see the little loafs in the oven puffing up! Some were soft and some were a bit crunchy after we broke into them. I rolled them in parm and chopped up some basil in some.
Pressed for time, and wanting to use this crust for individual pizzas, I mixed everything up in my KitchenAid® mixer. After letting the dough rise I made 8 pizza crusts and cooked them on an electric griddle. They worked great for the purpose I wanted them. I topped them to make ‘Pineapple Jalapeño Pizza’ from AR. A great recipe that I know I will use again.
I cooked at 550 was great. My thin pan cooked the bottoms more than I liked so I flipped with one minute to go. The air pans worked great.
I make syrian/lebanese bread all the time but pat it into rounds the size of a tennis ball then I use a rolling pin making dough thin and edges thin. I use my hands and wrists (like tossing pizza dough) stretching and tossing to desired thinness, dusting it lightly with flour then “bake” it on an electric griddle til bubbles appear brown, turn and bake other side til lightly brown bubbles appear. This takes only a few seconds. I then stack them between two dishtowels until all dough is used up and let them cool before packaging into plastic bags. Much easier than the hot oven. We love the flat type of bread.