Taboon Bread (Palestinian Flatbread) (2024)

What is Taboon?

Traditional taboon bread is a type of Palestinian flatbread (part of a collection of uniquely Palestinian recipes) baked in a dome-shaped clay oven called a taboon (or tabun). It's made from a simple dough of flour, water/milk, salt, sugar, yeast, and oil. It's rolled out into thin rounds and slapped onto the taboon oven's walls.

Ingredients

This recipe comes together with just a few standard simple ingredients.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Flour: Depending on your taste and preference, you can use some whole wheat flour in this recipe. A good starting point is 2 cups of white flour plus 1 cup whole wheat. As long as you maintain the total quantity listed in the recipe, you can play around with the proportions.
• Yeast: I use and recommend instant yeast, but you can use dry active yeast. If you use dry active yeast, keep the quantity the same and pre-bloom it in the warm liquid before adding it to the dry ingredients. You can also use fresh yeast, but do adjust the quantity. When using fresh yeast instead of dry, use double the amount by weight.
• Milk: The milk helps keep the final product soft and pliable. If you want to keep this recipe vegan, you can replace the milk with an equal amount of water.
• Oil: Olive oil is my go-to choice here but you can use avocado or vegetable oil instead.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

How to make this Taboon Bread Recipe

I recommend that you read through all the steps below to get a good understanding of the process.

Step 1. Mix. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the dry ingredients and mix well to combine. Add the warm water, milk and oil. Run the stand mixer until a ball of dough forms, about 5-7 minutes. If the dough is too sticky and doesn’t form into a ball, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time until you have a soft and supple dough ball.

Step 2. Rise. Rub the dough ball lightly with oil on all sides and let it rise, covered, in the bowl of the stand mixer for 1 hour.

Step 3. Divide and Shape. After the bread dough has risen to about double its original size, divide it into 6 equal pieces. Shape each piece of dough into a tight ball and rest them on your kitchen counter for 10 minutes, covered, so that the gluten can relax.

Step 4. Flatten. Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough balls into a ¼ inch (0.6cm) thick.

Step 5. Dimple. Dimple all over with your fingers by pressing down to create ridges.

Step 6. Cook. Place a heavy bottom cast iron skillet on the stove and heat it on medium-high for 5 minutes. In one quick move, transfer the dough to the hot pan. Cook on one side, without disturbing for 30-45 seconds.

Step 7. Flip. Check the bottom of the flatbread, it should be lightly browned. Carefully flip the flatbread and cook for another 30-45 seconds. Don’t burn the bread. If the pan is too hot, reduce the heat, wait a few minutes and repeat the process.

Step 8. Store. Stack flatbreads and store in a clean kitchen towel to keep them warm.

Expert Tips

• Skip the mixer. You can certainly mix this dough by hand in a large bowl if you don’t have a stand mixer. Make sure to knead it for a full 5 minutes after it comes together on your countertop.
• Pizza Stone. This flatbread can be prepared in a large skillet, in the oven or directly in a pizza oven or on a pizza stone.
• Go old school. If you’re up for the challenge of baking this bread on smooth stones but you don’t know where to start? You can bake the bread directly on food grade baking stones (the kind used to weigh down a pie crust when par-baking).
• Easy Freezing. Place a piece of parchment paper between each flatbread before freezing so it’s easier to take out what you need later on.

Recipe FAQs

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Taboon (Palestinian Flatbread)

Luay Ghafari

Palestinian Taboon flatbread is a Levantine yeasted bread that is traditionally prepared in clay ovens or on hot stones. This recipe adapts the technique and makes it easy for home cooks to enjoy the flavors and traditions without having to build an outdoor oven.

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Nutrition

Calories: 327kcalCarbohydrates: 50gProtein: 7gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 2mgSodium: 463mgPotassium: 104mgFiber: 2gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 33IUVitamin C: 0.002mgCalcium: 36mgIron: 3mg

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