I have had trouble finding the name for these flatbreads in my research, but frumentaty is what my grandmother called this easy version of Moldovan plachindy. Frumentaty may have come from a dialect—no one is sure and we didn’t think to ask my grandma when she was still with us. Instead of filling the dough, you simply mix the filling into it. She would always use whey (rather than kefir) to make these; you can always use watered-down natural yogurt instead.

　　

Ingredients

Makes 6

　　150 ml (¼ pint) kefir or whey

　　¼ cup sunflower oil, plus ¾ tsp.

　　¼ Tbsp. white wine vinegar

　　¼ Tbsp. sugar

　　¼ tsp. fine sea salt

　　200 g (7 oz) feta cheese, crumbled

　　4 spring onions, finely sliced

　　½ small bunch of dill, chopped

　　350 g (11½ oz) all-purpose flour, plus an extra 100 g (3½ oz) for dusting

　　1 scant tsp. baking soda

　　

Step 1

Mix the kefir or whey, the ¼ tablespoon of sunflower oil, vinegar, sugar and salt together in a large bowl. Add the feta, spring onions and dill and mix in well with a fork.

　　

Step 2

Sift the flour with the baking soda, then sift again into the kefir or whey mixture and mix in.

　　

Step 3

The dough should be soft and pillowy. If it’s still a bit sticky, heavily flour your work surface and start kneading the dough and incorporating more flour. The dough will remain very slightly sticky from all the cheese.

　　

Step 4

Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Flour your work surface really well and roll each one out into a 15 cm (6 inch) diameter circle.

　　

Step 5

Heat the ¼ cup sunflower oil in a large frying pan and fry the breads, one at a time, for 3 minutes on each side, lowering the heat if you see them catching. Alternatively, brush the breads with oil or butter and cook them under your broiler.

　　From Mamushka © Olia Hercules 2015. Buy the full book from Simon & Schuster or Amazon.