Jingalov Hats made with Sourdough Starter | Lavash Book | The Vegan Armenian Kitchen Cookbook

Chef Joanna

3 years ago

Jingalov Hats. My first try at this traditional Armenian delight. I’m happy to say they turned out delicious, but embarrassed to say I made a mistake. I thought these were made with a yeast-risen dough so I mentioned using pizza dough in my Live video (oops). The dough is much more simple- it’s just flour, water, and salt, made in about an hour.

I used my sourdough starter (I get excited to use it anytime possible) and it was wonderful but not the typical Jingalov hat. I’ll try again #learning. (I included a video at the bottom of this post for the traditional preparation. She gives a great presentation and makes me smile.)

Thank you to the help of two wonderful cookbooks (thank you Vegan Armenian Kitchen Cookbook and my aunt who gifted me the Lavash book), I was able to learn a little more about my culture!

You could describe these as a deflated football or an Armenian calzone. They come from the region of Artsakh, Armenian. It’s a thin dough filled with tons of herbs and greens (sometimes 20-40) and cooked quickly on a hot plate. The beauty here is the herbs- they steam and then fall, concentrating them and cooking the bread from the inside out. If I close my eyes, maybe I can dream of eating these on a street in Yerevan.

If you don’t know I am half Armenian so it is a bit sentimental to make these. I wish my grandma was here to try these, she would be so proud. Today was a success in more ways than one. Writing another chapter of the story, and hungry to learn more 🙂

Notes: Use the herbs you have but avoid using rosemary, sage, or thyme. Use chard, kale, watercress, etc if you have it.

Jingalov Hats

Ingredients (for about 4- 8″ hats)
Dough:

1 ½ cup flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
⅔ cup lukewarm water

Filling:

1 bunch spinach
2 bunches parsley
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch dill
1 bunch green onion
1 small bunch basil
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
¼ tsp. or less sweet paprika (optional)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. olive oil
½ tsp. salt (or less)

Directions:

Dough preparation go to NY times recipe here.

“Prepare the dough: In a medium bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour and the salt. Pour the lukewarm water into a large bowl, then gradually add the flour mixture, using your hands to incorporate. The dough will be sticky.

Dust the counter with flour, turn dough onto it and knead gently until the surface becomes smooth and the dough stops sticking to your hands and counter, about 5 minutes. Roll the dough into a ball, place it in a lightly oiled bowl, turn it to coat, then cover it with a kitchen towel. Let it rest at room temperature for 20 minutes to 1 hour.”

Preheat oven with a cast iron skillet at 500 F. Meanwhile, wash greens thoroughly and roughly chop. Add all remaining ingredients except dough and mix.

Roll out dough as thin as you can get it into a 8” circle. Place herbs in the center, then “stitch” it up like you’re crimping a pie. It should look somewhat like a football. Then, use the rolling pin again to flatten it.
Bake for 5 minutes in the oven on the cast iron. Then, flip it and bake 5 minutes more. It should puff up and be golden brown on the outside. Wait until it cools to cut it. Enjoy with cucumbers, tomatoes, yogurt, hummus, or more lemon.