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Parlenka
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Parlenka

Garlic butter flatbread with cheese

Grill houses all over Bulgaria, and especially the seaside ones at Burgas and Varna, bring parlenka to the table straight off the coals: a puffy, char-marked flatbread brushed with garlic butter, sprinkled with savory and dusted with white cheese or grated kashkaval. It is torn and shared with salads, grilled vegetables or a plate of lyutenitsa. Bakeries use a yeast dough; this quick home version raises it with yogurt and a little bicarbonate, so it is ready in half an hour on a griddle pan. Both sirene and kashkaval are traditionally made with animal rennet, so use vegetarian white or hard cheese. The common pitfall is a pan that is not hot enough: the bread must hit smoking-hot iron to puff and blister rather than dry out. Chef's tip: brush the butter on the moment the bread leaves the pan, while the surface is still crackling, so it soaks right in.

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