Nothing beats soft, airy lahoh that melts in your mouth, just like at a Yemenite grandmother’s house. This spongy Yemenite flatbread cooks on one side only, right in a skillet.
This recipe keeps the classic texture: full of tiny bubbles, tender inside, and tasting like home.
The secret is the batter. It has to be thin, smooth, and well whisked. The other secret is technique: every lahoh starts in a cold pan.
Each one comes out spongy and full of holes, soft but never wet.
It’s a perfect basic recipe, even if you’ve never baked before. Simple ingredients, an hour of rising, and a little patience.
My tip: Don’t flip it. The lahoh is ready when the top looks dry and the bubbles have opened.
Lahoh is a spongy Yemenite flatbread made in a skillet from flour, semolina, baking powder, instant yeast, salt, and water whisked into a thin, pancake-like batter. Let it rise about 1 to 1¼ hours, then pour a ladleful into a cold pan, set over medium heat, and cook on one side only until the top is dry and the bubbles open.
Yemenite Lahoh (Spongy Skillet Flatbread)
Ingredients
Method
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, semolina, baking powder, and yeast.
- Add the salt and mix again.
- Pour in the water gradually while whisking by hand, until you get a thin, smooth batter. It should look like pancake batter.
- Keep whisking until there are no lumps at all.
- Cover the bowl and let rise in a warm spot for 1 to 1¼ hours, until the batter puffs up and is full of small bubbles.
- After rising, stir the batter gently.
- Pour one ladleful of batter into a cold pan (this is very important!) and set it over medium heat.
- Don’t flip the lahoh. It’s ready when the top is dry and the bubbles have opened.
- After each lahoh, let the pan cool before pouring more batter, or alternate between two pans.
- As soon as each lahoh comes out of the pan, put it under a clean kitchen towel and cover it to keep it soft.
Notes
- Whisk the batter until completely smooth. Lumps mean uneven lahoh.
- Always start with a cold pan. Two pans make the process faster.
- Cook on one side only. The bubbles on top are the whole point.
- Stack them under a towel right away so they stay soft.
- Instant yeast → active dry yeast (same amount).
Frequently asked questions
Lahoh (also spelled lachuch) is a Yemenite flatbread made from a thin yeasted batter and cooked on one side in a skillet. It’s soft, spongy, and full of holes.
Starting cold lets the batter heat gently so bubbles form and open across the top. That’s what gives lahoh its spongy texture.
No. Cook it on one side only, until the top looks dry and the bubbles have opened.
The batter may not have risen long enough, or the pan was already hot. Let the batter get bubbly before cooking and cool the pan between each one.
Stack them under a towel until cool, then keep them in a sealed bag. They can be frozen with parchment between them and reheated in a pan.
