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Made of a fluffy yeast dough and the buttery crumble filling, Karabakh kyata is eaten with such a great appetite by the main character Nina in the famous Soviet comedy “Kidnapping Caucasian Style”. The Azerbaijani sweet stuffed flatbread tastes moist, soft and incredibly delicious. Here I show you how to make it yourself at home. You can find a detailed Karabakh kyata recipe with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions right below.
What is Karabakh kyata?
Kyata is a sweet flatbread made of yeast dough with filling, baked in the oven. There are several recipes for this oriental sweet, which differ depending on the Caucasus region. Karabakh kyata, as its name suggests, originates from the Karabakh region. However, what distinguishes each kyata, regardless of the regional recipe, is always the use of the identical main ingredients for the dough and for the filling, namely flour, butter and sugar.
Sweet filled flatbread from the famous Soviet comedy
If you have seen the famous Soviet feature film “Kidnapping Caucasian Style”, you will surely remember the scene with the sweet flatbread. The main character Nina, who was kidnapped to be forced into marriage, hungrily nibbles it with great pleasure as she is held in the kidnapper’s house and served various delicacies.
“Kidnapping Caucasian Style” (original title “Kavkazskaya plennitsa”) is a popular Soviet comedy from 1967 by Leonid Gaidai. Set in the Caucasus, the film is about the adventures of Shurik, a folklore collector who, while staying in the southern city, becomes involved in the kidnapping of a young woman, Nina, by a local official. As a child and teenager, I must have seen the comedy a thousand times and highly recommend it to you.
Butter instead of clarified butter for the filling
Karabakh kyata tastes best when filled with clarified butter. You can either make the clarified butter yourself or just buy it. But there are also kyata recipes with butter filling, so you can alternatively use butter instead of clarified butter in the recipe.
How to serve Karabakh kyata?
Very tasty is the sweet filled flatbread with fresh fruit. In the comedy “Kidnapping Caucasian Style” Nina eats it with grapes and plums. Karabakh kyata is perfect for dessert after a meal with coffee or tea. It also tastes delicious with a glass of milk. You can enjoy Karabakh kyata with cow’s milk or with plant milk, for example almond milk, coconut milk, oat milk or lupine milk. It is just as delicious on its own and is ideal for take away.
This sweet filled flatbread is
- fluffy,
- moist,
- buttery,
- soft,
- not too sweet,
- very aromatic,
- incredibly tasty,
- easy to make with ordinary ingredients,
- ideal for dessert with coffee or tea, with milk, with fruits,
- a classic of Azerbaijani cuisine.
Karabakh kyata recipe
The recipe for Karabakh kyata is quite simple. Only you need to allow enough time for it, because the yeast dough has to rise, as always. Here you can get a rough idea of how the making is done and what you need for it. You can find the exact quantities and step-by-step instructions on how to make the Azerbaijani sweet filled flatbread yourself here below in the box recipe.
For the dough you need
- lukewarm milk,
- sugar,
- eggs,
- butter at room temperature,
- flour,
- yeast
- and vanilla.
And for the filling will need
- room-warm clarified butter,
- powdered sugar,
- flour,
- a little room-warm butter
- and vanilla.
How to make Karabakh kyata: here’s how (Check out the detailed recipe at the bottom.)
- First make the pre-dough by dissolving yeast and a small amount of sugar in milk, then mix it with some flour. Let the pre-dough rise for a short time, then add the rest of the ingredients and knead it into a soft dough. Leave the dough to rise for a little longer than an hour.
- For the filling, mix the clarified butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Then add flour and mix it into fine crumbles.
- Now divide the yeast dough into pieces, roll out each piece into a circle, brush the circles with butter and spread the crumble filling on them. Glue the edges of each circle together and roll out the filled balls into patties. Brush the patties with egg yolk mixed with a little water and bake at 190 °C for about 15 minutes. Finished!
How to make the sweet flatbread with filling: tips and tricks
- Instead of fresh yeast you can use dry yeast. For the recipe below you need 8 g of it.
- As vanilla for the dough and the filling you can use vanilla sugar, vanilla powder, vanilla extract or vanilla bean scraped out.
- It is important that all the ingredients for the pre-dough, the dough, the filling and for spreading the flatbreads are lukewarm and room temperature, so that the yeast dough can rise well.
- The amount of flour for the dough given in the recipe may vary. Therefore, add the flour in portions until the dough reaches the right consistency. It should be soft, not sticky, and not too firm.
- The amount of flour specified in the recipe for the filling may also vary. Add the flour to the clarified butter mixture in batches until you get fine crumbles that stick together easily, but fall apart just as easily when you touch them. You can test this with a small amount of crumble by squeezing it with your hand and then letting it fall apart when you touch it.
- Be sure to knead the dough for about 7 minutes so that the Karabakh kyata tastes fluffy and soft when baked.
- It is important to let the pre-dough and the dough rise in a warm place. The colder it is in the place where the dough needs to rise, the longer it will take to rise.
- I used the dough to make 6 large sweet filled flatbreads. However, you can make more and smaller flatbreads accordingly.
- Do not roll the flatbreads too thin, but about 1.5 – 2 cm thick.
- Use a wooden skewer to check if the Karabakh kyata is baked.
Video for the Karabakh kyata recipe
By the way, on my Youtube channel you can find a short video for the Karabakh kyata recipe. There you can watch exactly how to make the sweet filled flatbread. If you don’t want to miss any more videos from me, feel free to subscribe to my channel.
Did you make the Karabakh kyata according to this recipe? I’m looking forward to your result, your star rating and your comment here below on how you succeeded and tasted the sweet flatbread with filling.
Got an appetite for more Soviet-era treats? Try also:
- Smetanniki – recipe for delicious Russian sour cream buns
- “Lakomka” or Nevsky cake – Soviet yeast cake recipe
- Sochniki – recipe for popular curd cakes from the Soviet era
- Oven sweet sour cream flatbread – like back in the Soviet Union
- Raisin muffin “Stolichny” – sweet favorite of Soviet children
Karabakh kyata (sweet filled flatbread)
Ingredients
for the pre-dough
- 170 ml milk (lukewarm)
- 100 g flour
- 10 g sugar
- 25 g fresh yeast
for the dough
- pre-dough
- 1 egg + 1 egg white (room temperature)
- 110 g sugar
- 80 g butter (room temperature)
- approx. 510 g flour
- vanilla
- 1 pinch of salt
for the filling
- 150 g clarified butter (room temperature)
- 130 g powdered sugar
- approx. 300 g flour
- 20 g butter (room temperature)
- vanilla
for coating
- 1 egg yolk (room temperature)
- 1 tsp water (room temperature)
Instructions
Making the pre-dough
- Dissolve fresh yeast and sugar in lukewarm milk.
- Add flour, mix to a thick pre-dough and let it rise covered in a warm place for 20 minutes.
Making the dough
- Mix egg and egg white, sugar, soft butter, vanilla and salt.
- Add the egg-butter mixture to the pre-dough and mix until homogeneous.
- Add flour in batches, a little at a time, and knead to form a soft dough. Then knead the dough for 7 - 8 minutes and let it rise covered in a warm place for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Making the filling
- Mix the clarified butter, powdered sugar and vanilla.
- Add flour in portions, a little at a time, and mix briefly and briskly to make fine crumbles.
Making the Karabakh kyata
- Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces, shape each piece into a ball and let the balls rest on the work surface for 10 minutes.
- Roll each ball into a circle about 0.5 cm thick and brush the center of each circle with softened butter.
- Spread a generous portion of crumble filling on the center of each dough circle.
- Since the flatbreads are large, spread on two baking sheets, and baked one at a time, proceed with the three of the six dough circles first. Tape the edge of each dough circle together so you have one crumble-filled dough ball each, and roll each dough ball out to a pita about an inch thick. Spread the three flatbreads on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving enough space between them, and let them rise in a warm place for 20 minutes. Repeat the same with the remaining three dough circles, spread them on the second baking sheet and let them rise for 20-30 minutes as well.
- Mix egg yolk with 1 tsp of water.
- Spread the egg yolk mixture on the first three flatbreads that have already risen, make stripes on the surface of the flatbreads with a fork and prick them in several places with the fork. Bake them in a preheated oven at 190 °C top and bottom heat for about 15 minutes. Repeat the same with the three flatbreads on the second baking sheet.
Notes
- Dry yeast can be used instead of fresh yeast. You will need 8 g of it for the recipe.
- It is important that all ingredients for the pre-dough, the dough, the filling and for coating the flatbreads are lukewarm and room-warm, so that the yeast dough can rise well.
- The amount of flour indicated for the dough may vary. Therefore, add the flour in portions until the dough gets the right consistency. It must be soft, not sticky and not too firm.
- The amount of flour for the filling may also vary. Add the flour in portions to the clarified butter mixture until you get fine crumbles that stick together easily, but fall apart just as easily when you touch them. You can test this with a small amount of crumble by squeezing it with your hand and then letting it fall apart by touching it.
- Instead of 6 flatbreads, you can also make more and correspondingly smaller flatbreads from the dough.
- Use a wooden skewer to check if the Karabakh kyata is done baking.
- Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the Azerbaijani sweet filled flatbread at the top of the post.