Europe → Bosnia & Herzegovina → Sarajevo
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Somun (Bosnian Flatbread)
A soft, puffy round of yeasted bread stretched by hand, scored in a diamond grid and sprinkled with nigella seeds, baked fast in a very hot oven to split open for ćevapi.
Bosnian · medium · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 30 min · plus 1 h 15 min hands-off time
~461 cal · 13g protein · 97g carbs · 1g fat · 3g fiber · 2g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Somun is the round, pillowy flatbread of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Sarajevo it is inseparable from ćevapi, which are served tucked inside a split, warm somun with raw onion. Sarajevo's bakers are said to have been making it since the early sixteenth century.
During Ramadan it becomes the ramazanski somun, the bread for breaking the fast at iftar. The Ramadan loaves are marked with the same crisscross pattern and sprinkled with čurekot, the black nigella seed.
The dough is very simple, flour, water, yeast, salt and a little sugar, and rather soft. It is never rolled: each ball is stretched out by hand, pressed with a grid of lines so it can breathe in the oven, brushed with water and baked on a very hot tray for just a few minutes, until it balloons and colours. Wrapped in a cloth straight from the oven, it stays soft.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 500 g plain white flour, plus more for dusting
- 5 g instant dried yeast
- 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 350 ml cold water
- 1 tsp nigella seeds (čurekot)
Instructions
- 1Mix the yeast and sugar with a little of the water in a small bowl and leave for a few minutes until it froths.
- 2Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl, add the yeast mixture and the rest of the cold water and work into a soft, slightly sticky dough by pulling the edges into the centre over and over for 5 minutes.
- 3Cover and leave the dough to rise for at least 1 hour, until doubled, or overnight in the fridge, which makes it easier to handle.
- 4Put a heavy baking tray in the oven and heat it to its highest setting, 250C (480F) or more. Divide the dough into 4 and shape each into a ball on a floured board. Leave them for 15 minutes.
- 5Hold a ball in one hand and stretch the edges out with the other, turning it, into a round about 25 cm across and a finger thick. Lay it on the floured board and press a crisscross grid into the top with the back of a knife or a wooden skewer, without cutting through.✎ Chef’s noteThe grid lets the steam escape evenly so the somun puffs into a pillow rather than one big balloon.
- 6Brush or sprinkle the top with water and scatter over a pinch of nigella seeds. Slide it onto the hot tray and bake for 7 to 10 minutes, without opening the door, until puffed and golden. Bake the rest the same way.
- 7Wrap each somun in a clean tea towel as it comes out so it stays soft. Serve warm, split open, with ćevapi, grilled meat or soup.
Sarajevo baking tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Sarajevo. Burek in Bosnia means meat and nothing else. The same coiled pastry filled with cheese is sirnica, with spinach zeljanica, with potato krompirusa, and calling any of them burek will get you corrected. Coffee is unfiltered, poured from a copper dzezva and drunk slowly against a cube of sugar.
🗺️
Bosnia & Herzegovina. In Bosnia, burek means the meat one and nothing else. The cheese version is sirnica, the potato one krompirusa, the spinach one zeljanica, and calling any of them burek marks you out immediately. Coffee arrives in a copper dzezva with an empty cup and a cube of sugar, for the drinker to pour and to take their time over.
🌍
Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Bosnia & Herzegovina
ĆevapiHand-rolled grilled beef fingers tucked into pillowy somun with raw onion and kajmak, Sarajevo’s pride.
Uštipci with KajmakLittle fried dough balls served warm with kajmak clotted cream and soft cheese.
Begova ČorbaA rich, velvety chicken and okra soup finished with a sour cream and egg yolk liaison, the noble Bey's soup of Bosnian cuisine.
Browse all Bosnia & Herzegovina recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Best the day it is made. Wrap well and refresh in a warm oven, or freeze and reheat straight from frozen.
Make it a Bosnia & Herzegovina meal
Bosanska Kafa (Bosnian Coffee)Drink
TufahijeDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Somun (Bosnian Flatbread)?
A soft, puffy round of yeasted bread stretched by hand, scored in a diamond grid and sprinkled with nigella seeds, baked fast in a very hot oven to split open for ćevapi.
Where does Somun (Bosnian Flatbread) come from?
Somun (Bosnian Flatbread) is a Bosnian dish from Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Can Somun (Bosnian Flatbread) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Somun (Bosnian Flatbread) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Somun (Bosnian Flatbread) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Somun (Bosnian Flatbread) take to make?
About 2 h 10 min in all: 25 minutes prep and 30 minutes cooking, plus 1 h 15 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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