Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Katlama
Flaky, layered pan-fried flatbread brushed with oil and folded, a Central Asian morning staple.
Uzbek · medium · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 20 min
~660 cal · 10g protein · 76g carbs · 35g fat · 3g fiber · 2g sugars · 16g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Katlama is a flaky, layered fried flatbread of Uzbekistan and Central Asia, dough rolled thin, brushed with oil, folded and coiled to create many layers, then pan-fried until crisp and golden. The lamination gives it a shatteringly flaky texture prized across the region.
The technique of folding oil into the dough to build layers is the heart of katlama, sometimes studded with onion or cracklings. It belongs to the bread-centered cooking of Central Asia, where flatbreads in many forms anchor the table.
Sold at bazaars and made at home across Uzbekistan, katlama is a breakfast and snack bread, eaten with tea.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and egg-, nut- 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
3 cups flour
1/2 cup butter or , melted (for layering)
3 tbsp oil, for frying
1 tsp salt
as needed warm water
1 onion, finely chopped (optional)
Instructions
1
Make a soft dough with the flour, salt, and warm water; rest 20 minutes.
2
Roll each piece as thin as you possibly can, pour over the melted clarified butter and spread it to the edges with your hand, and scatter over the onion if using. Roll the sheet up into a long log, then wind the log into a flat coil like a snail and tuck the end underneath.
✎ Chef’s note
Clarified butter rather than plain oil is what qatlama is layered with in Uzbek kitchens, and it is what gives the flakiness; melted butter, ghee or a mix of fats all work. Let it sit on the dough a couple of minutes before you roll, so it stops running. And if the onion is going in raw, slice it paper-thin and crush it in your hands first; otherwise fry it in butter until translucent.
3
Roll each coil out into a round.
4
Pan-fry in a little oil over medium heat with a lid on, turning once, until golden and flaky on both sides.
✎ Chef’s note
The lid on the first side lets it cook through before the outside colours. The same dough baked in an oven or a clay one instead of fried is qatlama patir, stamped all over with a chakich, egg-washed and sprinkled with sesame.
5
Serve hot with tea and yogurt or jam.
Tashkent tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Tashkent. Bread here is stamped before it is baked. A chekich, a handle set with nails or needles, presses a pattern into the middle of each loaf so the centre stays flat and only the rim rises, and a spoked tool called a bosma marks the ring around it. Tashkent non comes out lighter and chewier than the dense Samarkand loaf.
🗺️
Uzbekistan. Uzbek non is stamped before baking with a chekich, a handled block of nails that punches a pattern into the middle of the loaf. The pattern is decorative and functional at once, holding the centre flat so only the rim rises and letting steam escape, and bakers use their own designs as signatures. Bread here is torn by hand, never cut.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Uzbekistan
Uzbek PlovSilk Road rice cooked in one kazan with lamb, mountains of carrots, cumin, and whole garlic heads.
SamsaFlaky baked pastries filled with spiced lamb and onion, blistered golden in a tandoor, a Silk Road staple.
Chak-ChakCrisp fried dough pieces bound in warm honey syrup into a sticky golden mound, a Central Asian celebration sweet.
Browse all Uzbekistan recipes →
Good to know
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 Uzbekistan meal
Chak-ChakDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Katlama?
Flaky, layered pan-fried flatbread brushed with oil and folded, a Central Asian morning staple.
Where does Katlama come from?
Katlama is a Uzbek dish from Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Can Katlama be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Katlama recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Katlama 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 count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), 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 Katlama take to make?
About 45 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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