Breads or buns, these baked goodies are must for us to kick start our day. Since ever i started working, i couldnt make our usual south Indian style breakfast on week days coz of my super duper busy schedule. Obviously i cant think more than baking breads during weekends for our weekly breakfast or else we stick with store bought breads. Most of our breakfast goes for bread toast with butter and jam along with a cup of tea or black coffee. You might have guessed now why i have been baking quite often at home. Neeldess to say that i just love baking breads at home as they calls mostly for basic ingredients with no preservatives. Homemade breads are always the best though their shell life is very lesser than  compared to the store bought breads. Coming to today's chocolate buns, i baked these buns few months back for our weekend brunch and its was sitting in my draft since a long.

Lebanon is a country in Western Asia with Syria, Isreal,Cyrpus as boundaries. A unique cultural history has helped to make Lebanese food the most popular of all Middle Eastern cuisines. Lebanon has been ruled by foreign powers that have influenced the types of food the Lebanese ate.The Ottoman Turks controlled Lebanon and introduced a variety of foods that have become staples in the Lebanese diet, including olive oil, fresh bread, baklava a sweet pastry dessert, laban (homemade yogurt), stuffed vegetables, and a variety of nuts. France took control of Lebanon and introduced the flan, a caramel custard dessert and buttery croissants. I have been running a month of blogging marathon with A to Z International flatbreads and today is my last post of this month's mega marathon. And for the alphabetic letter 'Z', i couldnt think more than Zaatar spice mix, hence i opted for Zaatar pizza for this last post. The manoosheh recipe is often compared to  Italian pizza, hence it is called “Lebanese pizza”.Zaatar manooshe aka Zaatar pizza is the most popular version. Each flatbread is topped with a mixture of za’atar and olive oil before being cooked and are most often consumed at breakfast with tea, but also after dinner accompanied by soft drinks.

Am running a month of blogging marathon with A-Z International flatbreads.And we are almost nearing the end of this Mega marathon. And my today's flatbread is supposed to start with the alphabetical letter 'X'. X is definitely a complicated alphabetic letter to get a flatbread. Obviously i grabbed a flatbread aka stove topped muffins  from Priya's space which ressembles quite like English muffins from Xaxaba of Botswana.Botswana is officially known as Republic of Botswana is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. Botwana cuisine is unique which shares some characteristics with other cuisines of South Africa.Sorghum and maize are the main crops grown in Botswana. African cuisine is based towards the meat and grains. Mopane worm which looks like a caterpillar is eaten by the Botswana peoples by cooking them in hot ashes, boiled or dried and fried. Bread flour is not easily available in their diet, hence the flours have been imported for some years, so there are various bread recipes have become a part of the national food. The most common are dumplings like matlebekwane,flat cakes like diphaphatha and fat cakes like magwinya have their own place in a Botswana dining table.

Virgin Islands is a group of islands which is situated in northern part of Lesser Antilles and form the border between the Caribbean sea and Altantic Ocean. Virgin islands falls under three different politicial jurisdictions: British Virgin islands, United States Virgin Islands and Spain or Puerto Rican Virgin islands. Today am taking you all virtually to St.Croix, which is an island and a district of United States Virgin islands and this island is quite popular for its Fried Johnny cakes. Johnny cakes are a must in every local Crucian restaurants and these cakes is a flatbread which are quite sweet, filling and just prefect to enjoy simply without any filling or spreads. These cakes tastes extremely delicious when they are served warm with a slice of cheese and salt fish in the middle. Paired with fried fish, chicken or any other local island delicacies, one can have a satifying meal. Johnny cake which is made in St Croix is an unleavened fried bread prepared with flour,baking powder,sugar and butter. Though Johnny cakes of St. Croix are fried ones, some people also bake them. You can also subsitute the cornmeal instead of flour.

Kazhakhstan officially the Republic of Kazakhstan is a dominant nation of Central Asia. Kazakhstan is offically a democratic, unitary, secular, constitutioal republic with diverse cultural heritage. Kazakhstan share borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Capsian sea.Kazakhstan has undoubtedly adopted some of the peculiarities found in the cuisines of neighboring countries like Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, even Russia and Iran. Yet Kazakhstani gastronomy has, at the same time, developed its own identity. Kazakh nomads have historically produced a range of foods centered on meat, including lamb, beef and camel. As a Muslim-majority country, Kazakhstanis do not eat pork, hence horsemeat when flavored with spices and sauces,  makes the main ingredient in many traditional dishes of this Caspian and Central Asian nation.Black tea,is considered as Kazakhstan’s most-consumed drink,this makes it one of the largest tea-consuming countries. . Here tea is served by mixing it with cream and milk, making it delicious. Shelpek is a very well known flatbread of Central Asian country and i grabbed this flatbread for this month"s blogging marathon as am running with A-Z International flatbreads as theme for this whole month.

Algeria is a North African country on Mediterranean coast. With Algiers as capital, Algerian cuisine is a part of Maghreb cuisine. This cuisine is influenced by various cultures like Berber, Andalusican, Ottoman, Arabic and French. Algerian cuisine differs from region to region and most of the Algerian dishes consists of Bread, lamb,beef, poultry, olive oil, fresh vegetables and herbs. Algerian meal is incomplete without bread and their bread is always made with semolina. Matlou is a well known bread in Algeria which is also consider as a Tunisian bread. This bread is also called as Khubz al-tajin or Kesra Matlou or else as Matlou. This bread is an Algerian staple food which is cooked on a typical clay pan called 'Tajine'. This bread calls for fine semolina and its a leavened flatbread which is consumed everyday in Algeria/Tunisia.And this bread is must during Ramadan to enjoy with varieties of foods cooked during the fasting.In Algeria, bread is highly respected and its considered as a sin to desecrate it. If someone find a piece of a bread in street, people who have find it bring it closer to their lips and forehead as a sort of reverence before putting them aside so that none would step on it.

Norway is one of the most known Scandinavian country. With Oslo as its capital, Norwegian cuisine is a traditional form of their own cuisine cooked with the ingredients really available in Norway. However this cuisine is influenced by some globalization hence pastas, pizzas, tacos are easily available in Norwegian cuisine. Bread is a staple food of Norwegian cuisine. Hence varieties of breads are available. One of the most known Norwegian bread is Lefse, this is a soft flatbread made out of potato,milk or cream and flour. Lefse is a traditional Norwegian flatbread which is quite soft and bit tricky to handle. Usually prepared with mashed potatoes, this flatbread is worked with little flour and roll out flat as much as you can. Once cooked on stovetop, this bread can be enjoyed with different sorts of spreads. From butter to jam, peanut butter to nutella, you can also eat them with savoury fillings as well. Just make some wraps with this Lefse stuffed with meats and cheese, am sure these wraps will definitely fill your hungry tummies. When conserved properly, lefse stays prefect for a week in fridge. Once freezed, lefse can be conserved for almost three months.