A few years ago, I went to a restaurant on the water in Tel Aviv-Yafo called Manta Ray. They served this most exceptional bread they called Balkan bread. It reminded me a little of a focaccia in texture, but I don't think it was focaccia. I have a student from the Balkans whom I asked about it, and she didn't recognize any such kind of bread. Anyone have any idea what this Balkan bread might be?
Bread – Balkan bread
breadfood-identificationmiddle-eastern-cuisine
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Best Answer
It's almost certainly a type of pogacha, or possibly kruh.
Originally, "pogacha" basically meant "bread baked on a hearth", or in other words, "bread" (when the word was invented, almost all bread was baked on a hearth). Thus, there are as many different kinds of pogacha as there are of bread.
However, the true Balkan/Turkish pogacha is said to be quite similar to focaccia:
Pogacha (Balkan/Turkish traditional bread)
Pogacha topped with rosemary
Video (thumbnail above) of a focaccia-like pogacha recipe
Belokranjska Pogača (Slovenia's answer to focaccia)
Kruh (Traditional Croatian bread, baked in a “peke”)
Again, "kruh" just means "bread", so the term itself is very broad - you'll need to search through different kinds of kruh (and pogacha) to find the one that looks like what you have in mind. A "peke" is a cooking vessel, somewhat like a dutch oven, usually made from cast iron.