A Simple Flatbread Recipe

Flatbreads are one of my staples throughout the summer months, working so well with the types of food that I enjoy; middle eastern dishes, summer salads and dips, and barbecued meats. Flatbreads can come in all shapes and sizes, but they are usually easier to put together than you think and taste so much better than the shop bought alternatives.

This simple recipe is so easy to do and almost impossible to get wrong – I once forgot to put the yeast in and could not work out why they were so dense until I realised my error. However, stick to the recipe below and you will have super-tasty flatbreads that will mean those claggy shop-bought pitta breads will be a thing of the past.

Preparation time – 1 hour and 15 minutes

Cooking time – 90 seconds per flatbread

Ingredients

250g bread flour

15g butter

5g salt

6g instant yeast

150ml tepid water

Makes approximately 5 flat breads so increase the quantities for more portions.

Method

In a mixing bowl add all of the ingredients and start to mix by hand.

Once all of the ingredients have come together remove from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead the bread by hand for 5-10 minutes until all of the butter had been fully incorporated, and the dough has a smooth, silky consistency.

Put the dough back into the mixing bowl, cover with a tea towel, and leave at room temperature for an hour or so. The bread should have doubled in size. 

Tear the dough up into 5 evenly sized balls and then flatten down with the palm of your hand

Put a large non-stick frying pan on the hob and get it nice and hot.

Lightly flour a surface and a rolling pin, and then roll out one of the flattened dough balls, turning the dough over so that it does not stick to the surface. You should be aiming to make the dough around 15-20cm in diameter and 2-3mm thick. Don’t worry too much about making them a regular shape as long as they fit in your pan.

Drizzle a drop of olive oil on one side of the dough, and smear with you fingers or a pastry brush if you have one. This will give the bread some colour when you cook it.

Lift the bread up and put it oil side down in the hot pan. After 45 seconds to a minute flip the bread over and cook the other side. The bread should have started to catch a little and bubble up in places.

Once the bread is done, lift out and put into bowl lined with a tea towel and cover the bread. Cook each of the other breads in turn and add to towel lined bowl. The steam from the breads will help fluff them up a little. Serve immediately

You can make more quantities of the breads which can be frozen and microwaved a later date to be used for mopping  up humous, curries, or making tasty falafel wraps. Overtime you can get more adventurous adding in other ingredients to the bread such as chopped coriander, some garlic butter, and diced dates and raisins.

Nutritional information

Per serving (85g)

Calories 200

Total fat 3g

Saturated fat 0.5g

Sodium 380mg

Carbohydrate 38g

Protein 6g

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