Pillowy soft flatbreads dripping with herby garlic butter: ideal comfort food!
I love flatbreads, sometimes craving those shatteringly crisp ones but often I like them soft either for wraps or to use as a kind of delicious cloth to mop up the flavours on a plate!
These soft flatbreads, made without yeast, are so easy and quick to make. I often make a large batch of these if I have people over so they can help themselves and slather them with dips and the like.
Flour and fat!
I often use a mixture of flours, adding a little wholemeal from time to time for a different flavour profile and to boost the fibre content. In which case, I recommend about 60g white flour to 40g wholemeal flour.
The use of fat in a dough will give the softeness in a flatbread such as these. In this case, the fat comes from natural yoghurt (ideally not a low-fat type), which also brings a subtle tang to proceedings. However, you can use buttermilk or crème fraîche. I’ve even made these with milk and a splash of oil and they were still very good.
Spice up your life!
These are great just as they are but you can add all manner of additional flavours to the dough itself. Favourites of mine include:
- a teaspoon of cumin seeds
- 1 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon cooked and puréed beetroot
- 1 tablespoon or so of pesto
Any additional flavours can get added with the flour at the start.
Recipe: soft garlic and herb flatbreads – makes 6
Dough:
- 100g self-raising flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 80-100g crème fraîche, buttermilk or natural yoghurt – not low-fat versions
Garlic and herb butter:
- 50g unsalted butter
- a pinch of salt
- 1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
- a small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley or a mixture of fresh basil and parsley, finely chopped
(1) Add the dough ingredients to a medium bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon or flat knife until you get a soft but not sticky dough, squeezing it all together to help the dough form. Add more yoghurt if needed.
(2) Split the dough into 6 equal pieces and give the work surface a generous flouring. Flour the rolling pin, too. Note: a well floured work surface is key with these flatbreads.
(3) Take a piece of dough and roll out thinly (no more than the thickness of a 1p piece). Repeat with the rest of the dough. You can pat any excess flour off them.
(4) Heat a solid frying pan over a medium-high heat for a few minutes (without oil) and add one of the rolled out pieces of dough. Leave for about a minute, during which time you will see small bubbles forming all over the dough. Turn over and continue for another minute. You want to have some golden-brown (or even darker) patches randomly over both sides.
(5) Melt the butter and mix with the salt, garlic and herbs. I normally do this in a small container in the microwave while the first flatbread is cooking.
(6) Brush the herby garlic butter generously over the first cooked flatbread and place on a plate. Repeat for the rest of the rolled out dough, brushing each cooked flatbread with the herby garlic butter.
Note: you can freeze the garlic-drenched flatbreads. Just defrost and reheat, covered, in the microwave or wrapped up in a clean tea towel and popped in the oven set to a medium-low temperature.
Phil's Home Kitchen 