This is a basic recipe for no-knead flatbread. It is very versatile as you can fill the dough with cheese, roll it will green onion, or just plain.
This recipe is based on the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François, which I got a while ago and have been using its recipes here and there. I made bread, rolls and even flatbreads…the basic recipe is very simple and easy to follow.
Of course being “me” I am never content in just following recipes, I always have to come up with something new…so I decided to make flatbreads with the dough…the variation are limitless, with garlic and parsley, ground pepper and parmesan, ham and cheese and the list goes on and on…
Today I am sharing with you two versions of the dough, white and whole wheat, although I personally like the white better somehow…
I halved the recipe since it is only for 2 people, in spite of being able to keep the dough in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Before I continue I want to apologize for the massive number of pictures…I just felt that pictures would reflect better than words…
I have for you a couple of simple versions besides the plain one, which still delicious, if you are not in mood for extra work…a flatbread filled with melting mozzarella cheese and a twist on the Chinese inspired scallion pancake.
Basic Dough Ingredients:
White dough
- 2 teaspoons yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 4 1/3 cups unbleached flour, and extra for dusting when ready to bake
- 2 cups lukewarm water
Or if you prefer
Whole wheat dough
- 2 teaspoons yeast
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 2 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup unbleached flour, plus extra for dusting when ready to bake
- 2 ¼ cups lukewarm water
Other ingredients that you might want to use
- Mozzarella cheese, sliced
- Oregano
- Scallion or green onion, finely chopped
- Salt
- Olive oil or any vegetable oil
Method:
Basic dough
In a mixer bowl, mix yeast and salt into the water (about 100 F) water. Stir in the flour using a low setting. Mix until the mixture is uniformly moist with no dry patches. Please be advised that the dough will be wet. Pour the dough into a plastic container. Cover, leaving the lid loose.
Let dough sit and rise at room temperature, until dough begins to flatten on top or collapse, for 2 to 5 hours. You can now start to use the dough, although it will be easy to maneuver the dough when refrigerated. The dough is good in the fridge for 2 weeks.
Every time when ready to bake, just remove the amount of dough that you need and place the remaining dough back into the fridge.
Shaping the Flatbread
Remove like a large lemon size dough and place on a slightly flourly surface, let the dough sit for 10 minutes. Using a rolling pin, gently roll until flat (about ¼ in). At this point you can brush the surface of the flatbread with a little olive oil and sprinkle garlic, parsley, oregano, fresh ground black pepper or whatever you palate with for…
Cooking the Flatbread
Place a frying pan in a medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil or any vegetable oil, gently lay the flatbread in the pan and sprinkle ½ tablespoon of water. Cover the pan by trapping the steam in the pan, which will help the cooking process. After a couple of minutes, flip the bread and cook the other side for another 2 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.
Flatbread filled with mozzarella cheese
Follow the same method as for the plain flatbread. Roll 2 pieces of dough to about ⅛ in for each flatbread. Place the cheese in the middle of one disk and gently cover the cheese with the second disk. Seal the sides by squeezing the dough together like a hand pie. Brush the top with olive oil and sprinkle oregano. Continue the cooking by following the instruction above.
Scallion flatbread (Asian inspired)
Before I go into the details of how to shape the scallion flatbread…here is the picture of both white and whole wheat dough…
pen the dough in the same manner as for the basic flatbread. Brush the open dough lightly with vegetable oil and sprinkle a little salt and then sprinkle the green onion evenly. Roll like a Swiss roll with the onion in between. Take the roll and coil it into a round bundle.
Roll out the round bundle again and it is ready for the pan.
or just make it plain…
I hope you enjoy this simple recipe for making flatbread! Please check the Recipe Box for more bread recipes.
Did you know that flatbread is simply a bread that is shaped flat? Flatbread can be made of unleavened or leavened dough. Most of the cultures have their version. Examples of flatbread are pizza, pita, tortilla, lavash, naan, matzo, arepas between many others.
Thank you for stopping by Color Your Recipes…have a colorful week!