Easy unleavened (no oil, no yeast) flatbread recipe that puffs every time!

16 May

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I love this recipe!

This is my favourite ‘go to’ unleavened flatbread recipe. It’s very simple and easy to make and is well suited to beginners. The best thing about this recipe is that these flatbreads puff up every time! I think it’s because of the oat flour I include. Oats have special powers (IMO, lol) and seem to keep the dough moist and less inclined to dry out during the cooking process, which helps the breads to puff up and form a nice steam pocket inside. Who doesn’t love that!?

Can these be made with sourdough?

I have made these with and without sourdough starter added. Obviously, if you add sourdough starter to your bread, it is no longer an unleavened bread recipe. But if you’d like to take this as an opportunity to refresh your sourdough starter, use up some sourdough discard (though I never have that, and here’s why) or you just want to add some fermented goodness to your flatbreads, you can add some starter into the dough.

I wouldn’t recommend fermenting this dough for long. Just mix and make as you would any other flatbread recipe. Here’s how I do it:

Use 100g of 100% hydration starter (fed with 1:1 flour to water ratio)
Reduce the spelt and oat flours in the recipe by 25g each (to make up for the 50g flour in the sourdough starter)
Reduce the water in the recipe by 50g (to make up for the 50g water in the sourdough starter).
Continue with the recipe as normal.

A general tip on hydration

You may need to adjust the hydration/water amount of this recipe to suit your own flours, as whole grain flours do vary quite a lot in their ability to absorb water. Freshly milled flours also tend to need more water than store bought flours in my experience.

Make sure you watch the video below for the full recipe demonstration. The written recipe is provided below that :)

Easy unleavened (no oil, no yeast) flatbread recipe

INGREDIENTS

300g total flour:
- 100g whole spelt flour
  I milled my whole spelt grain at home using my Mockmill 200. Spelt flour isn’t strictly necessary in this recipe, but I love its flavour! I’ve also made this with regular wheat and khorasan/kamut flours with great success.
- 100g whole oat flour
  I purchase my rolled oats (and all of my grain and flours!) from Sovereign Foods, but you can use any flours that are available to you. Whole oat groats, if you have them, can be milled to make oat flour for this recipe. I blend my rolled oats to make oat flour using my Vitamix blender.
- 100g all purpose/plain flour
  You can substitute a whole wheat flour here if you like, but I find it’s harder to get the breads to puff every time! Sifted whole flour is another option you could try.
3 - 5g / half - 1 tsp salt
Salt is completely optional in this recipe, please add to your own tastes and preference.
200g water
This amount of water is perfect for my flours, but you may need to adjust as the water absorbency of whole grain flours varies quite dramatically! If you’re not sure, start with 150g of water and add more until you achieve a nice smooth dough consistency. It should be soft but still kneadable (see texture demonstrated in the video).

METHOD

Add flours and salt into a medium sized bowl and mix until evenly distributed.
Add water and mix/knead briefly until everything is incorporated and the dough is cohesive. It will be sticky to start off, but don’t worry about that, it will become smooth after a short rest.
Cover the dough to prevent it from drying out, then rest for 30 minutes.
After resting, divide the dough into about 10 portions, rolling each one into a smooth ball shape. Place the dough balls on a tray or in a bowl and cover to prevent drying.
Heat a large, flat pan to medium-high heat. I use a high quality Tefal non-stick crepe pan for all my flatbreads and pancake recipes.
Take one of the dough balls, dust it lightly in some sifted whole wheat flour or all purpose flour, flatten out into a disc shape and roll into a thin, round flat bread shape. About 2-3mm thickness is perfect. This takes some practice, but it’s a worthwhile skill to have!
Once the pan is heated, flip the flat dough between your hands a few times to remove excess flour, then place it gently onto the pan.
Cook the dough on one side, without touching, until you start to see small bubbles rising.
Flip the dough gently, then cook on the second side until you start to see larger bubbles starting to form.
Flip one more time and wait for even larger air pockets to form, then gently press on the air pocket to encourage the bread to fill with steam and puff up completely.
Once the bread is puffed up nicely and cooked to your liking, place it into a covered dish lined with a clean tea towel. This helps keep the breads soft (more on this in the video).
Repeat until all of the breads are made, adding each cooked piece to the others already wrapped in the towel-lined dish.
Eat the breads straight away or store them, in the covered dish, for up to a couple of hours to keep them warm and soft.
Any uneaten breads can be stored in the fridge (either in the storage dish or in another container/plastic bag) and consumed when you are ready. I like to reheat them briefly on a pan or in the toaster before making them into sandwiches or dipping into soups.
These flatbreads can also be made ahead and frozen. They also make good mini pizza bases! Kids would have fun making these I’m sure :)

Let me know if you try these, I’d love to know!

Please leave any comments, questions or feedback below.

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Easy unleavened (no oil, no yeast) flatbread recipe that puffs every time!

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Whole Spelt, Wheat and Millet Sourdough Bread (fresh milled flour)