Stupid-easy authentic flatbread

Last Updated on June 23, 2019 by Aaron von Frank

Are you looking for an authentic flatbread recipe that’s easy to make and whole grain? We’ve got you covered! 

I LOVE baking bread. I am a baker. Not by trade, but ask anyone who has ever had my Challah, Bobka, Herbed Boulé… or even just good ole’ whole wheat with seeds, nuts and mixed grains. I’m a damn good baker.

Sadly, I also work and can’t devote lots of time to bread making every few days. Sure, Aaron and I still enjoy epic full day wood-fired sourdough bread bakes in our cob oven. But given time constraints, our go-to bread recipe is our whole grain no-knead 5 minute bread (yes, it truly only take 5 minutes of prep time).

Needed: A simple whole wheat FLATBREAD recipe   

What about a good flatbread recipe? Until recently, we didn’t have one of those. 

For dips and/or garden-fresh dishes inspired by Mediterranean and North African cuisines, we needed a good, simple whole wheat flatbread recipe to have handy. 

For us, “simple” means the recipe can: 

1. Be mixed, rolled out and cooked almost right away (no rise time necessary);
2. Sit in the fridge, be pulled out and make a consistently good bread while cold (doesn’t need to be brought to room temp);
3. Be cooked on a stove-top pan/skillet in under 10 minutes — no oven needed. (Our preference is a cast iron skillet.)

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve found that flatbread recipe!

The Tyrant’s stupid easy authentic flatbread

This flatbread tastes fantastic, is quick and easy to make, impresses dinner guests, and goes with pretty much anything —kinda like a little black dress. It’s also made from 100% whole grains. 

At breakfast, this flatbread recipe goes really well with butter and a little bit of Garden Huckleberry Jam, Ground Cherry Preserves, or Green Tomato Marmalade.

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Stupid Easy Authenic Flatbread

Course: Side Dish

Keyword: flatbread, whole wheat

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 10 flatbreads

Author: Susan von Frank

A simple flatbread recipe that uses 100% whole wheat flour (either naturally white whole wheat or regular whole wheat flour) and only takes a few minutes to make. 

Ingredients

• 4.5 Cups Naturally White Whole Wheat Flour
• 0.5 Cup Oil we change it up and use all different kinds – olive, grapeseed, sunflower seed…) + a few TBS to cook with. More oil makes a chewier bread more pliable (won’t break when it’s folded or made into a wrap), so play around with this until you get a consistency that’s right for you.
• 1 Cup Warm Water
• 1 tsp Sea Salt
• 2.25 tsp Yeast I use yeast, even though flatbread is technically unleavened bread. It will give it a bit more spring, but it’s completely optional.

Instructions

I’m usually in a rush when I make flatbread, so I use my Kitchen Aid with a bread hook. This kind of bread lends itself well to a mixer. If I’m not in a rush, I’ll just put all the ingredients in the bowl and let them autolyse (come together on their own) for about 20 minutes, then work it with a pastry scraper until it’s easy to handle.

1. If you’re using yeast and it’s not rapid-rise, proof it now.

2. Mix all your dry ingredients together.

3. Slowly add your oil, then your water (plus yeast).

4. Knead/Mix until it’s no longer sticky and you can handle it. Add more flour if it’s wet & more water if it’s dry.

5. Shape into several small balls (about the size of a large meatball), flour your surface well, and smash your ball flat. Flour it on both sides and roll it out with a rolling pin, making sure to lightly flour it each time your turn it over (ie. roll a few times, pick up the dough and flip it over. flour, roll a few times in another direction, pick up the dough and flip it back over… repeat.) We usually like ours pretty thin, so I’ll flip and roll a few times.

6. Heat a cast iron skillet (or any pan big enough to accommodate the dough) with olive, avocado, or grapeseed oil and put your flatbread in it. Flip it with a spatula when it’s nice and golden and bubbly on one side.

7.  Voilà! Place on cooling rack if you're not serving immediately, or keep warm in the oven until you’re ready to serve. This recipe yields about ten 7" diameter flatbreads. 

Recipe Notes

Flour: If you want a lighter colored (but still whole wheat) flatbread, use  a
"naturally white" whole wheat flour. Or just use regular organic stone-ground whole wheat bread flour. The images in this article show flatbreads made from both types of flour.  

Step-by-step flatbread photos

Below are some helpful photos so you can see how the flatbread dough should look at each step in the process, from prep to stovetop. Note that the photos show regular whole wheat

This image shows: 1) the ideal consistency of the dough when it’s ready to start using, and 2) the size of the dough balls you should start with when rolling out individual flatbreads.

Rolling out the flatbreads.

Flatbread cooking on our cast iron pizza pan. This flatbread hasn’t been flipped yet, so it’s not brown on the exposed side. However, you can see the bubbles forming showing it’s ready to be flipped.

All done! This recipe makes about ten 7″ diameter flatbreads. When we’re cooking for ourselves, we place our flatbreads on a cooling rack. Once cooled, we put them in a ziplock in our fridge, then quickly heat them up again on the pizza pan whenever we’re ready to eat them.

Helpful kitchen items and ingredients 

A few items and ingredients that will help you make this simple yet authentic flatbread recipe: 

• KitchenAid Stand Mixer – comes with dough hook (this makes a world of difference in bread making) 
• King Arthur’s organic whole wheat white flour is great, but if you do a lot of baking like we do, get bulk flour: Great River’s 25 lb organic whole wheat bread flour.     
• Cast iron pizza pan.

Hope you enjoy! 

KIGI,

Other articles you might enjoy:

• Fluffy whole wheat pancakes made with milk kefir and duck eggs 
• How to build a wood-fired cob oven 
• How to cook in a wood-fired cob oven
• 5 minute no-knead artisanal bread
• 10 minute authentic flour tortillas