Recipe: a flatbread recipe that works
FLATBREAD
[Based on a recipe from Cooks Illustrated that required a physics (or chef's) degree to understand and had to go through massive tweaking before an Ordinary Person could use it.]
1 TBSP dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 TSP sugar
1 TBSP olive oil
1/4 cup plain yogurt [not low-fat], or 1/4 cup sour cream [not "lite" or low-fat] -- either one will do
2 1/2 cups unsifted bread flour, roughly
1/2 TBSP salt
1. Let the yogurt or sour cream come to room temperature before you use it. [If you forget to do this in advance -- I almost always do forget -- you can warm it for 20 seconds at Medium in your microwave without hurting anything.]
2. Put 1 cup warm water in a mixing bowl. [Warm .... like for a baby's bottle. Not hot, but good and warm.]
3. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of dry yeast over the water; let it sit a minute. Then add 2 teaspoons of sugar and one tablespoon of olive oil. Mix gently with a wooden spoon till most of the lumps are gone. Then add the yogurt or sour cream and mix a bit more, with the wooden spoon.
4. Add 2 cups unsifted flour, then the salt, then the other 1/2 cup of flour; mix well with wooden spoon.
5. Turn the dough out on a floured surface [see note below] and knead till smooth and elastic; if it's too sticky to handle, it's okay to add a little more flour. Two or three minutes kneading is usually enough.
6. Put the dough back in the bowl and let it rise till double in your oven (or on your sunny windowsill) for an hour.
7. Stir down the dough one more time; then turn it out on a floured surface and cut it into eight parts with scissors. That is -- cut the ball of dough in half. Then cut each half in half. And so on, till there are eight pieces. Make each piece into a ball with your hands; then flatten each ball into roughly a 4-inch circle with your hands and set it back on the floured surface to rest for ten minutes. [The original recipe said to roll it out with a rolling pin; I strongly advise you not to do it that way.]
8. 5 minutes into that ten-minute rest period, put a large skillet or griddle to heat, over medium heat. Don't grease the skillet or do anything else to it; just let it get hot.
9. At the end of the ten-minute rest period, you can start cooking the flatbreads. Pick up a circle of dough with your hands, stretch it into as large a piece as you can without tearing it. Lay it on the hot skillet, carefully, and cook it about 20 seconds so that it will "set." Then turn it over (with a spatula) and let it cook until the bottom is speckled (about one minute). Flip again; cook another minute or two. [Exactly how long you cook the bread on each side is going to vary with such factors as how high the flame, how heavy the skillet, and so on; you'll have to experiment to find the exactly right amount of time for your skillet and stove.] Remove each flatbread to a wire rack to cool as you finish it. I recommend not trying to cook more than two pieces at a time.
10. When the flatbreads are completely cool, store them in a plastic bag or other container so they don't dry out. They'll keep several days, and they freeze well.
Notes
1. You can really burn yourself doing this, because that hot skillet is dangerous. You don't want any children in the kitchen while you're making the bread, you want your hair fastened back, and you want to be extremely careful not to touch the surface of the skillet as you lay the circles of dough on it. I'm serious. Doing it outside on hot rocks was an excellent idea; if I had an outdoor oven to heat the rocks in I'd do that myself. It would be safer.
2. Let the skillet cool completely before you try to wash it; otherwise, it will warp.
3. Defining my terms .... there's that "floured surface." I sprinkle some water on my kitchen counter, lay a piece of waxed paper over the damp surface, smooth it down, and sprinkle flour over it. That means tearing off two pieces of waxed paper at the beginning of the process, one for kneading the ball of dough and a bigger one to let the circles of dough rest on. Obviously, if you have a lovely marble slab to work with you don't need to fool with waxed paper.
[Based on a recipe from Cooks Illustrated that required a physics (or chef's) degree to understand and had to go through massive tweaking before an Ordinary Person could use it.]
1 TBSP dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 TSP sugar
1 TBSP olive oil
1/4 cup plain yogurt [not low-fat], or 1/4 cup sour cream [not "lite" or low-fat] -- either one will do
2 1/2 cups unsifted bread flour, roughly
1/2 TBSP salt
1. Let the yogurt or sour cream come to room temperature before you use it. [If you forget to do this in advance -- I almost always do forget -- you can warm it for 20 seconds at Medium in your microwave without hurting anything.]
2. Put 1 cup warm water in a mixing bowl. [Warm .... like for a baby's bottle. Not hot, but good and warm.]
3. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of dry yeast over the water; let it sit a minute. Then add 2 teaspoons of sugar and one tablespoon of olive oil. Mix gently with a wooden spoon till most of the lumps are gone. Then add the yogurt or sour cream and mix a bit more, with the wooden spoon.
4. Add 2 cups unsifted flour, then the salt, then the other 1/2 cup of flour; mix well with wooden spoon.
5. Turn the dough out on a floured surface [see note below] and knead till smooth and elastic; if it's too sticky to handle, it's okay to add a little more flour. Two or three minutes kneading is usually enough.
6. Put the dough back in the bowl and let it rise till double in your oven (or on your sunny windowsill) for an hour.
7. Stir down the dough one more time; then turn it out on a floured surface and cut it into eight parts with scissors. That is -- cut the ball of dough in half. Then cut each half in half. And so on, till there are eight pieces. Make each piece into a ball with your hands; then flatten each ball into roughly a 4-inch circle with your hands and set it back on the floured surface to rest for ten minutes. [The original recipe said to roll it out with a rolling pin; I strongly advise you not to do it that way.]
8. 5 minutes into that ten-minute rest period, put a large skillet or griddle to heat, over medium heat. Don't grease the skillet or do anything else to it; just let it get hot.
9. At the end of the ten-minute rest period, you can start cooking the flatbreads. Pick up a circle of dough with your hands, stretch it into as large a piece as you can without tearing it. Lay it on the hot skillet, carefully, and cook it about 20 seconds so that it will "set." Then turn it over (with a spatula) and let it cook until the bottom is speckled (about one minute). Flip again; cook another minute or two. [Exactly how long you cook the bread on each side is going to vary with such factors as how high the flame, how heavy the skillet, and so on; you'll have to experiment to find the exactly right amount of time for your skillet and stove.] Remove each flatbread to a wire rack to cool as you finish it. I recommend not trying to cook more than two pieces at a time.
10. When the flatbreads are completely cool, store them in a plastic bag or other container so they don't dry out. They'll keep several days, and they freeze well.
Notes
1. You can really burn yourself doing this, because that hot skillet is dangerous. You don't want any children in the kitchen while you're making the bread, you want your hair fastened back, and you want to be extremely careful not to touch the surface of the skillet as you lay the circles of dough on it. I'm serious. Doing it outside on hot rocks was an excellent idea; if I had an outdoor oven to heat the rocks in I'd do that myself. It would be safer.
2. Let the skillet cool completely before you try to wash it; otherwise, it will warp.
3. Defining my terms .... there's that "floured surface." I sprinkle some water on my kitchen counter, lay a piece of waxed paper over the damp surface, smooth it down, and sprinkle flour over it. That means tearing off two pieces of waxed paper at the beginning of the process, one for kneading the ball of dough and a bigger one to let the circles of dough rest on. Obviously, if you have a lovely marble slab to work with you don't need to fool with waxed paper.