Easy As Pie Flatbreads

Life is meant to be simple, with nothing being too time-consuming that it becomes a chore; life should be about savouring the precious moments and spending quality time with family and friends. I enjoy nothing more than cooking for others, but I don’t tend to spend hours doing so. I am pretty adept at assembling meals for groups of people, and it doesn’t phase me, but I certainly don’t believe in spending hours on shopping, prepping and the actual cooking. What I do make time to do though, is to write a shopping list a day before I go and buy my ingredients, and then when I start to cook, I weigh out the ingredients I need to, and keep all the others ready in advance. Assembling a meal, adding my spices, herbs, and other seasonings using my instinct, comes as easily to me as blinking. My instinct usually yields the right results, because I never taste my meals ahead of them being served up, and I’m usually very happy with the synergistic outcome.

 

However, I know that not everyone finds home cooking this straightforward, so I love to offer recipes from time to time that are as easy as pie, so that those who are less confident about their cooking skills, but still like to eat home cooked food as much as they can, are able to do so. These gorgeous, soft, airy flatbreads are possibly the simplest thing you could make. I found the recipe for them in a magazine, but honestly presumed they wouldn’t turn out well, given there are only really two ingredients. Trust me though, they are amazing, as long as you follow the advice to the letter…..

These are perfect served with Indian meals, or Greek/Mediterranean- style foods. They are equally lovely to eat with hummus, or even to accompany soup instead of the usual bread. Just bear in mind, your pan needs to be very hot, and they take no time to cook, so you shouldn’t take your eyes off them, or they’ll end up overcooked and hard.

Ingredients to make 6 -8 flatbreads:

225g self-raising flour

200g greek style organic yoghurt

A good pinch of salt

Ghee to serve (optional-see method)

 

Method:

Put the oven on a medium heat and put a dinner plate in; tip the flour into a mixing bowl, and add the salt. Now mix in the yoghurt with a spoon, then use your hands to bind everything together. If it’s too sticky, add more flour a tablespoon at a time, or if it’s too dry, add a little more yoghurt. You should end up with a soft, squidgy ball of dough. Place it on a wooden board sprinkled with a little flour, and work it into a smooth ball, before cutting it in half, then each half into 3 or 4 triangular pieces. Heat a flat cast iron pan such as a pancake pan on a medium heat. While it’s still cool enough, smear a tiny bit of oil over the surface with a small piece of kitchen paper.

Now roll out each piece of dough one by one on a lightly floured board into a ‘slipper’ or slightly triangular shape (don’t worry about how uneven it is, this is how home cooking looks). Place one on the hot pan, and give it a few minutes to cook and produce brown flecks on the underside, before flipping it over when it is slightly puffed up. Repeat on the other side, and slightly press the flatbread with a flat turner a few times to help it cook. You may need to lower the heat of the pan at some point, if you think it’s getting too hot, and smoking. Once both sides are done, remove the flatbread to the warmed plate in the oven. If you’re eating these with Indian food, I suggest a smear of ghee on them once cooked. Now put the plate back in the oven, and cook the next flatbread. Repeat this process until they’re all cooked.

I’ve often made the flatbreads an hour or two before eating, and they remained lovely and fresh, and so soft too.