How to make flatbreads

Why some puff and some do not

A flatbread puffs when steam generated inside the dough cannot escape fast enough and forces the two surfaces apart. That needs a dough with enough gluten to hold the steam, rolled evenly, and a genuinely hot surface so the outside sets before the steam escapes.

A pita or a chapati puffs into a hollow pocket for exactly that reason. A tortilla or a Scandinavian crispbread does not, because it is rolled thinner, made with a different flour, or cooked more slowly.

The three usual reasons a flatbread refuses to puff are a pan that is not hot enough, dough rolled unevenly so the steam finds a way out at a thin spot, and a dough too dry to generate enough steam.

A basic yoghurt flatbread

The most forgiving version, and it needs no yeast.

1. Mix self-raising flour with an equal volume of thick plain yoghurt and a good pinch of salt. That is the whole recipe.
2. Bring it together and knead briefly on a floured surface until smooth — two or three minutes, no more.
3. Rest it for twenty minutes if you have time. It rolls out more easily and shrinks back less.
4. Divide into balls and roll each one out to a few millimetres thick, as evenly as you can.
5. Heat a heavy dry frying pan or a griddle until it is genuinely hot. A drop of water should skitter and vanish.
6. Cook each flatbread for a minute or two a side, until it puffs and blisters and takes colour in patches.
7. Stack them under a clean tea towel as they come off. The trapped steam keeps them soft.

The flatbread family

• Chapati or roti — wholemeal flour and water, unleavened, cooked on a dry tawa and often finished directly over a flame to puff.
• Naan — leavened with yeast or yoghurt, enriched, traditionally slapped onto the wall of a tandoor and excellent from a very hot pan.
• Pita — yeasted, baked hot so it puffs into a pocket.
• Tortilla — maize or wheat, thin, pressed rather than rolled.
• Focaccia — thicker and oil-rich, and closer to a loaf.
• Lavash, msemen, paratha, gozleme, piadina — each a different balance of fat, flour and leavening.
• Flatbread from bread dough. Any leftover pizza or bread dough rolled thin and pan-cooked makes an excellent flatbread.

Notes

The pan

Heavy, dry and genuinely hot. Cast iron is ideal. A cool pan gives pale, tough bread.

Rolling evenly

Uneven thickness is the main reason a flatbread will not puff.

Resting the dough

Twenty minutes makes rolling much easier and stops it springing back.

Keeping them soft

Stack under a tea towel as they come off, so they steam each other.

Deeper baking knowledge

BakeHQ is the specialist destination for bread. This page covers the practical flatbread; the wider craft belongs there.

Common questions