Rosemary and Sea Salt Flatbreads
No oven, no proving drawer, no bread tin. A wet dough, one rise, and a dry pan hot enough to frighten you. They blister, puff, and are gone within ten minutes of being made.
- Prep 20 min
- Cook 15 min
- Total 35 min
- Serves 6
- Vegan
Method
Step 1. Mix the flour, yeast, fine salt and sugar in a large bowl. Keep the salt and the yeast on opposite sides of the bowl until you stir — direct contact kills yeast.
Step 2. Add the warm water and the 2 tablespoons of oil and mix to a shaggy, sticky dough. It should be wetter than a loaf dough; resist adding flour.
Step 3. Knead in the bowl for 5 minutes with a wet hand, stretching and folding rather than pushing. It will go from shaggy to smooth and still be tacky. That is right.
Step 4. Cover and leave somewhere warm for 1 hour, until roughly doubled.
Step 5. Tip onto a floured surface, knock the air out gently, and divide into eight. Roll each into a ball, then out to a rough oval about 3 mm thick. Keep them under a tea towel.
Step 6. Put a heavy dry frying pan over a high heat for 3 full minutes. No oil goes in the pan — the oil goes on the bread afterwards.
Step 7. Cook one at a time, 90 seconds on the first side until big blisters rise, then 60 seconds on the second. They should be charred in patches, not evenly brown.
Step 8. As each one comes out, brush it with olive oil and scatter over the rosemary and flaky salt. Stack them under a towel so they steam and stay soft.
Notes from the kitchen
- The pan can hardly be too hot. If they are pale and leathery, the pan was not hot enough and the bread dried out before it blistered.
- The dough keeps in the fridge for two days and gets better. Bring it back to room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling.
- Swap the rosemary for za’atar, cumin seeds, or nothing at all. Salt and oil alone is a perfectly good flatbread.
