Quick Flatbreads

Soft, pliable and ready in well under an hour, homemade flatbread is one of the easiest breads you can make, and this basic recipe needs neither yeast nor a lengthy proving time. Once you've got it mastered, flatbread becomes a brilliant way to round out almost any meal, whether that's wrapping up a kebab, tearing it to scoop up a curry, or serving it warm alongside soup. The dough is cooked on a griddle pan, so there's no oven needed. With a Kenwood stand mixer doing the mixing and kneading for you, this easy flatbread recipe comes together with only a few minutes of hands-on time. Made with natural yoghurt and just one tablespoon of olive oil across four servings, it offers a lighter alternative to many shop-bought wraps.

How to make flatbread dough

Attach the dough hook to your Kenwood stand mixer and add the plain flour, baking powder and salt to the mixer bowl. Mix with the splashguard fitted for 30 seconds on speed 1, then add the natural yogurt and olive oil and mix for a further 3 minutes on speed 1. Because there's no yeast in this dough, it's the natural yogurt and baking powder working together that give it a light texture and a gentle tang, rather than a long fermentation, which is exactly why this method takes minutes rather than hours. The dough should come together soft and only lightly tacky: unlike a yeasted loaf, there's no need to knead it for long, over-working it at this stage will only make the finished flatbread tougher and chewier than it needs to be, so let the mixer run for its 3 minutes and then stop.

Shaping the flatbreads

Transfer the contents of the Kenwood Bowl to a lightly floured surface and divide into 4 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into an oval shape until about 1 cm thick. Handle the dough gently as you roll: an even thickness across each oval helps every flatbread cook at the same rate, so try to avoid rolling one edge thinner than the other. If you'd prefer smaller flatbreads to use as wraps, simply divide the dough into 6 or 8 pieces instead of 4 and roll them slightly thinner, adjusting the cooking time down a little as you go.

How to cook flatbreads in a frying pan

Add olive oil to a clean frying pan and brush until coated, then heat over a medium-high heat. Transfer the shaped dough to the frying pan and cook each side until bubbles form, repeating with the rest of the dough. A properly hot pan is the secret to a good flatbread: as soon as the dough touches the surface, the moisture inside starts turning to steam, and it's this that puffs the dough up and creates those characteristic golden, slightly charred bubbles. If the heat is too high, the outside can crisp and crack before the inside has cooked through, so keep the pan at a steady medium-high heat rather than turning it up to maximum and brush a little more oil into the pan between batches if it starts to look dry.

Tips for easy no-yeast flatbreads

To add flavour, you could add a handful of nigella seeds (also known as black onion seeds) into the recipe or brush the cooked flatbreads with melted garlic and herb butter. These flattened breads are best eaten warm, straight from the pan, but leftovers keep well: once cool, store them in an airtight container or bag for a day or two, or freeze them with a sheet of baking paper between each one so they don't stick together. To reheat, a hot, dry frying pan for thirty seconds or so on each side works far better than the microwave, which tends to leave flatbread rubbery rather than soft. As for what to put in your flatbread, they're endlessly versatile: use them to wrap up souvlaki, gyros or grilled chicken, tear them to scoop up hummus or a curry, or simply serve them alongside soups and stews in place of regular sliced bread.