Tibetan Flatbread

Normally, a hot summer is not sufficient incentive for me to give up baking bread.  But for some unknown reason, I found myself one day this summer in desperate need of bread, but completely unwilling to turn on my oven.  To top it off, I was too exhausted to want to spend the time it would take to make tortillas.

"There's got to be some kind of flatbread aside from tortillas I can bake on the stovetop!" I exclaimed and turned to the Internet.

Sure enough, I found several different recipes for stovetop breads, but the one which intrigued me enough to get me out of my chair and into the kitchen was a recipe for Tibetan flatbread.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon olive oil (I've had even better results with 2 Tablespoons!)
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons water (This is divided.)

There are a few things I should note about the ingredients.  First, the olive oil should be pure olive oil, rather than extra virgin, as it can withstand high heat better without burning.  Also, this flour mixture is not set in stone.  If you only have all-purpose flour at home, feel free to use 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour.  I have found my family enjoys this recipe best when I use 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, and 1/2 cup flour ground from oat groats.  I'm curious what would happen if I tried this recipe with even more oat flour and less all-purpose flour:  how much of a role does gluten really play in this recipe?  But that's a question to be answered another day.

First, combine the dry ingredients--flours, baking powder, and salt--in a mixing bowl.  Add the 1 cup of water.  With more whole wheat flour, a little more water may be desired:  you want the result to look like more like a batter than a dough, nice and gooey.

Next, take a COLD 12-inch frying or saute pan (one which has a lid) and add the olive oil, spreading it around to ensure it covers the entire pan.

Pour the batter/dough into the pan and spread it around more or less evenly.  Then take the 2 Tablespoons of water and pour them in around the sides of the dough.  (I know you were wondering where they fit in!)

You may be looking at this and thinking, "Wow, that's a lot of oil and water just sitting around my cold dough.  Do I really want all this stuff in there?"

Yes, yes you do.  You see, as the bread cooks, all this stuff is going to be used to create steam and be absorbed into the bread, which gives it an absolutely luscious taste far beyond anything you thought you could create with flour, baking powder, and salt.

Put the lid on your pan and cook it over medium high heat for 10 minutes.  Then flip the bread over, cover it again, and cook it for 5 more minutes.

This is what it looks like after it's been flipped.

You can let it cool some in the skillet, which I think produces better results, but if you are really in a hurry, you can pull it out on a cutting board and let it cool there.

Cut it and serve!

The olive oil makes it so tasty that no butter is needed, in my opinion, but it does taste good with either honey or jam.

This has actually become a staple in our house this summer, as a fast bread I can make to serve with our summer garden vegetable soups or as a quick breakfast bread.  There are never any leftovers.

One day I hit upon something which we decided was sheer genius:  we call it Tibetan Flatbread, Pizza Style, although it is probably closer to focaccia style.  After the bread had cooked the first 10 minutes and was flipped, I sprinkled on some grated mozzarella cheese, some Parmesan cheese, and some Italian herbs before covering the pan and cooking for the last 5 minutes.  After it finished, I slightly tilted the lid to allow for some heat to escape and waited for 15 minutes or possibly even longer.  (I was waiting for people to come back in after morning chores.)  It was an instant hit--so much so that I made it twice in the same day!  I'm sure this could be expanded to make actual pizza, with sauce, etc.

I'm not sure making bread gets any simpler than this!