(my) Northwestern flat bread

I love flat bread.

A lot.

Greek cuisine, Indian...it doesn't matter, I love it.

I have long been searching for the perfect flat bread recipe to make at home.  Lots of "Special techniques" have been tried, but nothing special came from them.  I have made a lot of so-so flat breads over the last few years.  I have fried, baked, broiled all sorts of different dough recipes to try to get a good one. 

Nothing came of it, until now.

I am pleased to say I have FINALLY nailed down a recipe that actually works for me.

I loved it.

JJ loved it.

Jon loved it.

Its a hit.

So, this really is a combination of about 10 different recipes.

So I am claiming it for my own.

(but I didn't name it after myself:)

Northwestern Flat Bread

2 cups unbleached white flour (plus some)

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

3 Tbsp olive oil

1/3 cup milk (I used whole)

water as needed

combine dry ingredients in a bowl

Add wet ingredients and knead on floured surface for 8-10 minutes.  (I do think its best if this is done by hand, but of course you could always use a mixer)  The dough will more tacky then sticky, but now is the time to add more flour if you need it.  By the time you are done kneading, you should be able to pull your hand away from the dough without half of the ball coming with it. the dough should look pretty smooth by now, if not...knead a little more.

Put in oiled bowl and let rest for about an hour.  Cover with towel or plastic wrap.

(remember, we aren't waiting for it to rise, its unleavened:P)

Split into 16 pieces.

Let rest for another 10-15 minutes.  The less they are worked, the better.

Roll balls out on a flour surface, in whatever shape you please.  I went with oblong.

(make sure your surface is floured lightly)

You should be able to see through your dough like the picture below.

Now turn your broiler on.

My oven has a low and a high broiler setting, I used low.

I used a double insulated cookie sheet for this, if you don't have one a pizza stone or the bottom side of a regular cookie sheet will be fine.

Warm the cookie sheet up under the broiler BEFORE you put the dough on it.

Once it is warm, go to town!

***WARNING***

this is the hands on part!

The flat breads only take about 2 minutes to cook, so don't walk away!

Now, here comes the fun part.

After about a minute, they will start to balloon up, forming that pocket inside the bread that we all love!

Pretty cool, huh?

Be careful when you take them out, the pocket is filled with steam, and  it...ah....hurts.

And your done.

See, wasn't that easy!

They are best when they are warm, so eat up:P

(although the shelf life is about 2 days and they will still be wonderful)

My preferred accompaniment is Hummus

Go. Cook. Eat. Enjoy.