If there is one recipe I have made more than absolutely any other, it is this flatbread recipe I am about to share with you all. In fact, it is a recipe a number of my foodie friends have tried over the years but of course, I just cannae leave a recipe alone without fiddling and making my own!
Several years back, when Nigella’s website had a forum where foodie folk could interact online and share cooking wisdom all day long, I believe we were chatting about pizza dough and somehow, the conversation turned to flatbreads. Not too wild a leap – pizza dough, one could argue, is a flatbread with its toppings baked on.
However, one lass pointed out a recipe she’d found in Sainsbury’s magazine by Jamie Oliver for garlic butter topped flatbreads. Now if that doesn’t get your attention immediately, I’m not quite sure we can be friends! Only joking… a little 😉
It seemed implausible that equal weights of flour and yogurt in could yield what has turned out to be a delicious recipe which appears on certainly my kitchen table a minimum of twice a week. It takes 30 seconds to make the dough, 1-2 minutes to cook and can be modified in endless ways to suit whatever meal you are cooking.
It also can be scaled down to an individual portion or a huge batch. It’s so versatile, I cannot commend it to you enough. The version I’m sharing with you uses wholemeal flour for a nutty touch of a taste and added health benefits and instead of the bread being slashed and slathered with lots of garlic butter, parsley and more salt, is filled with nuts and raisins. Thus making it “Peshwari”, as English takeaway menus inform us.
It’s appropriate for me too as the Great Grandfather of mine whom I never met but believe was the most wonderful man, was from Peshawar. This is as close to “family cooking tradition” as sadly I get which pains me as I’d love to regale you with heartwarming stories of family feasting but alas, I’m not blessed with a family like that. So instead, let’s just enjoy this bread and make our own foodie memories together 🙂
Having stirred the ingredients together with a spoon in a bowl you could pat out into discs of a size that meets your feeding needs and slap on a dry, stonkingly hot frying pan and be 2 minutes from doughy delight.
I use buttermilk these days rather than Greek yogurt (my original choice) to keep the calories down but also because I just adore the taste of buttermilk – it is, at once, both tangy and creamy and is the stuff of foodie dreams for me 🙂
If however, like me, you feel the need to “pimp” your flatbread, you can blitz some pistachios with some almonds and raisins, a pinch of salt and a small amount of caster sugar in a food processor/hand blender/spice grinder to make a filling.
So, on a very well floured work surface, pat out the soft and sticky dough (coat first in a sprinkling of flour to prevent it sticking to your hands) then pat on the filling. Fold up the edges to fully cover it and seal. Next, pat it out to no more than 3/4 to 1 cm thick, meanwhile preheating a large frying pan as hot as it goes.
Then, take a deep breath, pick up your circle of soft, cool dough and slap it onto the bare and shimmering if not smoking pan. Watch as bubbles appear all over its surface as the heat permeates the dough, steam pockets building up to produce a tender, tender soft bread that will mop up whatever saucy little number you have simmering on the stovetop adjacent to it.
My favourites are my friend’s dhal or my aloo gobi but it always accompanies all Indian meals in Casa Blogs. And some Italian ones too (sans filling but with garlic butter and fresh parsley on top oh my, I just had a moment there!). Barely a minute on the first side, then a second or two less on the second and you are ready to lightly brush with butter and serve to a crowd of greedy, marvelling onlookers (“you made bread, in under 5 minutes?!”) or to yourself, just because you are home alone and want your lunch to feel special. I *might* have done that, ten or twenty times *blush* (there are photos on Facebook to prove it too 😉 )
When I fill my flatbread, I tend to make one large one and slice him like a pizza to serve. It’s just laziness rather than making tons of little ‘uns and having to fill them separately. That would be very special for a dinner party type meal though.
If you were having a lamb curry, this recipe is so what you need to cut the richness of the meat and compliment its sweetness – I always use Maldon salt whenever salt is called for but here, when the ingredients of the bread are so very simple, you have to use the best quality ingredients you can get your hands on. Murray River salt or fleur de sel would be excellent alternatives. Don’t even think of using the rasping, bitter table salt! It gives you a whip and a kiss in entirely the wrong way 😉
One more greed evoking shot before you get your hands on my recipe if you haven’t already twigged what it is already!
Go grab your flour, buttermilk, nuts and raisins, a bowl and wooden spoon then come back here and print off the recipe for the flatbreads below. It will revolutionise the carb portion of all your future lunches and dinners. You’re very welcome.
Mwah xxxx

- 90 g wholemeal flour
- 85 g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Sea salt to taste fat pinch
- 175 g buttermilk
- 1 tbsp whole pistachios
- 1 tbsp ground almonds
- 1 tbsp raisins
- 1/2 tsp caster sugar
- Pinch sea salt
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Weigh the flours, salt and baking powder into a bowl then weigh in your buttermilk.
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Stir to combine then bring together with the spoon. You can be reasonably rough and it will not lose its tenderness, thanks to the buttermilk!
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If not using the filling, just pat out 3/4 to 1 cm thick on a very well floured work surface (the dough will be very sticky until coated in a sprinkling of extra flour), in as many breads as you wish to make - please do please yourself with this recipe.
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If filling, blitz all the ingredients in your food processor/hand blender/spice grinder until it becomes a nubbly but delicious gravel - tip into the centre of your flatbread leaving an edge free all around it Pinch up the edges and seal then gently pat out the dough to the 3/4 to 1 cm thickness once more.
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Slap onto a dry and very hot frying pan or flat griddle for 1-2 mins each side (peak for medium brown patches on the cooking surface and bubbles on the other).
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Use a larger spatula to flip each bread, not your fingers (I've been there and burnt myself - don't be me!).
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If making several, wrap in a couple of clean tea towels to keep warm as each cooks, until you have used all your dough.
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Optional: brush with soft butter to serve.
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Option two: once cooked, spread unfilled flatbreads (i.e. plain ones) with a generous amount of butter, sprinkle with well minced garlic and chopped fresh parsley and serve with Italian meals
This recipe is extremely easy to scale up or down depending on your requirements. I can't encourage you to have a go enough! It works reasonably well with gluten free flour too but of course, it's never quite the same.
Adapted from a recipe idea by Jamie Oliver
This post contains affiliate links, meaning I will earn a little commission if you chose to buy items I’ve advertised, helping me to bring you all these recipes for free!
Like this post? Then why not try these related recipes:
- Garlic & Coriander Naan
- Slow Proved Focaccia
- Homemade Roti
Looks fantastic, Jo – so simple too!
Very frugal, Frugal ;0)
Indeed it is, I’m most impressed 😀
Oh I love this post, the writing, the pics and the final look of it! I have to make this soon! Cheers Jo, great post 😀
Aw thank you Carrie :). Sometimes (actually quite often in my case!) the impromptu posts are better received than ones which have taken weeks of thought, hours of cooking and cleaning then agonising minutes post processing and dealing with the WordPress blogging app shortfalls! 😉
Gorgeous! And it seems to me that you’re posts are becoming more and more like the witty Nigella’s every time =) I love it!
Well that’s a lovely compliment and whilst I am constantly in awe of La Lawson’s articulation and gift of description, I do hope I’m finding my “own” voice here :). She has the ability to vocalise the way I see food but don’t have the words to express openly.
Of course no one could have your voice Jo, you just remind me of her 🙂
Aw :’) x
Oh I absolutely adore this particular recipe from Jamie Oliver for flatbreads, and it is one which I turn to faithfully everytime I make a curry. I make a whole batch in one go as hubby happens to love them cold with leftovers. I love your pimped up version – you are always so good at tweaking recipes!
Btw, love the new look of your blog, too!!!
Thank you Thanh, I’m so happy with it – this time I did it all myself and I’m chuffed with it 🙂
As for the flatbread tweakage – in this case, it was only after I’d made them tens and tens of times I started to fiddle as they are pretty perfect as they come. I just wanted to add a lighter liquid component and reduce my use of white flour (plus I happen to love the taste of wholemeal flour). I find these so easy to scale down and they are so wonderful fresh, I frequently make a single one for myself for solitary lunches at home. We aren’t a home that often has leftovers you see 😉
So enjoyed reading this post Jo. Easy witty and wonderful tweaking 😉 don’t get much time to read all the blogs I adore, but when I do I am always pleasantly surprised with yours. Hugs 😀
Lol NY – why do you expect me to bore you (re: “pleasantly surprised when I read yours”!)? 😉 😛
Noooo, Jo you always put a smile on my face. But you have certainly improved on your writing. What I mean to say is you transmit more confidence and your fantastic personality is more defined ….. And this makes reading all the more pleasurable and me all the more glad for you. xx
Aw thank you Terri – I hadn’t realised I didn’t come across like that anyway ;). But if I come across as “me” than thats all I want – so glad you enjoy my witterings Terri, and thank you for reading me xx
Ok…..made them and ate them and they are fantastic! I love using whole meal, these are definitely keepers for me. Actually the whole family loved them. They are good versatile, easy fast and healthy too, how could one not keep this recipe. Jo thanks.
That’s fabulous I’m so pleased Terri. Share and share alike 😀
Do you think these would go well with the Keralan Fish Curry?
I think the plain wholemeal ones, maybe with a slick of garlic butter as they come out the pan would be perfect Camilla 🙂
My flatbreads rocked and as my family aren’t fans of buttermilk I used fat free greek yogurt. My hubby thought I’d bought them hee, hee.As I was juggling all the pans of curry, rice and flatbread we ate the first one plain and dipped it in the Keralan Curry and the second one got garlic crushed onto it and then I grabbed a small pat of butter and rubbed this onto the hot bread that was waiting in the pan. The small portion was just right for the 4 of us. Thank you for opening my eyes to this super simple recipe. We eat wholemeal pitta’s every day for lunch, I think I can make my own now!
That’s the absolute perfect way to enjoy these breads – rub a dot of butter and plenty of crushed garlic (with your Oxo Good Grips Garlic Press by any chance? 😉 ). Oh my, I want one now for breakfast! I’m so happy they worked so well for you – it’s a recipe many of my foodie friends use on a regular basis so it has a good track history. 😀
I made this last night. The easiest bread I’ve ever made. I used homemade low fat Greek yoghurt and it was delicious. Thank you for this recipe.
You’re very welcome Anne-Mette. You’re working your way through my recipes nicely! Thanks so much for letting me know how you’re getting on 😀