Easy Flatbread Dough

LISTEN: Once you make homemade flatbread you cannot ever go back to store-bought.

So, I’m sorry in advance for ruining non-fresh flatbreads for you from here on out, but I’m also super stoked to share this simple and easy recipe with you. It really did change my life.

What to Use Flatbread Dough For

I’m obsessed with freshly baked breads — but especially this flatbread. I use it for everything, whether I’m stuffing it with my Chicken Shawarma or having it alongside my Greek Lemon chicken. And what’s even better is I use this exact same flatbread dough when I want to make a pizza-style flatbread (like my Caprese Flatbread), and the only difference is I just make it into two larger flatbreads rather than the 8 smaller ones.

Flatbread Dough Ingredients

You won’t need a ton for this flatbread:

King Athur All-purpose flour: You can sub in bread flour, you’d just have to adjust the water (bread dough needs more water than all-purpose due to its higher protein content).

Water: Warmed up.

Yeast: I used active dry yeast for this recipe, but you can opt for instant.

Sugar: To feed the yeast!

Extra virgin olive oil: This makes all the difference in flavor and texture.

Salt: To bring it all together.

How to Make Flatbread

Get ready for such a simple recipe that you’ll come back to time and time again.

Step 1: Make the dough.

Add the yeast and sugar to the warm water. Let bloom for about 10 minutes, or until a foam forms on top and it smells like beer. Meanwhile, add the flour and salt to your mixers’ bowl and stir it with a fork. Then add the bloomed yeast mixture and the olive oil. Using a dough hook, mix on medium-high until a dough ball forms.

Remove the dough and knead it for a bit. Form a dough ball and add it to an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place (I use my oven with the oven light on) until it doubles in size (about 2 hours).

Step 2: Form the dough balls.

Once the dough has doubled in size, you’re going to punch it in the middle to deflate it. Next, put the dough on to a clean work surface and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Using both hands, roll each piece into a ball. (I tend to just pinch the sides up a few times while rotating it.)

Once you form the 8 dough balls, cover with the plastic wrap and let them rest for about 10–15 minutes.

Step 3: Roll out your flatbreads.

I tend to roll each new flatbread while another one is cooking, but you can also just roll them all out at once, making sure to keep them covered so they don’t dry out.

What I first do is take a ball and flatten it out with my fingers.

After I flatten it out a bit, I then take a rolling pin and I roll it out to be an oval shape. I don’t measure the thickness or anything like that, just roll it out to be about 5ish inches long. Keep in mind not all of your dough balls will actually be the same size (because who wants to measure out DOUGH BALLS, honestly), so just roll it as big as you can!

Step 4: Cook your flatbreads.

Now heat a cast iron pan over high/medium high heat. Add some neutral oil. Once it’s hot, dab your fingers in water and pat one side of the flat bread with the water. Now pick up the flat bread and lay it down on the pan (water side down). Cook until bubbles begin to form (usually less than a minute).

Once you get nice bubbles, flip the flatbread over and let it cook for about 30–45 seconds. Make sure you’re adjusting your heat here. You want dark spots, but not burnt (unless that’s your thing!). I like to brush them with melted butter and sprinkle a bit of salt when they’re done.