The Happy Food Kitchen

If you are looking for a quick side for a curry or dal, something to dunk in your soup or to go with your meze, flatbreads are your friend.

The best thing about them is just how simple they are to throw together. They are the ideal make with kids who will love squishing together the flour and water and helping roll them out. And they can even get involved with cooking them on the hob – when you see them puff up watch their excited faces. Let’s be honest, my face is pretty excited too!

I use wholemeal chapatti flour but you can also use half wholemeal and half white plain flour. Around 300g feeds four as a side. Add a generous pinch of salt and then gradually add warm water until the mixture is just coming together. If it is too wet then add a little more flour. Give it a bit of a kneed in the bowl for around 5mins until it becomes softer and then cover and allow to rest for 30mins or more. This helps the gluten relax and makes it easier to roll into thin breads.

Divide the dough into golf ball size pieces and roll one at a time on a floured surface. I find it works well to roll the bread once then quarter turn it and roll again. If you keep going with this you get evenly rolled and more circular bread but they certainly don’t have to be a perfect round.

To cook heat a griddle pan or frying pan on a high heat until hot. Place the flatbread onto the hot surface and cook until it has brown spots on it, you will also notice the top changing texture as the heat cooks through the bread. Flip it over and cook again for a couple minutes on the other side. Both sides should have some dark brown spots and it should be cooked through.

Place on a plate and cover with a tea towel to keep warm while you repeat until you are out of dough.

I like to use some garlic butter on the hot flatbread too for a tasty twist.

Need bread and need it fast? Knocking together a soda bread is faster than going to the shops! This one doesn’t even have buttermilk so really can be made with everything you have in the house. It couldn’t be easier. This is a basic 100% wholemeal but you can add nuts, seeds, dried fruits or cheese to make it your own or use up any bits and bobs you have leftover. It’s amazing warm with a bowl of soup.

As the national flour hunt continues I’ve found a bit of a baking work around. This almond tart is super easy to make and you can use shop bought shortcrust or dessert pastry for the base – the ‘cake’ on the top uses no flour so is a helpful choice if you have run out. It instead uses ground almonds and if you can’t find them try grinding whole shelled almonds in your high speed blender. I did make my own sweet crust pastry so have included the recipe for that too (with enough to make 6 jam tarts too!) and didn’t blind bake it first. We also have loads of homemade blackberry jam so used that but any jam will do!