As today was a pretty busy day, I wanted to try something I had read on the internet some weeks ago: Using baking powder instead of yeast to prepare a flatbread.
The idea sparked my interest because I was somewhat short of time, and not having to wait for about one hour for the dough to rise would have made my life much easier.
Since I also liked to try how brushing butter onto the dough makes it stay in separated layers (another thing that I had seen on the internet), I thought about combining all these ideas into one bread.
But let’s get going with the preparation!
Ingredients (for 4 flatbread rectangles):
- 300 g all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 200 ml water
- 50 g scallions
- 150 g grated cheese
- 100g margarine
- salt, pepper, paprika powder, curry powder, to taste
- Oil for brushing the pan
Preparation:
Begin by pouring the flour into a bowl, and press two hollows into it. Add the salt into one and the baking powder into the other one.
Slowly add the water while stirring everything with two chopsticks. When the dough starts forming, put the chopsticks aside, and start kneading.
Knead for a few minutes until you have a soft dough. Cover the bowl with a silicone lid (or plastic wrap, if you happen to still use it), and let it rest for 15 minutes.
In the meantime, wash the scallions, and cut them into small slices. Melt the butter in a pan (or Microwave, if you have one).
When the dough has finished the short rest, take it out of the bowl, knead it for about a minute and divide it into 4 pieces. Place it back inside the bowl, take one of the pieces out, and cover the rest again with the silicone lid to prevent the dough from drying out.
Sprinkle your working surface and rolling pin with flour. Place the dough part on the working surface, and start rolling the dough into a thin, big circle. The dough should be as thin as possible, without breaking it.
Brush the dough circle with melted butter, and spread about 1/6 of the scallion slices and about 1/6 of the grated cheese on it. Season with salt, pepper, paprika and curry powder.
Fold two opposite sides of the dough circle towards the center, so that they almost touch and the dough becomes a long stripe.
Brush the folded parts with butter too, sprinkle a few scallion slices, a bit of cheese on them and season them.
Then, fold the long ends of the stripe towards its center, so that you end up with a rectangle of folded dough.
Take your rolling pin and roll the rectangle to about 1,5 times its size.
Heat a frying pan or, even better, if you have one, a Crêpes pan, and brush it’s surface with a bit of oil.
Fry the dough rectangle for about 3 – 4 minutes per side.
While the first rectangle is frying, prepare the second one, and so on for all four.
Serve while still warm or when they are cooled down. Just as you prefer.
My family liked the folded texture of the bread very much. I was also quite pleased because I had been afraid that the baking powder would leave an aftertaste in the bread, but fortunately, it was quite the opposite.
Have you ever tried a salty layered bread or do you only know this type of dough from puff pastry?
I’m looking forward to reading about your experiences in the comments.
STEAMING CAULDRONS 