Flatbreads with spiced butter

An excellent base recipe that you can customise with whatever you like. This vegan staple works well as a side, a wrap, or a dipping vehicle for almost any cuisine. To spice up the basic recipe, you can replace the yoghurt with coconut yoghurt for a slightly more fragrant take, topped with spiced butter.

Credit: Hardie Grant Books / Nikki To

• makes

  6-8

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  35 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

Base recipe

• 300 g (10½ oz/2 cups) plain(all-purpose) flour, or 150 g plain and 150 g wholemeal (whole-wheat) flour
• 300 g (10½ oz) of your favourite unsweetened plain yoghurt (see Note)
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp dried instant yeast
• ½ tsp caster (superfine) sugar

Coconut flatbread with spiced butter

• 300 g (10½ oz/2 cups) plain(all-purpose) flour, or 150 g plain and 150 g wholemeal (whole-wheat) flour
• 300 g (10½ oz) unsweetened coconut yoghurt
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp za’atar
• ½ tsp dried instant yeast
• ½ tsp caster (superfine) sugar

Spiced butter

• 100 g (3½ oz) butter (see Note)
• ½ tsp grated ginger
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• 1 tsp masala spice mix (choose your favourite)
• ½ tsp black mustard seeds
• 1 sprig curry leaves (optional)

Rising time: 1 hour

Instructions

1. Base recipe: Place all the ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook and mix on medium-low speed until combined. Knead for 4–5 minutes, or until soft and elastic, then cover the bowl with a tea towel (dish towel) and prove until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

2. Knock back the dough, then divide it into six to eight even pieces. Roll out on a floured surface to a 3 mm (⅛ in) thickness. Don’t worry about the shape, that’s not important. It’s all about how it tastes.

3. Heat a large chargrill pan or barbecue grill plate over high heat until it’s very hot. Add one flatbread and leave it alone for 2–3 minutes until it begins to puff up, then flip and cook on the other side for another 2–3 minutes. Cover to keep warm while you cook the rest.

Alternatively, for the coconut flatbread with spiced butter:

Place the flour, yoghurt, salt, za’atar, yeast and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook. Make and rest the dough as described above.

To make the spiced butter, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, add the remaining ingredients (except the curry leaves) and cook through for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, add the curry leaves (if using) and set aside to infuse while you finish the flatbreads.

Roll out the dough and cook the flatbreads as described above.

As you remove each piece from the pan, brush the top with the spiced butter. Serve warm.

Note

• This recipe is from a vegan cookbook. All references to non-vegan ingredients such as butter and yoghurt refer to vegan versions of these ingredients.

Recipe and images from Vegan with Bite by Shannon Martinez (Hardie Grant Books, $34.99). Photography: © Nikki To

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.