Flatbreads

Copyright © 2000 Sarah Phillips Sarah Phillips, Inc. All rights reserved.
There are hundreds of types of flatbread recipes (flat breads) made worldwide and their primary attribute is low height. Typically, they are classified according to whether they are YEASTED, CALLED LEAVENED or NO YEAST OR LEAVENING, CALLED UNLEAVENED. Their textures vary from crispy, puffy, soft, flaky, tender or light. Their recipes can be rich with a 20% fat to flour ratio; include some enrichements or some fat, dairy, eggs or sugar; or be lean with little or no fat or added enrichmnets. 

YEASTED, CALLED LEAVENED
Bruchetta: (Italy) The bread originated in Abruzzo during olive harvest and later to the rest of Italy. When the oil was pressed, a piece of toasted bread was dipped in it as the vehicle to taste it with. The word bruschetta, meaning "charcoal toasted," is really a Roman slang word, but it has come to be used more often for this type of snack than the more appropriate Tuscan word fettunta, meaning "oiled slice." It is an antipasto from central Italy whose origin dates to at least the 15th century. It consists of roasted bread rubbed with garlic and topped with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. There are numerous variations.

Ciabatta (Pronounced chee-BAH-tah): (Italy) A rustic, oblong, fermented flat bread whose name means "slipper" in Italian. Unlike focaccia, its top is usually unadorned with herbs and oil. It is a lean yeasted dough, usually made from flour, water, salt, and sometimes olive oil and milk, has a sour taste and is spongy. It can be made with a pre-ferment made with commercial yeast or wild yeast. It has a heavy, dull, tannish-brown crust with a striated appearance because of the flour used to keep the wet dough from sticking to the bench (work surface) and proofing (rising) cloth. Loaves should be more flat than high. Inside, the bread should have big alveolus (air holes) and lots of them. 

English Muffin or English Muffins: (United States) Small diameter, thick, round, rather flat (about 3 inches in diameter by 1 inch high) "muffin" is made from a soft directly-leavened or pre-fermented yeast dough that, after being formed into rounds, is baked on a griddle. English muffins are fork-split and gently pulled apart before toasting. 

Focaccia (Pronounced foh-KAH-chee-ah): (Italy) Is made from an enriched rustic dough leavened directly with commercial yeast or a pre-ferment.  It can be found flavored with olive oil and sometimes with herbs, thinly sliced onions, tomatoes or other ingredients before baking.

Fougasse Bread: (France) In French cuisine, fougasse, basically an olive-oil rich yeasted Italian Focaccia Bread, is a type of bread typically associated with Southern France but found (with variations) in other regions. Some versions are sculpted or slashed into a pattern resembling an ear of wheat.

Naan: (India) A flat, leavened bread of northwest India, made of white flour, enriched with yogurt and baked in a tandoor, but can also be made in your oven at home.

Pan Carasau: (Italy) is yeasted bread with a crisp, cracker-like texture. They are rolled very thin, and baked a short period of time. They are brushed with olive oil, and topped with rosemary and salt and baked again.

Pita Bread: (MIddle Eastern) Pita bread, a form of Arabic flat bread, is one of the oldest recipes known to mankind. There is also baladi from Egypt, bouri from Saudi Arabia and souri from Libya and North Africa. The word, "Pita" has become a generic term for round, flat bread and it originated from the Greek word "Pitta", which means thin, flat layers.

Pita bread recipes differ from region to region but the basic ingredients are flour, water, salt, sugar and yeast or starter. Other ingredients that may be added include butter, shortening, or non-fat dry milk for flavor and texture. Pita bread dough is formed by hand into a round shape. During baking at high temperatures (usually 450 to 500 degrees F), it forms a pocket during baking -- the dry exterior skin of the dough sets and carbon dioxide from the yeast and steam from the liquid ingredients expand until the pressure is sufficient to allow separation of the lower and upper layers. The crust then lightly browns.

You can fill them with whatever your heart desires. When they are warm from the oven, it is nice to cut one open and spread a little butter on the inside...pure HEAVEN in a loaf!

Pizza

Pretzel or Prezels: (United States) Thin knotted cylinder

Pulgiese: (Italy) A slightly irregular round rustic bread, from the south of Italy, that is roughly a foot in diameter. The loaf has a thick, dark crust with traces of flour left from the proofing (rising) cloth and an open, cream-colored crumb.

Soda Cracker or Soda Crackers: (United States) Sourdough neutralized by baking soda.
SARAH SAYS: When making homemade crackers roll the dough though the roller of a manual pasta machine so it becomes thin and even.

NO YEAST OR LEAVENING, CALLED UNLEAVENED
Bannocks: (Scotland) Oat cakes

Chapati, Chapatti or Chapathi: Chapatis are one of the most common forms in which wheat, the staple of northern South Asia, is consumed. Chapati is a form of roti or rotta (bread). The words are often used interchangeably. While roti,rotta refers to any flat unleavened bread, chapati is a roti made of whole wheat flour and cooked on a tava (flat skillet).

Cracker or Crackers

Crepe or Crepes

Lavash: (Armenia) Paper-thin, often dried and rehydrated

Lefse: (Norway) Flour and potatoes, often with butter and cream

Matzoh (Matzo or matzah): (Middle East origins) unleavened very thin, cracker-like bread eaten by Jews especially at the Passover. First Known Use: 1650

Piasdine or Piada (Pronounced pyah-DEE-nah): (Italy) This pliable and thin Italian flatbread is usually stuffed with filling, such as meat and cheese, much as tortillas are in Latin America. It is not baked, but rather grilled giving it a different texture and appearance.

Shaobing: (China) Flour, water, lard, folded nd rolled, layered

Tortilla or Tortillas: (Mexico) Tortillas are popular. According to the Tortilla Industry Association, "tortillas are more popular today in the U.S. than all other ethnic breads, such as bagels, English muffins and pita bread."
 
There are two types of tortillas - corn or flour. Each have different ingredients and different origins. Corn tortillas originated in Mexico centuries ago while flour tortillas originated in Sonora, a northern Mexican state. It shares a long border with the US where Mexican cooks had access to white flour and incorporated it in a tortilla recipe. There are only two ingredients for corn tortillas: corn flour (masa) and water. For flour tortillas, there are more: all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, vegetable oil and milk. The ingredients are mixed in one bowl and then kneaded. The dough is then returned to the bowl, covered, and rested for 15 minutes. (This dough will not rise, but it needs a rest.)

Whether corn or flour tortillas, a piece of dough is then rolled into a golf-ball sized ball and then patted out into 6- to 7-inch rounds, between 1/16 to 1/8 thick.  This takes practice and expertise. Some home bakers use a tortilla press for making the thin tortillas. Then, the dough is baked on a hot cast-iron skillet or griddle. Traditionally, tortillas are cooked on a round, dry, earthenware griddle called a comal.

Corn tortillas, like flour tortillas, are best if eaten right after they are made. When baked, hot tortillas can be wrapped in aluminum foil and wrapped in a kitchen towel or napkin to stay hot and tender. Tortillas can be made 2 hours in advance, wrapped and reheated in a 350 degrees F oven for about 12 - 15 minutes. Don't microwave otherwise they toughen. To store, wrap them tightly in plastic, and they will keep, frozen, for several weeks. To serve, let them thaw in their wrappers and come to room temperature.
SARAH SAYS: Masa also known as Masa Harina may be difficult to find in some, principally northern, areas of the U.S., and you may have to ask your grocer to order it for you. It can also be obtained online.
 
Various Rye, Oat and Barley Flatbreads: (Scandinavia) Many dry