These wholemeal flatbread are my easy version of naan bread. Perfect for scooping up a curry, dipping in soup, using as a pizza base, or just spreading with your favourite lunch toppings.
Here’s what’s about to go down…
- A cosy comforting wholemeal spelt base
- Soft in the middle but crispy on the outside
- Serve them as is, or spread with a garlic herb butter for garlicky flatbread vibes
With just 10 minutes to prep, and 2 minutes to cook each side, these are truly the floatiest puffed up flatbreads you’ll ever make. The perfect complex carbohydrate to add to your next salad, soup, or lonely avo half.
How to Make Wholemeal Flatbread
How to Make Flatbreads Healthy
Flatbreads, or breads in general, are typically made with white refined bleached wheat flour. In other words, wheat grains which have been ground down, and had the bran and germ removed. These are the outer layers of the grain, which contain the vast majority of the protein, B vitamins, fibre, and omega 3 essential fatty acids. These outer components also help the energy from the grain to be absorbed into your blood stream slowly, providing nice long slow-release energy to last you hours, without the blood sugar spike.
Alas, a typical flatbread avoids all these. Then doubles down by getting mixed up with the wrong crowd aka dairy.
Benefits of Wholemeal Spelt
My flatbreads instead use wholemeal spelt as their base. I’ve raved about my love of wholemeal spelt before, namely in these Spelt & Flax Ugly Rolls. Essentially, it’s a healthy version of wheat flour, a cousin of modern wheat, which has a much more advantageous nutritional profile, and yet retains all the same fluffy baking-friendly qualities that we love wheat for.
16% more protein and 50% more antioxidants than regular white wheat flour, and if you choose the wholemeal version like I recommend – considerably more fibre, B vitamins, and omegas too. It’s a super easy swap in your kitchen that I highly recommend, which you can then use in virtually all of your favourite baking recipes.
What to Serve These Wholemeal Flatbread With
The sky is pretty much limit when it comes to what you can do with these flatbreads. I love to use them to scoop up a vege curry (like this Thai Panang Curry), dip into a soup (like this Get Your Greens Soup), or literally just spread with relish, avocado, hummus, and pile up whatever salad vege I have in the fridge.
They do taste best straight out of the pan though, so if you’re not serving them straight away, put the dough balls or rolled out flat breads in the fridge in a sealed container until you’re ready to cook. I’ve left the dough up to a day in the fridge like this, and they still turn out great. You can also pop the dough balls in the freezer and pull them out the night before you want to cook them. The baking powder still seems to have some action, despite the pause.
One other way to make these extra special, is to spread the second side after you’ve flipped them, with with a mix of olive or coconut oil, crushed garlic, and chopped parsley. Garlic flatbread here we come.
One more note – the dough balls do need a good 5 minute knead before separating into portions, and then do need to sit for at least 10 minutes to let the gluten settle before rolling. Outside of that, these are pretty much a 10 minute job.
Need Something to Scoop Your Flatbread Into? Try These
What do you think, you game to give these a go? Leave me a comment and rating below when you do, or tag me @begoodorganics in a pic on Instagram. I can’t wait to hear what you think.
Enjoy, and til next time, just eat more plants.
Ingredients
Base
- 2 c wholemeal spelt flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ¾ c plant-based milk
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Mix ingredients in a bowl, adding a tablespoon or two more milk if needed to get a soft dough. Knead on a floured board for 5 minutes until smooth, then divide into 8 portions and leave to rest on the bench for at least 10 minutes (up to a few hours).
- Roll each piece of dough into a large thin circle, drizzle and spread with a little more olive oil, then cook olive oil side down in a medium-hot pan for 2 minutes until just puffed, then flip for another minute until golden. Transfer to a plate, cover with a tea towel to keep soft and warm, and repeat with the remaining dough. Eat straight away for a soft version, or later for crispy.
Recipe Notes
- Gluten free: Use your favourite gluten free flour mix, although they won’t be as puffy as when using wholemeal spelt.
- Oil free: Omit the oil from the mix, and fry them in a non stick pan. They work and taste better though with a little oil (it helps keep them soft).
- The dough balls do need to sit for at least 10 minutes to let the gluten settle before rolling, but you can leave them for up to a few hours without the baking powder losing it’s oomph. They do taste best straight out of the pan though, so if you’re not serving them straight away, put the dough balls or rolled out flat breads in the fridge in a sealed container until you’re ready to cook. I’ve left them up to a day in the fridge like this and they still turn out great. You can also pop the dough balls in the freezer overnight
- You can also spread the top side (after flipping) with a mix of olive or coconut oil, crushed garlic, and chopped parsley, for a garlic herb flatbread.
Did You Make This?
Tag @begoodorganics
I can’t wait to see your creations!
