Recipe: Grilled Flatbread
A few weeks ago I went to my friend Lucy’s house for a loose sort of pot-luck thing (I brought stuff for guacamole, and a chickpea & eggplant spread). Lucy is like me… concerned about the state of food in our country and due to some allergies of her own decided a while back to clean up her diet. She took out wheat because it didn’t really agree with her, something I know can be a very difficult and challenging task, especially if you’re still shopping at conventional markets. But my girl Lucy is a champ, and a good cook, and on that slightly chilly Saturday evening she introduced me to grilled flatbreads. You might think that someone cutting wheat out of their diet would have said farewell to breads long ago, but this is not your ordinary bread. It was extra-ordinary!
Making these flatbreads couldn’t be easier, and since that evening, I’ve been experimenting with making my own. I don’t have a big fancy grill like she does (sorry, like her husband does. That this is all Mike.), but my cast iron skillet makes a great substitute. I’d asked her how she made hers but could only remember snippets, so I set to find my own way. While she used two non-gluten containing flours, I ended up throwing some in mine, but really it’s good either way. We both started with Quinoa flour which, thanks to my coffee grinder (reserved solely for grinding grain and spices), gets whizzed up in about 8-10 seconds. My first attempt at a flatbread was pretty good, but not great. I paired garbanzo bean flour with the quinoa flour, some salt, herbs, oil, and water, and while the texture was nice and crisp, the flavor was a little too beany for me.
So I played around some more, and came up with the recipe below. The beauty of these kinds of breads is that they don’t need to rise, and they take about 5-10 minutes to grill up, which means you can whip it up while the rest of your dinner is cooking, or when guests are on the way over. These flatbreads go with just about any spreads, from hummus and tapenade, to guacamole or just a plain olive oil. You can use these flatbreads to make a grilled pizza, or an open-faced sandwich… really anything. As a bonus if you use quinoa and/or chickpea flour you’ll be packing a huge protein punch in a whole new way!
Ingredients
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
3-5 tablespoons water
fresh or dried herbs (optional)
Preparation:
1. Heat grill, or cast iron skillet over medium high heat.
2. In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Add the oil and 3 tablespoons of water to start. Mix the dough using a wooden spoon, and add more water if necessary. If the dough becomes to wet or sticky, simply add more flour.
3. Turn the ball of dough onto a floured surface and knead a few times to smooth it out. Add more flour to prevent sticking. Flatten the dough out using your hands to a rough circle about 1/4 inch thick.
4. Place dough directly on an oil grill or oiled cast iron skillet and cook about 3-5 minutes on each side until golden brown.
5. Break apart, or cut into strips and serve.
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