This soft and delicious flatbread is perfect for dipping, eating alongside soup or salad, or stuffing with your favorite fillings for a hearty wrap! It is easy to make and so bread-like that you won't guess it's gluten-free.
When I think about flatbread, I often think about dipping it in a rich and creamy curry sauce...
...or in hummus, tzatziki, or some hot cheesy onion-y dip...
...and I think of a flatbread that is soft, tastes good, and has just the slightest bit of chew.
While you could use another type of bread or bun for dipping, sometimes a flatbread is the only thing that will do.
And have I got a recipe for you!
Simple Ingredients
This recipe has more ingredients than a regular wheat flour flatbread recipe, but considering it is gluten-free, it's actually still very simple. As with all my bread or baked goods recipes, I like to use gluten-free flours that are affordable, easily found, and are basic enough that they are used in many gluten-free recipes.
The dry ingredients for this flatbread is simply brown rice flour, tapioca starch, and sorghum flour, which are then whisked together with a bit of xanthan gum and salt. There is also yeast in this flatbread as I found that it gives the bread a nice flavor and extra airiness that couldn't be achieved by just using baking powder. (Read Recipe Notes below regarding yeast.)
For the wet ingredients, you need water, some light oil, and Greek yogurt. That's it!
Mix the wet and dry ingredients together really well with a spoon or stand mixer until your dough comes together, and then just let it rest in the bowl for about 20 minutes.
Working the Dough
Now, believe it or not, you can actually "knead" this gluten-free dough a bit. Kneading it doesn't actually serve the same purpose as it does for regular wheat doughs as there is no gluten to be worked. However, it does help form a smoother, more cohesive dough, just by working it for less than a minute. Kneading it on a work surface lightly dusted with rice flour also helps to make the dough less shaggy and tacky and much easier to handle.
I cut the dough into 8 equal pieces for this recipe, roll each piece into a ball, and then let it rest for 10 minutes before I start flattening them out. (Read Recipe Notes regarding making fewer and larger flatbreads from this recipe.)
In terms of flattening out the dough balls into flatbread shapes, all I use are my hands. Because this is not regular wheat dough, these will not stretch and cannot be pulled. I simply press down on the dough balls with my fingers, flipping the dough on the floured surface after a couple of presses to make sure it is not sticking. I flatten them to about 1cm thick, not wanting to go too thin as they will be harder to transfer to the pan.
Cooking the Bread
All you need is a skillet or grill to cook up the flatbread. I lightly grease my skillet over medium-high heat and carefully transfer the flatbread to the pan. The dough will break if not handled carefully, and if that happens, simple press the dough back together with your fingers on the floured work surface before trying to move it again.
Brush the tops of the flatbreads with a bit of light oil (I use extra light olive oil) and let them cook for approximately 1.5-2 minutes, until it is lightly browned on the bottom. Flip and cook another minute, again until it has browned on the underside.
Before you know it, you will end up with a stack of SOFT and delicious flatbread that is oh-so-slightly crisp on the outside and tender and very bread-like in the middle.
What Can You Eat with It?
Let me count the ways.
The first thing I always think of with flatbreads is eating them with a curry...and specifically, my Rich and Creamy Butter Chicken. Just like with Indian naan bread, you need something to mop up all that delicious curry sauce and not let it go to waste, and this flatbread is the perfect solution!
Another way I enjoy eating these is by dipping them in hummus. Go buy a tub of your favorite hummus or try making my Roasted Cauliflower Hummus, and when you eat it with a chunk of this flatbread, you will love it. It is OH-SO-GOOD.
You can also dip this in tzatziki, bean dips, hot cheesy dips, soup...basically, they are incredibly dippable! But beyond dipping, stuff one with some of your favorite fillings like grilled chicken or steak and eat it like a taco or wrap. Eat them alongside a hearty salad or comforting soup. Top it with some tomato sauce and mozzarella and make them into mini pizzas. Not only is this flatbread delicious, it's also incredibly versatile!
If you'd like to see what other sorts of breads you can make gluten-free, take a look at my Easy Oh-So-Good Gluten-Free Bagels, Gluten-Free Parmesan Sage Foccacia, and my Soft Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread. These are only just a few from several on the blog!
This recipe started out many attempts ago (15 attempts, to be exact) as a way to figure out how to make a gluten-free naan. Knowing what real naan is like made this experiment especially tough and eventually I abandoned the idea of calling it naan altogether. However, I finally got it to a point where, while this is definitely a flatbread, you could also consider it a worthy gluten-free option for naan.
So whether you call this flatbread, naan, dipping bread, pita bread...whatever...you're going to love how easy this is to make, and you'll be pleasantly surprised that gluten-free can also mean soft and delicious!
~ Lisa.
Soft Gluten-Free Flatbread
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 75 g tapioca starch
- 70 g rice flour
- 50 g sorghum flour
- 1 teaspoon active yeast
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
- ½ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients:
- ½ cup Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup warm water
- 2 teaspoon light olive oil (or any neutral-flavored oil)
Equipment
Instructions
- Combine all dry ingredients in mixing bowl.
- Add Greek yogurt, warm water, and oil to the dry ingredients and mix well with a spatula or wooden spoon.
- Form into a cohesive dough with your hands.
- Shape dough into a ball and let rest in the bowl, covered with a towel, for 20 minutes.
- Transfer dough to work surface dusted with brown rice flour and cut into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball.
- Cover dough balls with a towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Using brown rice flour as needed to prevent sticking, flatten dough ball into discs with your hands and flipping a few times as you flatten.
- Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Add a small amount of light oil to the pan and use a paper towel to spread the oil and to wipe out any excess.
- Carefully transfer flat bread to skillet and let cook for 1-2 minutes, until bottom is nicely browned.
- Flip flatbreads and cook 1-2 minutes more until light browned on the underside. Transfer to a cooling rack.
- Serve warm.
Notes
- If you are using active yeast, you can either add it directly to the bowl with the dry ingredients if you are confident it is still active. OR you can proof it in the ¼ cup of warm water and a pinch of sugar before adding it to the dry ingredients.
- If you are using instant yeast, add it directly to the bowl with the dry ingredients and there is no need to proof.
- If you want to make 4 larger flatbreads instead of 8 smaller ones, do not press the dough balls as thin, making them no thinner than 1.5cm as they will be harder to transfer to the skillet and risk breaking more easily.
- You can use either brown rice flour or tapioca starch to dust your work surface. Using tapioca starch will give the bread a slightly more chewy texture to the exterior, whereas using the rice flour will be slightly softer.
- Dough will be soft and fragile.
- Press dough balls into disc no less than ⅛-inch or 3mm thick; if it's too thin, it will be hard to transfer to the pan.
- You can brush the cooked naan flatbread with ghee and sprinkle with coarse salt or coriander for a more authentic Indian style.
- Add garlic powder to the dry ingredients to add a garlicky flavor to your flatbread.
- Leftover flatbread should be stored in a sealed container or zip top bag. Warm in the microwave, toaster, or in a skillet.
- Perfect for dipping in curries and hummus. Also delicious using as a wrap and stuffed with your favorite fillings.
Nutrition
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