In case you've been wondering... I'm still alive and cooking. Maybe a little worse for the wear with my present workload, but nevertheless finding some time to spend in the kitchen. My veggie proatcake game is getting better and better (lemon poppyseed loaves woot!). My nondairy faux-lo top is... a work in progress. Several massive bakes came and went, woefully undocumented because pictures are still an afterthought for me. Nate is back on the wagon so there's a lot of #hisandhers posts I could have been writing up, but didn't.
However, I wanted to share this with you. I found the original recipe here and have since scaled it up and make it too many times to count.
Don't expect these to be like tortillas, roti, or any other flatbread really. We're still dealing with Alternative Foods here. However, these are perfectly serviceable as structural component for burritos, a vehicle for curry, or even a crepe-like sweet to hold sauteed apple slices or a protein spread.
Basic flatbreads
Makes 6 small flatbreads
Nutrition: these are essentially pure fiber, with little to no calories (from the baking powder, primarily).
45g white oat fiber (I use LifeSource) OR 60g brown oat fiber (e.g., Anthony's Oats)
12g konjac glucomannan powder
2 t psyllium husk powder
0 to 1t baking powder
1/8 t salt
Approx 260 ml hot water
Sweet variant, best with brown oat fiber:
(full 1t baking powder)
2 T splenda
1/8 t cinnamon
Before you whip up the flatbread "dough":
Cut the sides of a 1-gallon freezer bag so it unfolds in one long sheet. Wonder where you put away that tortilla press back in 2013. Preheat a nonstick skillet on medium to medium-low heat (45% on mine) or a nonstick griddle up to a surface temperature of aboute 400F.
It's time to get this (very tame and slightly cardboard-tasting) party started.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, pour the hot water and quickly and thoroughly fold in the dry ingredients. You have a limited window to combine the ingredients well and avoid dry lumps, as the resulting dough will quickly become very thick and firm, almost dry. You should be able to use a spatula to "cut" the dough into 6 equal wedges within the bowl. Keep the bowl covered with a lid or plate while you work (but see notes).
Shape a wedge of dough into a ball and flatten it inside the previously butchered freezer bag. Use a rolling pin or a tortilla press (preferred) to flatten it out to approx 1 mm thickness. Delicately peel it off the plastic, supporting it with one hand as needed, and gently transfer it onto the hot skillet or griddle. You're manipulating something not unlike a grossly undercooked gluten-free crepe.
Leave the flatbread alone (why not get the next guy flattened out?) until most of the top surface appears dry. Thinner edges may begin curling up. Use a spatula to gently press down on the flatbread (it should move freely at this point), wait one more minute, and flip it over.
Left: Just dropped, barely starting to dry around the edges. Right: See all those white spots? Ready to flip. (You can get away with flipping it sooner, i.e. before the white dots cover the entire surface of the flatbread.)
From left to right: Flipped and slightly overdone, flipped and almost done, recently dropped and only beginning to dry.
The flatbread is done when both sides are dry. Transfer to a cooling rack.
It's easy to slightly overcook the flatbread, at which point it will begin to shrink and release moisture in small pockets (see also the left panel of the previous picture for some evidence of shrinkage). Your instict will be to cook these longer to dry them out; don't - they will only release more moisture as they shrink. Let them cool with the sweaty side up and you'll be fine
Rinse, repeat. Lots of times. I hope you have a good podcast going.
In case you were wondering what the brown oat fiber version looks like. The raw dough isn't quite as smooth but they come together beautifully in the end.
Notes and troubleshooting:
On baking powder: I'm still on the fence as to how/why/to what extent this works, but adding some seems to make the flatbreads moistier and softer (but not fluffy). This is something I prefer for curries, but skip for tortilla-like applications. If you figure out what role the baking powder plays, let me know.
On water: Perhaps this is superstitious, but I find that hot water seems to help the raw flatbreads release from the plastic more easily. Something about the steam?
On problematic dough: If your dough does not peel off the plastic easily or falls apart on its way to the pan, it's too wet. Leave your batch of dough uncovered; it should dry up and firm up while to you work, namely to re-do that first flatbread you just destroyed.
On doneness: Unless you make your dough super thin, it will appear somewhat moist on the inside. It is possible to achieve some light browning, but I find the dough usually loses some flexibility in the process so I don't bother.
On preparing ahead: I make these so often I typically keep a few small plastic containers holding premixed dry ingredients for these at the ready. After all, it's easy enough to weigh out a few batches' worth of flatbreads when I'm making proatcakes for the week. These have a fairly high water content but will keep well at room temperature for about three days, about a week in the refrigerator, and much longer in the freezer, separated by paper towels.
On making big batches: I'll often cook up to 24 flatbreads in one sitting, but I would not advocate scaling the recipe up beyond the quantities above. I was getting less consistent results, at least in part due to the difficulty of mixing a large amount of dough thoroughly before it seizes up.
On questionable tortilla press investments (or skills?): My tortilla press is pretty terrible (but it was cheap) so it needs extra help from cardboard. The remnants of wine and lowfat popcorn boxes are the perfect thickness, and my life in a nutshell. I also usually rotate bag/cardboard/dough assembly 90 degrees at least once, if not twice, and press more than once to get a thinner, more consistent flatbread.
