Essential Recipe Collection: Flat Bread

The story of how I almost lost my job in a Michelin Starred restaurant while learning to cook bread.

Image by Sweetyoga Justine on unsplashed

I’m not sure if it is the aroma, the sweet smell of charred yeast as it cooks over the glowing embers of the fire, or even if it is the way the warm soft bread enters your mouth directly off the braai, but this flatbread has got to be one of my biggest weaknesses.

If you know anything about South Africa, then you know just how widely integrated the braai, another name for a bbq, is in the South African culture. I am not referring to only the Xhosa, Afrikaans, or any individual culture, but rather the entire country as a whole.

When you have a braai it generally consists of a few different types of meat, perhaps some vegetables cooked over the fire, and generally, there will always be a form of bread, generally a type of bread known as braaibroodjies.

In this post, I won’t be talking much about these bundles of join yet, but rather I will be bringing to light a favorite of my own, flatbread.

It is not as traditional as the braaibroodjies, which I will write a post on soon, but it is as delicious and probably more util in other dishes, for example, I particularly love to cook these whenever I am making a curry-based dish such as bobotie or biryani.

The only tricky part of this recipe, as with all bread is working with the yeast.

This is one thing I used to struggle with when making bread in the past and I never truly understood what was going wrong until I worked on the pastry section in my first Michelin starred restaurant, I will never forget how much trouble I got into as I confidently made my first bread, not being as careful as I could have been when allowing the yeast to activate.

I mean the recipe said to use warm water. How was I to know that having the water too warm would kill the yeast rather than activate it?

I will never forget the look on my head chefs face as I pulled the bread out of the oven, flat as ever, if looks could kill I might have been dead on the spot

I am truly surprised I didn’t lose my job right then and there, but luckily the senior chef on the pastry section, known as the Chef de Partie, had been expecting something to go wrong considering it was my first time working with bread and he had prepared another load so that we would have bread for service.

It was that day that I learned you had to be extra careful when working with yeast, and while it is simple to do it is also simple to ruin completely.

After that day I spent an entire year on that section, just learning the art of making bread and pastry, also known as the art of patience, and I can honestly say I have never made that mistake again.

A little note on working with yeast.

When you work with yeast there are several things you need to know and be careful with.

1. Yeast needs to be proofed or activated. This is the most important step when working with yeast and it refers to placing the yeast into some warm water or milk, mixing it well, and waiting for five to ten minutes, or until it starts to bubble a bit.
2. The proofing liquid needs to be warm, not hot! As I have done in the past the liquid needs to be warm, but you should be careful not to have it too warm or too cold, if it is too warm it will kill the yeast, however, if too cold it won’t allow the yeast to activate. Ideally, it will be just above blood temperature.
3. Yeast loves sugar. Yeast metabolizes sugar, releasing carbon dioxide into the bread, which is why sometimes even adding a spoonful of sugar into the proofing liquid will help the yeast enormously. Also never leave out the sugar within a recipe, as it is an essential component for the yeast to do its job.
4. Yeast hates salt. Salt can prevent yeast from blooming or even kill the yeast if too much is added. Now you need to use salt to season, but never add it to the proofing liquid. When seasoning you do need to season well before baking as once it is mixed you cannot season again but you want to mix the salt with the flour and then bring the dough all together.
5. Keep the dough warm. While proofing is the most important part of the job, it does happen twice. Once within the liquid as the yeast activates and a second time after the dough has been made and we leave it to rise. Throughout the process, the dough should be left in a warm area so that the yeast can do its work.

The beauty of this recipe is in its simplicity. It is extremely quick and simple to prepare and almost impossible to get wrong, as long as you work with the yeast correctly it should be a breeze.

It can also be cooked in either a pan or over the braai but I do suggest the fire as this will give it a lovely smokey, charred flavor.

It is important to note that when cooking these you want them to be cooked over extremely high heat so that they cook fast, but also create air bubbles inside.

Ingredients

· 2 tsp Dry Yeast

· 1 tsp Caster Sugar

· 125ml Full-Fat Milk

· 187ml Water

· 15ml Olive Oil

· 7g Salt

· 750g Bread Flour

Method

1. In a small pot, mix the water and milk and warm it, but remember not to make it too hot.
2. Add the yeast and sugar with the milk and place it to the side for 10 minutes to activate.
3. In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt, make a small dip in the center and place the oil into it.
4. Slowly add the yeast mix while combining until a dough forms.
5. Once you have a dough, turn it out onto a floured surface and start to knead the dough by pushing and folding it, until it reaches a point that when you press it down with a finger it bounces back lightly, this is the stage that is known as medium gluten development.
6. Place it into a boil rubbed in olive oil and cover with cling film or a damp cloth.
7. Leave in a warm area until the dough has doubled in size.
8. Turn the dough out into a floured surface and cut it into eight equal-sized pieces, roll them each into a small ball and then place to the side and cover with a moist cloth and rest for a further twenty minutes.
9. Take each ball one at a time on a floured surface and roll them flat until they have a height of about half a centimeter.
10. If cooking on a braai, place over the hottest point on the braai and cook for approximately four minutes on either side. If cooking in a pan heat the pan over high heat and cook the same way.
11. Serve warm.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and you have learned from my mistake and can create amazing bread!

If you have any amazing bread recipes of your own, please comment and share them for me to try.