I like making my own bread, and haven’t bought bread from bakeries or stores for a long while. Homemade bread is not only sustaining, it makes me a better baker with ongoing practices and experimentation. Besides, I know exactly what goes into my breads. Whole wheat, whole grains, sourdough, nuts and seeds; they are all good building blocks for a healthy diet. Lately, I have been focusing on flatbreads. There is a variety of great recipes on this blog, each highlighting a special ingredient or methodology. Among them, the soft and pillowy flatbread is the tenderest of all.
On a side-note, I’m pleased to see that my daughter is taking up baking in earnest. In fact, she is the one who’s discovered and baked the pillowy flatbread. Everyone likes how soft the bread is. The recipe comes from Claire Saffitz’s Dessert Person. The dough contains a secret ingredient—mashed potato which keeps these flatbreads moist and pliable.
In turn, Claire Saffitz learned the technique from Hanna Rose Strauss, former Bon Appétit Deputy Editor Julia Kramer’s great-grandmother. In addition to the usual ingredients of yeast, flour, salt and water, you need one russet potato to make eight flatbreads. (See the recipe below for details.) Guess what, you may even use leftover baked potato to make the bread. And, you may also substitute an equal weight of sweet potato for the russet potato.
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. ~ John Muir
Soft and Pillowy Flatbread by Claire Saffitz
Ingredients
- 1 russet potato (about 8 oz/ 227g), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast (0.11 0z/ 3g)
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (15 oz/ 423g), plus more for the work surface
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (1 oz/ 28g), plus more for the bowl
- 2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt (0.21 oz/ 6g)
- Flaky salt, for sprinkling the top
Instructions
COOK AND MASH THE POTATO: Place the potato in a small saucepan and cover with cold water just until the pieces are submerged. Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until the potato is very tender and a fork easily slides into the center of it, 12 to 16 minutes. Remove from heat and use a slotted spoon to transfer the potatoes to a medium bowl; reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Mash the potatoes inside the bowl with a large fork or potato masher until no lumps remain and set aside.
PROOF THE YEAST: Let the reserved potato cooking liquid cool until it's lukewarm but not hot (105°F on an instant-read thermometer). Combine 1/4 cup of the lukewarm liquid (2 oz/ 57g) and the yeast in a large bowl and whisk to dissolve the yeast. Let the mixture sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.
MIX THE DOUGH: Add the remaining 3/4 cup potato cooking liquid (6 oz/ 170g) to the bowl with the yeast, then add the flour, olive oil, salt and the mashed potato. Mix with a wooden spoon until you have a shaggy dough, then scrape everything onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough, adding a bit more flour as needed if it's sticky, until the dough is very soft and elastic and slightly tacky—it might stick to your hands slightly but should pull away from the surface cleanly — 10 to 12 minutes. You can also mix the dough in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook on medium speed until the dough is barely pulling away from the sides, adding more flour as needed, 8 to 10 minutes.
LET THE DOUGH RISE ONE TIME: Wash and dry the bowl you used to mix the dough, then lightly oil the inside. Gather the dough into a ball, place it inside the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let sit at room temperature until the dough is double in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
PREPARE A BAKING SHEET: Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly oil the parchment. Set aside.
PORTION AND SHAPE THE DOUGH: Uncover the dough and use your fist to punch it down lightly to expel some of the gases that built up during the first rise. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and use a bench scraper to divide in into 8 equal pieces.
Working with one piece of dough at a time, gather all the edges and pinch them together to form a teardrop shape. Place the piece of dough seam-side down on the work surface. Holding your fingers in a cupped position like you're playing the piano, place your hand on top of the dough and drag the dough across the surface, moving your hand in a rapid circular motion, to form it into a tight ball. Do not add flour, as this step requires friction between the dough and the surface. Place the ball on the prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Repeat the forming process until you've shaped all 8 pieces of dough and place them underneath the plastic wrap on the baking sheet. (At this stage, tightly covered, the dough can be refrigerated up to 16 hours.)
LET THE DOUGH RISE A SECOND TIME: Let the dough sit at room temperature until the balls are nearly doubled in size, 40 to 50 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet with the risen dough balls to the refrigerator.
ROLL OUT THE FLATBREADS: Remove a piece of dough from the baking sheet, keeping the rest covered and in the refrigerator, and place it on an unfloured work surface. Roll out the dough to a thin round about 7 or 8-inches in diameter. The dough will be very relaxed and should only require a small amount of pressure with the pin, but don't add any flour since the friction with the surface will help the dough extend.
PREHEAT THE SKILLET: Heat a large, dry skillet (preferably cast-iron) or griddle over medium heat for several minutes.
COOK THE FLATBREAD: Peel the flatbread carefully off the work surface and transfer it to the preheated skillet. Cook until the bottom is lightly charred all over and the surface of the dough has bubbled up and gone from shiny and sticky to matte and dry, 1 to 2 minutes. Turn the flatbread and cook on the second side until the dough is cooked through, about another 30 seconds. Transfer to a cooling rack and sprinkle immediately with flaky salt.
ROLL AND COOK THE REMAINING FLATBREADS: Remove one piece of dough at a time from the refrigerator and repeat the rolling and cooking process until all the flatbreads are cooked. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Adapted from "Dessert Person" by Claire Saffitz
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