An easy, soft flatbread recipe that’s made without yeast, an excellent quick option when you don’t have hours for yeast dough to rise. You’ll love how soft and pliable this flat bread is, making it perfect to use as wraps for Gyros, Shawarma and Doner kebabs. Or as naan to dunk into Tikka Masala or Butter Chicken. The possibilities are endless!
Flatbread recipe
I love fresh homemade bread. And though I bake bread with yeast more frequently nowadays, I still find it easier and a general preference to make bread without yeast.
Maximum taste, most tasty outcome with minimum effort – but without compromising on the end result. That’s my ultimate goal and the ethos that underpins every recipe I share here on RecipeTin Eats.
Over the years, I have tried a lot of flatbread recipes. Flatbreads from many different cuisines, from blogs and cooking sites, by home cooks, from reality cooking shows (yes, Master Chef and My Kitchen Rules!), serious chefs and celebrity chefs.
But I always found they were too doughy (e.g. the ones that only use yoghurt as the wet ingredient) or too crisp to use as a wrap unless they were moistened with lashings of butter. Absolutely delicious, mind you. But not what I was after. So this recipe is my idea of a perfect flatbread recipe.
How to make Flatbread – with NO yeast
This flatbread recipe is made with no yeast. It is very easy to make, requiring just a minute or two of kneading.
And it honestly is beautifully soft and pliable. So soft you can use it as a wrap and it won’t crack.
And of course, it is perfect to be used as pita bread, for things like Greek Gyros and Greek Chicken Souvlaki.
And here I have used it as “naan” as a side for Butter Chicken. When I make it to be like “naan”, I cook it on a slightly higher heat to get larger and more brown bits on it – just like real naan! The crust gets slightly crispier so it’s not as suited to use as a wrap, like in the above photo. (PS If you’ve got the time to make proper naan, try my Naan recipe. It’s just like the real deal!)
If you’ve never tried homemade bread before, this flatbread recipe is a great one to start with because it really is that easy. The worst that can happen with this flatbread recipe is that the heat is too high when you cook it so the exterior ends up a bit too crunchy and cracks when you roll it. If that happens, just spray it with olive oil or brush lightly with oil or butter and it will moisten the surface.
Try this once, and store-bought flatbreads will never be the same again. That I can promise! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
I’ve added oil but it’s not necessary. Please follow your recipe card below.
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Easy Soft Flatbread (No Yeast)
Ingredients
- 2 cups plain flour (all purpose flour) (level cups, unsifted, not packed), + keep 1/4 cup extra for dusting & adjusting dough
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 1/2 tbsp / 50g unsalted butter (1.75 oz)
- 3/4 cup milk
Instructions
- Melt butter in milk: Combine butter and milk and heat until butter is just melted – on stove or in microwave.
- Combine Dry: Combine 2 cups flour, salt, butter and milk in a bowl.
- Knead 2 minutes: Sprinkle work surface with flour then knead for a few minutes until it is smooth – it doesn't need much kneading. Add extra flour if the dough is too sticky.
- Rest 30 minutes: Wrap with cling wrap and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes or so.
- Roll into rounds: Dust bench top with flour, cut dough into 6 pieces, roll into balls, then roll out into 20cm / 8" rounds, 2 – 3 mm thick.
- Heat pan: Heat a non stick pan over high heat (no oil). (Note 1)
- Cook: Place one flatbread in the pan, cook for around 1- 1 1/2 minutes – it should puff up dramatically. Once the underside has nice golden patches on it, flip and cook the other side for 45 seconds to 1 minute until the underside has golden spots and it puffs up again.
- Keep wrapped in tea towel: Stack the cooked bread and keep wrapped with a tea towel – the moisture helps soften the surface, making them even more pliable. Continue to cook with remaining pieces.
- Brush with butter or oil (optional): Brush or spray bread with olive oil or melted butter, for a more luxurious finish. Or even with melted butter mixed with minced garlic for a garlic butter version!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
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Wow! These are so even gluten free. For gluten free try Bob’s Red Mill ‘Cup for Cup’ and change nothing else – they’re possibly a little doughier thanthey would be but I don’t know… I think they look, taste, and wrap great. Thank you.
First time trying to make flatbread. This recipe was great and basically fool proof. I’m excited to try adding some herbs and garlic next time. Thank you! 🙂
This recipe is a life saver. I whipped up a batch whilst making butter chicken and it was soooooo delicious. Another winner – thanks Nagi
Thanks for this recipe it is perfect when you have to follow a low histamine diet, and there are are not many available recipes for low histamine diet
Will definitely give this a try
Never made flatbread before. The recipe was so easy and the result was delicious. Thank-you.
Made this as to the recipe, great with Dahl. Worked wonderful for me.
Many thanks, I am making more today..
I am now looking at your baked Ziti recipe, lol
Hello, can I make this recipe with spelt flour?
I followed the recipe to the letter, but the breads did not puff up, they remained flat and had a greasy texture to them. By far the worst flatbreads I have made.
Sorry you had issues Stuart – there isn’t any reason why they should be greasy unless you mismeasured the ingredients. Try cooking over a higher heat as that will cause them to puff up slightly more 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi, I have so enjoyed browsing through your recipes as they all look so delicious! For this recipe, which I would love to try, I have two questions. First, what diameter are these, 8-10 inches? Secondly, can these be frozen and if so how would you reheat them? Thanks for sharing your love of cooking!
Love this flat bread, make it all the time to use as wraps or naan. It makes just the right amount as well. Thanks Nagi 👏
Hi there,
Loving the flatbread recipe – will it work in the oven also?
Hi Frances, I prefer to cook over direct heat for this flatbread 🙂 N x
burnt it a little after brushing with olive oil it stayed pretty soft.I’ll use it for a wrap next time:)
Have tried your flatbread nd it was delicious, all the famjly loved it.. Thnak you for sharing 😊
Why is the sodium content so high? I looked for information on individual ingredients and did not find them to be so high. I have not made this recipe yet as my husband is on a low sodium diet, wanted to check
Hi Barbara, you could always leave out the salt to reduce the sodium level here 🙂 N x
Made a lovely, amazing, absolutely amazing wrap. I like to have them thick and small so that it fills you up. I didn’t use butter tho. I used 30gms canola oil, 5 grams butter, and 15 grams extra virgin olive oil. Elevated the flavour so much
Wow, this dough was a dream to work with! Once it rested, it was so supple, rolled out with no issues and tasted great! I did make a little mistake by placing wax paper in between each rolled piece and boy what a mistake this was! Think bubble gum in hot asphalt sticky…so I peeled them, re-rolled and cooked them per your instructions. I used them to wrap my homemade gyros with my own Tzatziki, perfection! Thank you for such an easy and delicious recipe. This is my new favorite flat bread, and the hubs agrees. 😉
Finally! I found a recipe that works! Just like you Ive tried so many flatbread recipes but this is EXACTLY what I wanted!
I made it with vegetable oil and not butter…but it came out perfectly…thank you sooo much for this…
Really easy to make. Turned out great. Had to double the recipe to serve 4 people, didn’t have time to let second batch rest, just kneaded for a bit longer, still turned out pretty good.
Grated lots of cheese, folded dough over the cheese and rolled…to make kids friendly “cheese naan”. It was more like cheese parathas but still awesome quick and yum.
just made these with the gyros. Ive made the gyros about a dozen times but with the flatbread… SO good
I’m so glad you love it Lorraine!! N x
Should I use salted or unsalted butter?
Hi Eddie, I always use unsalted in my recipes so I can control the amount of salt added. N x