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
Summer, autumn, spring and winter. Rain, hail or shine.
Cuisine Greek or Mediterranean?
Those are flour tortillas, period.
Hi Samantha! Similar to many, that’s for sure! It’s like a roti, like a tortilla, like a Greek flat pita, like a Middle Eastern flatbread….the list goes on!
Wonderful recipe, so easy.
Thanks for posting
This is the third time I make it to accompany Moroccan food, today it was lemon chicken tajine
Decided to use two thirds milk, one third whipping cream (not whipped), one half teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of sugar
That made the dough more pliable, so I was able to make wider flatbreads while keeping the moisture and the dough tasted wonderful, according to my kids.
Thanks again.
Oooh. Now you’ve got ME in the mood for Moroccan!!! Glad you enjoyed it Gustavo, thanks for letting me know! N xx
This recipe is perfect! I made homemade butter for the first time, and used it and the butter milk that seperated from it to make the dough. The dough, however, is rather bland so i cooked it in garlic, added pepper to the dough, and topped with oregano. Thanks for a new recipe!
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it Bella! Thanks for letting me know!
I have made this recipe three times now. First time as white flat bread. Second time, I then turned them into tortilla chips. Third time I changed the flour wholemeal / white 50/50, and made naans. They all worked out brilliantly.
WOO HOO! HIGH FIVE, thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it Nicola! N x
Calories you posted is for one bread serving? 370
Yes that’s right 🙂
OMG! I just made these this morning! Fabulous, fabulous… my husband and I are eating the flatbread with hummus and guacamole! Mahalo! Can’t wait to try the chix soulvaki 🙂
WOO HOO! so glad to hear that Robin, thanks for letting me know! N x
Just tried these, my first ever flatbread, super easy, quick and delicious. Thank you, will definitely be making these again.
Hi Shingie, I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for taking the time to let me know – N x
Hi Nagi,
Can I substitute the milk out with almond or rice milk? I’m lactose intolerant.
Hi Lizza! I haven’t tried it myself but other readers have and it worked great!
Will ithr cooked bread keep in the fridge or freezer?
Hi Linda! Fridge for a couple of days and freezer works too!
Nagi,
I was wondering do I really need cling wrap? I dont have any, is there something else I could use instead?
Hi Nancy! You could use freezer bags? Anything to stop it from drying out!
Hi Nagi, I really want to try this flatbread but I try to used whole wheat flour whenever possible. What are your thoughts?
P.S. I love your recipes!
Hi Xenia! So glad you like my recipes, thanks Xenia! Yup, whole wheat works great with this! N x
Hi Nagi, so I tried this recipe with whole wheat flour and it turned out okay. There was just two issues: (1) the milk and butter mixture was not enough to pull all the flour together, I had to add some more water, and (2) it came out a little stiff – not as soft as yours looks. I’m not sure if it’s because of the whole wheat flour or maybe I over kneaded the dough – I just wanted to make sure it was well incorporated.
Ah. Hmm, I might have to give it a go myself. So the flatbread was not pliable?
In kenya we call this delicacy chapati …….. great to see it all the way in ausi
There are so many variations of this all around the world, I love reading about them!
These are the best!!! We has such a good time they taste great and no work at all!!! thank you soooo much.
I am from South Africa and we braai a lot this is a fantastic come-a-long go-a-long with everything!
Thank you
Woo hoo! So glad you enjoyed it Jenny!
hi can you freeze the bread
darryl
Hi Darryl! Yes, it freezes great!
Hi Nagi,
Thank you so much for this recipe it’s so easy and the wraps end up so delicious, I already made these twice!
I’m thinking about making these but with corn flower, have you tried already? What do you think? Will it work too?
Thanks and enjoy your cooking
Greetings from Portugal
AWESOME! So happy to hear you enjoyed this Diana, and thanks for letting me know! It won’t work with corn flour I don’t think, too different 🙂 N x
Nagi – when you say “plain” flour do you mean it is all purpose or self-rising or neither? I want to try out but not sure what kind of flour 🙂 Thank you,
Hi Trey! All purpose flour, we call it plain flour over here 🙂 Just updated recipe!
worked! 20 minutes all in. delicious
WOO HOO!
Quick question, i recently tried this dough and even though it came out delicious, it ended up puffing up a little bit and was a little thicker (more like pita bread than flat bread). Was it because i used too much flour? Or did I not roll the dough out flat enough? Should this be a wetter dough or drier though? Thanks!
Hi Yiffy! Yes, roll it out thinner so it is like flatbread 🙂 It should be a soft pliable dough that is a bit sticky, but not so sticky that it gets stuck on your hands 🙂
Nagi, your recipes are DIVINE, so so intuitively delicious if you know what I mean.. well what I mean is.. your palate and my palate is the same, accept you provide the most delicious recipes that I can only dream of and I love making them. I especially love Drozer. and your very cute baby hands…. I have a question, I live in north sydney, do you know of any good butchers for steak?
thank you for sharing your gift with us. Lilly
I hate my Baby Hands with inverted knuckles!!! 🙂 I’m so glad you like my recipes and I know exactly what you mean about same palettes. When you say north Sydney, do you mean North Sydney as in the suburb? If so, unfortunately not. 🙂
Does this go with a homemade type of fried rice?
And what type of packaging does it require? This is for a school thing