Looking for the right flatbread

My family brought a giamongst amount of wheat flour that they hardly use and I thought it’d be a waste to let it just expire. This prompt me to decide what to make out of it, and what else other than flatbread! I am even considering introducing flatbread into my staple diet if it is easy to make. But upon looking for the recipe I realised there are different types of flatbread to choose from and so I started my journey to find the right type of flatbread to make.

The criteria to find the right type of flatbread is that it must be simple & easy to make, and it must be versatile so I can eat it as wraps, dip into various types of food, eat it with soup or perhaps make pizza out of it.

Types of flatbread:

• Traditional flatbread: there is actually no such thing of traditional flatbread but in this case, I refer it to unleavened flatbread made of the minimal ingredients of flour, water, and possibly salt.
• Pita bread:  Mediterrean Greek leavened flatbread made from yeast, flour, water and other ingredient. It is great for wraps or pocket sandwich.
• Naan: Indian & Middle Eastern flatbread that is more thicker and softer as it may includes yoghurt. It is ideal for dipping into curry or similar texture food.
• Chapti/Roti: Indian flatbread. Chapti and Roti are similar but differ from the type of flour, whether it includes salt or oil and how it is cooked.
• Torilla: viva Mesoamerica!
• Laobing: Chinese version of flatbread with simple ingredients of flour, water and salt.
• Piadina Romagnola: Italian flatbread
• Tandyr nan: Central Asia flatbread. Comes in two varieties: Obi non and Tohax.

Other note worthy flatbread in my opinion includes Paratha (layered Indian flatbread), Focaccia (thicker Italian flatbread), Arepa (Venezuela corn flatbread), Bin (Mongolian fried thin bread), Laffa (Israeli flatbread), Lavash (Armenia), Eish Baladi (standard Egyptian flatbread), Bataw (Egyptian flatbread that includes corn flour), Khoubz (Middle Eastern home made flatbread), Saj (Middle Eastern flatbread) Manakish (Lebanese flatbread pizza), Yufka (very thin Turkish flatbread), Bazlama (thicker Turkish flatbread) and Melaouah.

What is Traditional Flatbread?

Is there such a thing called traditional flatbread? Well, actuality there is no such thing of one traditional flatbread because each country has there own traditional flatbread. But in this context I simply mean unleavened flatbread made from the minimal ingredients of flour, water, and possibly salt.

I think it is worth looking into different cultures that used the basic ingredients of flour, water and possibly salt. Compare how they cooked flatbread. Perhaps look into whether there was an origin to where it may have started.

My choice of flatbread:

Of all the choice of flatbread, I’ve decided to pick Traditional Flatbread. Mainly because I like the simple ingredients and it’s timeless authentic taste. I will try various variation such as ratio of water-flour and how it’s cooked. I may also include other ingredients such as oil or olive oil and find ways to make it more softer.

Other flatbread I would like to incorporate into my cooking is Laobing and Tandyr nan. Laobing has the same ingredients as traditional flatbread but more oil is used to help create layers. Tandry nan type, especially the Tohax seems good for breakfast with tea.

You may be interesting in these articles I found online:

50 best rated flatbread in the world

Different types of breads