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:
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First time making flatbread and I followed the recipe as written. Made sure I had a really hot non stick pan. The flatbreads popped up beautifully and once cooked I brushed with melted garlic butter and kept warm under a tea towel. I must admit I did eat the first one to check while cooking the other 3 flat beds. Went well with the curry I cooked for dinner. Definitely a keeper.
Have made these flatbreads again and again. So easy for that bit of wow factor at the table. Can confirm that subbing in oat milk and olive oil works just as well as the regular milk and butter – the dough is just a touch greasier after being rolled out and waiting to be cooked.
Love this recipe, quick and easy, taste so good.
Is the nutritional info correct here… 370 calories for 1 serving/flatbread???
I also questioned this and calculated it as 260 calories per flatbread.
2 c flour (300gm) = 1092 calories
50gm butter = 359 calories
3/4 c milk = 112 calories
1563/6 flatbreads = 260.5 calories
That seems a little more accurate! Thank you!
This was amazing, the dough was so beautiful and soft. There is something therapeutic about kneading dough. I don’t have a non stick frypan so I cooked it on my bbq on high. They puffed up and were beautiful. These paired beautifully with the chicken gyros. I wish I could add a photo. On the recipe rotation for sure. Thanks Nagi x
Super easy to make, economical and quick! I made them to eat with the lamb kofta. Perfect 👌
I’ve never been confident to make flatbread, but this recipe looked so easy I gave it a go, and they turned out perfect!!! I couldn’t believe I’d made them!! Thank you Nagi!!!
Absolutely Fantastic: I cooked mine in a 50 year old Cast iron pan: they turned out perfectly: I’m never buying flatbread again; Also I didn’t use any oil Thanks Nagi
Absolutely Fantastic: I cooked mine in a 50 year old Cast iron pan: they turned out perfectly: I’m never buying flatbread again; Thanks Nagi
Do we use oil or not? Recipe says not to to, but in the video Nagi uses oil.
Nagi does say “I used oil but it isn’t necessary.”
I’ve never made decent flatbread until today, I figured out what I was doing wrong. It wasn’t until my 3rd flatbread that the pan was hot enough to immediately puff it up. Glad I had a dry pan, the heat needed was way beyond the smoking point of olive oil. It’s kinda like deep frying when you think the oil must be hot enough, but put in a thermometer and it’s not even close…
Have made these flat breads a couple of times, what a brilliant recipe, thank you!
Loved this flat bread recipe! I can’t wait to make it again and experiment with other ingredients.
I bake a lot of bread. This recipe is quick and easy.
I combined this with your Kofta recipe and my son was over the moon!. 🙂
Great recipe, thanks Nagi! If anyone doesn’t have a nonstick pan, I made these in a large stainless pan, worked perfectly. No oil, as per recipe. Just made sure the breads had a very light dusting of flour before putting into the hot pan.
I made it twice, first time I think I made it too hard and too thick but the taste was delicious and it was more like an Indian flat bread. Second time I made it softer and flatter. It’s like the best tortilla I’ve ever had.
This recipe works really well. At the moment I have an injured forearm, wrist, and hand, so hand-kneading dough isn’t an option. I put the dough together in my mixer, rested it, then portioned it out. A rolled the balls put just enough to be able to use my pasta rolling machine. It worked a treat & my kids enjoyed the flat bread a lot.
Thanks for sharing the recipe!
How is it even possible for EVERYTHING you have on your website to be so unbelievably good?!! It boggles my mind 😳.
I know, right?
PERFECT!!
Did anyone use whole thighs?
How long did you cook? I bought bone in thighs by mistake and took the skin off. Thanks.