Turkish Flatbread (with a sourdough twist)

This is a very simple flatbread recipe that I found online. It just calls for mixing flour, water, yeast, and salt; waiting; kneading; waiting some more; and baking with a few seeds sprinkled on top. Not much to it, but I liked the sound of it and I figured it'd be nice to have a low-effort, simple bread to try out.

I was just going to do it recipe as written, but then I decided that maybe I'd try swapping in whole wheat flour for the pastry flour. (I used hard whole wheat, but my understanding is that the bran can sort of get in the way of the gluten and make it behave a little softer than white flour with the same protein content, so I figured it'd probably be fine.)

That was going to be my only change. Until I looked in the fridge and saw how hungry my poor starter was looking...

I didn't really want to try to convert it to a purely sourdough recipe. So instead I figured I'd try leaving out 50g each of flour and water and adding in 100g of sourdough discard. I figured, given that the gluten has mostly been broken down in a hungry starter, that would further "soften" the flour content to make up for not using any actual soft wheat. I also reduced the yeast called for by just a tiny bit. Not much since I figured the discard wouldn't have much leavening power, but it made the measuring easier and I figured it wouldn't hurt to nudge it down a hair.

It seems to have worked quite well. Although I probably cut the proofing a bit shorter than was ideal, but I was in a hurry. Next time I'll try to be a bit more patient with it.

Thinking about it, I might also be tempted to add in a little oil next time as well. I'm not sure about that choice, but I feel like a touch of oil in the dough would go well.

Turkish Flatbread

Adapted from The Fresh Loaf

Ingredients

• 250g hard (strong/high grade/bread) white flour
• 150g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp. instant (rapid-rise) yeast
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 100g sourdough discard
• 250g water + extra for kneading
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil (optional)
• 2-3 tsp. sesame and/or nigella seeds

Directions

1. Combine flours, yeast, and salt. Mix and make a well in the centre.
2. Add sourdough discard, water, and oil (if using).
3. Mix dry ingredients into wet, working from centre outward.
4. Once flour has been incorporated, cover and set aside for 30 minutes.
5. Sprinkle a bit of the extra water on your work surface and turn the dough out onto it.
6. Begin kneading, working in a bit of exra water as you go. (Maybe 2 Tbsp. water total.)
7. Once dough is smooth and supple, shape into a ball and place in a covered bowl to rise for 30-45 minutes.
8. Divide into two equal portions, round each portion, cover, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.
9. Flatten each portion into a circle or square and place on a greased baking sheet.
10. Sprinkle breads with seeds, cover, and proof for 30-45 minutes.
11. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 230°C (450°F).
12. Place bread in oven and reduce temperature to 220°C (425°F)¹ and bake for ~15 minutes.

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¹ I forgot to reduce the oven temperature. Still turned out okay, but I'll try to remember for next time. ^Back