easy grilled spelt flatbreads

We’re going to get baked AND grilled today. I use sprouted spelt flour as my all-purpose flour at home for the most part. This recipe for easy grilled spelt flatbreads is one I turn to often–mostly within the context of pizza though. I only do the homemade pizza thing when it’s warm enough to grill (and since I’m Canadian, “warm enough” is anything above zero). My opinion is that VERY high cooking temperatures are necessary for good pizza and I feel a lot better about pushing my BBQ to 600° than my oven. Since this isn’t a pizza blog (tears), I thought I’d show off the simple goodness of this go-to dough as a flatbread today.

I love this because it’s basically a “no knead” operation with minimal hands on time. It’s easy, but impressive in a lot of ways. The texture is pillowy and delicate inside with a good bit of crisp richness on the outside from the oil and the high heat cooking method. The char and bubbles just look so. Dang. Good. I use natural sugar to feed the yeast, but honey or agave nectar would be suitable substitutes. Once you have these ready, you could easily make them into Sara’s veggie and chickpea mash naan’wich, Jeanine’s sweet potato pizzas, or Erin’s curry roasted vegetable and avocado sammy. With a solid base, the world is yours babes :)

Easy Grilled Spelt Flatbread Recipe — Barely adapted from The Food Network
Serves: makes 4 large flatbreads
Time: 25 minutes active, 3 hours total (with rising time)
To print the recipe, click here
Notes: Before my flatbreads hit the grill, I sprinkled them with some flaky sea salt and za’atar (after I brushed the dough with oil). There’s lots of cool spice and herb things you could apply to these last minute–even cinnamon and maple sugar for a little sweet version.

3/4 cup + 2 tbsp water at 100 degrees F
1 tsp natural sugar
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup light spelt flour
1 cup whole spelt flour + extra for rolling out
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 tbsp olive oil + extra for grilling
1/2 cup mixed seeds (optional)

In a medium bowl, combine the warm water, natural sugar and yeast. Lightly stir ingredients together and set aside until the top of the mixture appears foamy.

To the bowl, add the light spelt flour, whole spelt flour, sea salt, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the mixed seeds (if using). Lightly stir the ingredients together until you have a sticky, unified dough. Lightly flour a clean surface and scrape the dough out onto it. Knead the dough very lightly a couple times until you have a smooth and tacky-feeling ball. Lightly grease another medium bowl with olive oil and drop your ball of dough into it. Roll the dough around to coat in the oil and cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Place the bowl in a warm place for 2 hours, or until the dough has at least doubled in size.

Lightly flour a large baking sheet and a cutting board. Dump the risen dough out onto the cutting board. Cut the dough into 4 portions. Form each portion into a ball and place on the floured baking sheet. Cover the dough balls with plastic wrap or a damp towel and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Lightly sprinkle a working surface with more spelt flour. Take a ball of dough and sprinkle a bit of flour on top of it. Flour a rolling pin and roll out the dough ball until it’s uniformly 1/3 inch thick. Repeat with remaining dough balls. Place rolled out dough back onto the floured baking sheet and cover until you’re ready to grill.

Preheat your grill to high (I let mine get to about 500 degrees F). Clean the grates with a wire brush if necessary. Pour some olive oil into a small bowl and gather up a pastry brush, tongs and any spices or herbs you’d like to finish your flatbreads with. Brush the surfaces of the flatbreads facing upward evenly with olive oil. Sprinkle dough with any herbs or spices. Carefully lay the flatbreads onto the grates of the grill, oiled side down. Once they’re all on, quickly brush the side facing up with more olive oil and sprinkle with more herbs or spices. Close the lid.

After 3 minutes, check the flatbreads. They should be well-browned and lightly charred on one side. Flip them over and close the grill’s lid again. Cook flatbreads for another 2 minutes or until the other side is well-browned with char marks. Remove flatbreads from the grill. These are ideal enjoyed within an hour or so of grilling