It’s a weekly slow and peaceful ritual, making a batch of flatbread. Pretty similar to doing some mindfully-drifting or podcast-listening weed pulling on a balmy summer’s day. Been making flatbread for my regular bread needs for maybe a couple of years now. Before that, it was quite a long stretch with sourdough loaves, but that suddenly seemed too complicated. This is simple: flour, water, salt, olive oil, baking powder. Rest for 10 minutes, roll out with rolling pin, place in pan. Does the baking powder mean it’s not strictly a flatbread? Don’t know–they’re still pretty flat!
I think I enjoy this primitive form of bread as much as a perfectly light and buttery croissant, or a still warm baguette… There’s some deep basic attraction to the taste and texture of cooked flour dough. As a kid craft activity, I remember making playdough with flour, salt, and water, and thinking how the same that was to the dumplings (that I loved) that we had in stew. Wonder where that might have gone if I’d been allowed to use the stove…
