Unless I'm making pita bread, I don't use yeast. I mostly make tortillas and something like a na'an for a flatbread, neither of which use yeast. Soooo easy to make. As both B and Quin indicate, there's a long traddition around flatbreads going waaaay back in history to ancient times. It would be a fun thing to research. Every culture seems to have its own flatbread version with ingredients being very similar but differing in methodology.
P.S. Their book Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour and Traditions From Around the World also contains a treasury of flatbread recipes, history, and stories.
Depends on what you are looking to make! Flatbreads cover so much ground -- from plain to fancy, in all kinds of shapes, flavors and sizes. There's a whole cookbook devoted to flatbreads from Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duquid: "Flatbreads and Flavors."
But my go-to flatbread is chapati or roti -- Indian whole wheat flatbreads that are nothing more than flour, water, and a pinch of salt. Sometimes I add a bit of fat like ghee or oil.
This is how I learned to make chapati: put some flour (AP or whole wheat or a mix) in a bowl, adding a pinch of salt. Make a well and pour in some water. You want just enough water to make the dough come together without making it wet. You can always adjust, making it drier with more flour, so at first err on the side of too wet rather than too dry. Knead for a few minutes until the ball of dough is taut, springy and glossy. Put a damp rag over it and let sit for at least 30 minutes. TIP: you can put this dough in the fridge and save it for a few days, pulling out just enough to make your rotis for the day!
I like to roast mine on a tawa, a slightly curved handle-less Indian griddle, but you can do them on a regular griddle or a flat pan as well. Pull bits of your dough off into little palm-sized spheres. Take each sphere and slightly flatten it on each side. Roll out with rolling pin or using your hands. Roast it on one side until there are small brown spots sprinkled all across the roti. Then flip with tongs. If you can, turn a flame (on a gas stove) up high and roast the other side directly on the hot flame, allowing it to puff. Reduce flame and remove roti; cover to keep warm.
You can also make yeasted flatbreads. Mark Bittman had a good reliable recipe for pita-like flatbreads. He recommends putting olive oil and za'atar on top of these, and I do too! The recipe is for grilling, but I don't have access to a grill. Thus I know that you can also roast them on the stovetop as I describe above. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/dining/01minirex.html
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But my go-to flatbread is chapati or roti -- Indian whole wheat flatbreads that are nothing more than flour, water, and a pinch of salt. Sometimes I add a bit of fat like ghee or oil.
This is how I learned to make chapati: put some flour (AP or whole wheat or a mix) in a bowl, adding a pinch of salt. Make a well and pour in some water. You want just enough water to make the dough come together without making it wet. You can always adjust, making it drier with more flour, so at first err on the side of too wet rather than too dry. Knead for a few minutes until the ball of dough is taut, springy and glossy. Put a damp rag over it and let sit for at least 30 minutes. TIP: you can put this dough in the fridge and save it for a few days, pulling out just enough to make your rotis for the day!
I like to roast mine on a tawa, a slightly curved handle-less Indian griddle, but you can do them on a regular griddle or a flat pan as well. Pull bits of your dough off into little palm-sized spheres. Take each sphere and slightly flatten it on each side. Roll out with rolling pin or using your hands. Roast it on one side until there are small brown spots sprinkled all across the roti. Then flip with tongs. If you can, turn a flame (on a gas stove) up high and roast the other side directly on the hot flame, allowing it to puff. Reduce flame and remove roti; cover to keep warm.
You can also make yeasted flatbreads. Mark Bittman had a good reliable recipe for pita-like flatbreads. He recommends putting olive oil and za'atar on top of these, and I do too! The recipe is for grilling, but I don't have access to a grill. Thus I know that you can also roast them on the stovetop as I describe above. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/dining/01minirex.html