Seeded Flatbread
This flatbread is made from white whole wheat flour and packed with seeds - pepitas, sunflower, poppy, and mustard seeds. You can pull the dough out paper thin for flatbread pizza or leave it thick, enjoy it straight, or bake it with toppings. Whatever you like, really!
I stumbled on some notes about making flatbread while tidying up my desk recently. The recipe was attempting to do a version using whole, uncooked millet and quinoa. The notes in the margin cautioned me to use less crunchy ingredients the next time around. This time I went the seed route, and the resulting flatbreads were fantastic and wildly flexible. You can pull the dough out paper thin or leave it a bit thicker, serve it straight or bake it with toppings. Here’s how.
When I pull the flatbread dough extra thin, I often like to add a thin later of toppings. Here are a bunch of pizza topping ideas to reference. The version in the photo above was baked with paper thin slices of sautéed potatoes, a bit of cheese, a pinch of fresh thyme. When I leave the flatbread a bit thicker, like you see in the lead photo, I usually skip the toppings, preferring it right out of the oven with a bit of salted butter (or a compound butter!) - and preferably alongside a big bowl of good soup.
How to Make Flatbread
Making this flatbread dough is basically the same as making pizza dough. With a heavy load of seeds and using a different flour. To start you combine the seeds and flour with instant yeast and cold water. You don't need to worry about proofing the yeast, just mix well, knead for a bit and move on. You can absolutely make this dough without a mixer and I have notes on how in the recipe below.
After kneading for a bit your dough will feel more elastic and resilient. And look something like the photo below.
Divide your flatbread dough into six equal wedges.
Shape each piece into a ball, rub with a bit of olive oil and refrigerate overnight or until ready to bake.
A reminder, ideally, you'll make the dough the night before, it takes about 10-15 minutes to prepare the dough, and then you pull it out and bake it the next day. This helps develop the good flavor.
More Bread Recipes
- Black Bread
- Oatmeal Bread
- Zucchini Bread
- Skillet Cornbread
- Braided Onion Bread
- Lemon Focaccia
- Six Seed Soda Bread
Also! If you're inspired to use your oven some more, here’s where you can browse all the baking recipes.
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Seeded Flatbread
This recipe makes a hearty, dense flatbread. If you tend to like your breads slightly lighter, I'd recommend starting with 1/2 unbleached all-purposed flour & 1/2 white whole wheat flour to see how you like it. You can play with the flour ratio in future batches based on that. If you have trouble finding white whole wheat flour, using all unbleached all-purpose flour will work. For those of you who are curious, I have been using King Arthur brand White Whole Wheat Flour.
- 4 1/2 cups / 1 lb. 6.5 oz / 640 g White Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 cup / 5 oz / 140g seeds (equal parts chopped pepitas, sunflower & poppy seeds)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons mustard seeds, toasted and crushed
- 1/4 cup / 60ml extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cups / 475 ml water, ice cold
- semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting baking sheet
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Mix the dough:
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Stir together the flour, salt, yeast, and seeds in the bowl of an electric mixer. By hand stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is absorbed. Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 7 minutes or so, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. As you are mixing, the dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl (to me it looks a bit like a tornado). Add a touch of water or flour to reach the desired effect. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky. If you don’t have an electric mixer, you can mix the dough using a wooden spoon. Stir until it comes together, then knead on a countertop for 7-10 minutes.
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Shape the dough:
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Transfer the dough to a floured counter top. Cut it into 6 equal pieces and mold each into a ball. Rub each ball with olive oil and slip into plastic sandwich bags. Refrigerate overnight.
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When you are ready to make flatbread (anytime in the next few days), remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator one hour before making the bread. Keep them in a warm place, covered, so they don't dry out.
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At the same time place a baking stone on a rack in the lower third of the oven.
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Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. If you don't have a baking stone, you can use a sheet pan, but do not preheat the pan.
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Shape the dough:
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Generously dust a peel or a sheet pan with a bit of semolina flour or cornmeal and get ready to shape your dough. Uncover or unwrap the dough balls and dust them with flour. Working one at a time, gently press a dough round into a disk wide enough that you can bring it up onto your knuckles to thin it out. You can pull it as much or as little as you like. The dough in the lead image was pulled about 6-7-inches, and the one further down the page was pulled paper thin. If the dough is being fussy and keeps springing back, let it rest for another 15-20 minutes. Place the pulled-out dough on the prepared pan, and jerk the pan to make sure the dough will move around on the cornmeal ball-bearings (you don't want it to stick to the pan).
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Top and Bake:
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Add your toppings if you are using toppings (less is more!) and slide the topped flatbread pizza onto the baking stone. Bake until the crust is crisp and nicely colored - I start checking on it after 7 minutes or so, but it can take quite a bit longer depending on how thick or not thick you've pulled it. Remove from the oven.
Makes six 6-ounce flatbreads.
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Braided Onion Bread
This braided onion bread is made with a rich, buttery, yeast-based dough. Each of the four strands in the braid is stuffed with a caramelized onion and grated cheese mixture.
Six Seed Soda Bread
Inspired by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's soda bread recipe, this version is made with a blend of spelt flour and all-purpose flour. The dough is littered with seeds - sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, flax seeds, and fennel seeds. It bakes into a perfect, rustic, crusty loaf of bread with relatively little effort.
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Comments
Hi Heidi
I made the dough on the 23rd thinking I would make a flatbread appetizer for our big celebration on Christmas Eve. Long story short, I’m just making some this morning with our poached eggs and it is so delicious. I soaked my seeds for a few hours before putting together the dough.
Thank you for all of your recipes – I use them frequently. I hope something brings you to Cleveland one day – we’ve got some great things going on here!
I just made this today for Christmas dinner. Next time I use them as “bread” I will make smaller, more individual portions. However, this will be great when I make Indian food or maybe even piadinis.
This tastes so good with the “good soup for the sick” recipe!! Dipping it in the soup is amazing!
Thanks for the recipe!
I love that this recipe is so versatile. A stand-alone, or endless possible toppings.
this was my first attempt at any bread-like item involving yeast. i ended up topping it with carmelized onions and parmesan, and it was great. the nuttiness of the seeds really surprised me.
i agree with the other poster on any advice for kneading by hand in your baking recipes. do you have some sort of translation/conversion from your pre-kitchen aid days? i did my own sleuthing on the matter, but the dough didn’t end up rising as much as i had hoped.
Love your recipes! This one reminds me of Cosi and I love their bread! Can’t wait to try this!
How much yeast would I use if I am using active dry yeast instead of instant? I see you say to use 1 tsp, but I’ve heard you’re supposed to use more if not using instant. Thanks a bunch!
I like breads that have this nutty texture. It is a favorite of mine! Thanks for the recipe! It is a darling. I love the color! I am going to think of seeds that I can add to those.
Could rice flour be used here in place of wheat flour? We have the allergy problem to all eggs, legums and grain except rice.
Oooh, I love the butter melting on top. Warm fresh bread and butter is amazing.
This reminds me of this amazing flatbread I buy at my local health food store. Must make!
Made this tonight to go with some beans–it was wonderful!! Very chewy and the seeds add lots of flavor. I still have 3 more to bake later this week. Another great recipe.
Hi Heidi
I just wanted to say how much I love your site!! My mum and I have been making your recipes together for the last couple of months and we have loved every one 🙂
One question regarding this recipe though….is it possible to make these using a breadmaker? And if so would we have to refigerate it overnight or could we just leave it to rise in the breadmaker for a couple of hours?
Thanks and keep up the great work. xx
Very different from the breads I’ve tried – seeds inside and not just out is lovely!
It’s a sleepy Sunday morning here in Singapore and I think I may just have the perfect inspiration for brunch. 🙂 Thanks!
Any tips for someone who doesn’t have an electric mixer? I want to try my hand at making simple breads, but it seems like almost every recipe I find only gives instructions using a mixer!
Looks very interesting, will give it a try! Thankyou very much for converting into grams 😉 Love this blog and the nice pics!
My friend Kirsten made this last night and they are delicious!! She paired it with a great broccoli soup and a crunchy cabbage salad…yum!! The flat breads were amazing though~ highly recommend this recipe~
This looks delicious! I can’t wait to try it!
Someone asked about making this bread by hand. I don’t have a mixer and I made this bread by hand. It turned out exactly as Heidi described. As I was adding the water I was mixing with a wooden spoon. The bread cleaned the side of the bowl and came together nicely. Then I kneaded it by hand for a few minutes. My bread is still in the fridge so I have yet to see how it tastes. But, so far, making it by hand was easy and turned out exactly as the recipe stated it would.
That whole store in the fridge overnight is always gets me. I get so impatient and just want to bake straight away.
I wish I was a taste tester for your recipes. Can’t wait to make – love the seeds.
Love your seeded bread. looks delicious.
To answer the several questions that came up about this, white whole wheat flour is made from white whole wheat (instead of red). It looks white and is a bit lighter than regular whole wheat flour – but it has all the nutrition.
You can get it in some grocery stores, and from the King Arthur site.
I always wonder why people don’t google these questions!
From a bread-baking newbie without a stand mixer, would it be OK if I made this bread and mixed the ingredients by hand after kneading? Thank you, Bread Mavens.
Greetings from London! Heidi this looks delicious – am chucking it my husband’s way, he’s the breadmaker in the family …we made your bbq pizzas a few weeks ago and they were so much fun and so delicious – Thank you!
This recipe sounds amazing. The textural component of the seeds is inviting. I’ll have this dough in the fridge by tonight. Thanks for the recipe.
Kevin Lynch
I’m getting a stand mixer for Christmas and the first thing I want to make with it is bread, so I appreciate the clear instructions for using a mixer. Also, my family loves seed bread but I’ve never thought to use pepitas, so thanks for that idea!
You just gave me a fabulous idea for leftover pizza dough that I have frozen…I’m gonna make flatbread.
This flatbread jumped off the page, probably because I, too, am freezing in Napa and have a serious carb craving going on. Seeds are my favorite additions – I think I’ll try flax, too!
This looks absolutely delicious. It reminds me of Naan because of its versatility and how you can top (and or fill) naan with just about anything imaginable. Lovely post, Heidi! 🙂
Looks delicious!
Heidi, do you think these would make good bread sticks? I’m having a cocktail party next weekend, and was hoping for something like this…and thought maybe I could pull the dough, then cut/roll into strips/logs and bake…what do you think?
Hi Katie – this is a good breadstick recipe – grissini (Italian Breadsticks).
You have the most beautiful photography. It makes already delicious recipes that much more appealing.
Mmmmmmmm! I love making flatbread; usually it’s a pita bread for when I want bread in a few hours instead of in a few days. But, this looks delicious and worth waiting for overnight.
This bread looks delicious, I will have to give it a go over the weekend. Beautiful photos!
I forgot to ask: is it really important to leave the dough overnight, or can I just leave it stand for just a few hours? Thanks!
Sounds fantastic! I love the first photo in particular. I really like the idea of adding the seeds to the flatbread. I must try that soon.
Looks wonderful…and I have everything but the sunflower seeds on hand! I think this has my name on it this weekend!
The pictures are marvelous. I’d love to reach right in an sample the buttered one!
I’ve had a variety of multi-seeded breads, and often the variety confuses the flavors. Care should be taken to pick the right companions flavorwise, not just look-wise.
Looks incredible! I love seeds. Do you think onions could be incorporated in any way? Almost like a stuffing so they stay moist? I think I’m channeling some sort of onion bread/bialy that I’ve had before.
I wish the weather we were experiencing right now was just a snap. Oh well I can’t really complain I do live in NY. This bread not only look beautiful but sounds really delicious and healthy. I love all the grains and nut…yum!
I am also intrigued by the mustard seeds – something to consider on my next flatbread. I make this kind of bread quite often, and have used spelt flour together with regular, white flour.
I really like the flavor, but usually don’t put more than 1/4 of the full amount.
thanks for the recipe… it is already saved!
Oh! I have never thought of putting mustard seeds into my doughs. What a lovely idea–perhaps some fennel, too.
OH MY GOD! heidi!!! how do you do it??? this look s so incredibly delicious. you are so inspiring….
Homemade bread is the loveliest answer to icy winter weather. Coming in from the cold to the smell of baking bread makes me happy!
Just perfect! This is going to the top of my to-do list. I have been craving a potato-pizza of sorts and this will more than fit the bill!
I’m on a bread-baking kick, so I might just whip this up. I’m sure the extras will freeze just fine before baking, don’t ya think?
How about uncooked or toasted amaranth instead of quinoa or millet?
My SF oven has been perpetually on this week, too! (And the recipes have ALL been 101 Cookbooks.) Adding this to tomorrow afternoon’s activity list!
Speaking of cracking a tooth, I almost broke one on my computer screen trying to take a bite of that bread! It looks delicious.
oh my this looks amazing! I hope to be able to make it soon!
Heidi,
Been getting very seriously into baking lately (I’ve got a sourdough starter living in the fridge and everything!) and in looking at some recipes online from the bread freaks who take the matter VERY seriously, I just wanted to let you know I’m glad to see you providing gram measurements for this bread recipe!
For the uninitiated, baking by weight is really the only way to do it! If you use volume, you could get a different amount of ingredient each time you measure! Digital kitchen scale = 100% accuracy!
I love seedy, textured breads. Mostly, to be honest, I love how the little nubby bits grab whatever I am spreading on top of the bread 🙂
A foot of snow fell in southern Vermont yesterday. It’s magical here, and I am warm with my wood stove – but I think there is something comforting and homey about a hot oven, and a kitchen fragrant with fresh baked bread.
Inspired! Michaela
Robin: white whole wheat flour is an unbleached flour made from white rather than red wheat; it retains more of its nutrition than AP flour without producing the grainy, dense texture pure whole wheat flour often gives to baked goods.
Such a gorgeous recipe! Could I put some of the balls of dough in the freezer after they’ve rested over night so I always have some at the ready? If so, could I dethaw them in the refrigerator overnight and then let them sit out for an hour before baking?
Thanks so much!
Thanks so much for this recipe! I’ve been on a bread making kick lately! I have yet to try my hand at flat bread! I love flat bread pizza… maybe this weekend 🙂
Sounds delicious, before I had to stop eating gluten, I used to love seedy breads. I especially love poppyseed bread. Hey, that gives me an idea. I need to make a poppy seed loaf!
I am in the Bay Area also and decided to start my stollen baking binge this week to keep the kitchen toasty! So tonight, after the next batch, it will be no problem to mix up a batch of the flatbread to eat tomorrow with Anna Thomas’s Green Ginger Soup.
(On a side note, I am pretty methodical about culling my cookbooks from time to time, but one book that continues to escape the culling is Vegetarian Epicure. I have had it for probably 35 years and it is raggedy and tattered, but I still turn to it for many old faves! So – I am looking forward to trying this soup!)
Heidi, thanks to you for the many recipes you’ve contributed to my repertoire in the past 2 years or so. Everything I’ve made receives high honors from family and guests!
isabel,
anise (fennel flavor) seeds are classic morrocan… used in flatbreads there pretty regularly. yummy, but usually at a low enough level to be relatively innocuous.
Also can’t wait to finish up the semester and start the holiday baking. this definitely makes the to do list, but with sesame instead of poppy seeds.
Heidi,
I am Indian and use black mustard seeds in almost all my dishes. the key to using the mustard seeds is toasting them in a little bit of hot oil and wait till they crackle.
Mmmm! I’m going to bake those with approx 1 cup sourdough instead of the yeast. I love the huge amount of seeds you put in that bread.
With a more neutral oil, that would certainly be super nice as a crust for an apple galette (+ a little raw sugar spinkled on top)
Thanks!!
Oh. Yum.
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