My Version of Anna Olson’s Double Coriander Flatbread

This flatbread went great with my Pasta Fagioli!

If anyone asks me who taught me how to bake, I will always say Anna Olson. So it is not every day I fiddle with one of her recipes but if Anna’s show Sugar taught me anything, it is to be creative when baking. People think that you absolutely have to follow a recipe to a “T” when you are baking but it just is not true. Yes, it could end in disaster but sometimes you end up with a winner.

I am sure Anna Olson’s Double Coriander Flatbread recipe is perfect as is but as you will see, I had to do some creative problem solving to make it work!

You begin with 1 tsp of coriander seeds that you need to crush. I was so excited to use the mortar and pestle I bought at an antiques market years and years ago. If you do not have a mortar and pestle you can put the seeds on a clean tea towel and crush with the back of a frying pan or use a coffee grinder used for spices.

Now my hands are weak so this is the best I could do and I was a little worried the pieces were too big but the recipe says crushed coriander seeds, not pulverized.

In a bowl you put 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp of baking powder, 1/2 tsp of fine salt and the coriander seeds. Mix together.

Here is where the trouble began. You are supposed to add 3/4 cups of plain full fat yogurt. I only had no-fat! So I melted 2 tbsp of butter and added it to the dough… I had no idea if this was going to work. I mixed it together and boy was the dough ever wet. I did not panic, I just kept adding flour to the mix.

I am so proud that I actually kneaded the dough myself and did not use my breadmaker for once! With all that butter, this dough ended up being super soft and actually EASY to knead, I could not believe it! Even my tiny sore hands could easily knead this dough and you only have to knead it for three minutes. I could do that!

Because this is not a yeast dough, the dough will not poof up and expand like crazy when you let it rest but you must let it rest for 30 minutes.

I cut my dough into quarters and then roughly shaped into a rectangle. I heated up a non-stick saute pan and melted a little butter. I followed Anna’s instructions and waited for the butter to stop bubbling and then added the dough:

I cooked on both sides for around 4 minutes or so until it was nice and golden. I did not brush it with more butter and add cilantro and salt. Instead I just sprinkled it with some parsley (I do not like cilantro), there was already enough butter in this dough!

Very soft and tender, I love this flatbread! It is so easy and delicious, it falls into my danger category because I am worried I will make it too often. The seeds gave the dough an earthy flavour and were not hard or crunchy at all. If you like cilantro, I bet the combination of the seeds with the herb would be out of this world.

Now I could have panicked and gotten upset that I did not have full fat yogurt (or I could have read the recipe ahead of time and picked some up) but instead I did a little creative problem solving and it turned out perfectly. I do look forward to making Anna’s flatbreads her way one day but for now, I will enjoy the decadence of my own.