Mushroom Flatbread

This vegetarian flatbread is inspired by one of my favourite flatbreads from Turkey; Lahmacun. Normally topped with a lamb mince, I decided that I wanted a vegan substitution that wouldn’t skimp out on flavour - obvi that means using mushrooms. The umami present in mushrooms always brings a special lil something to vegetarian dishes. My favourite way of eating this flatbread is by filling it with some crunchy salad leaves, tomatoes, onions, and rolling it up like a wrap.

This flatbread could easily become vegan, the only ingredient used that isn’t vegan is the yogurt in the flatbread dough, but, it can be replaced by a strained unsweetened and unflavoured vegan yogurt.

Makes:8

prep/cooking time: 1.5hrs-2hrs

Ingredients

For the flatbread:

2 1/2 cups (347g) plain/a.p flour

1 tsp (7g) salt

3/4 cups (165ml) water at 32°C (lukewarm)

1 1/4 tsp (5g) active dry yeast

1/4 cup (60g) greek yogurt or strained unflavoured, unsweetened vegan yogurt

Method:

1. In a big bowl, add in flour and whisk in the salt.

2. In a separate bowl or container add in your water and yeast, mix it around and let it sit for 5 minutes.

3. Stir the yogurt into the water mixture until most of it has dissolved (it doesn’t matter if it hasn’t fully dissolved)

4. Make a well in your flour mixture and pour in the water mix. Using a spatula or your fingers bring the dough together. Once the dough comes together, place it onto a clean surface and knead it for 5-7 minutes - this will start to build the gluten networks. The surface of the dough won’t become soft and uniform, little bumps will still be apparent, but when poked, the dough should spring back 3/4 of the way and in general be more elastic. Rest the dough in a lightly greased bowl for 1 hour, or until it doubles in size.

For the topping:

1 large white onion, finely minced

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

3 1/2 cups (305g) button mushrooms, minced

2 tbsp sesame

3 tbsp fresh parsley, minced

1 tbsp fresh thyme, leaves picked from stem

salt, olive oil

Method:

1. In a generously oiled pan on medium high heat, add in the onion and sweat for a few minutes until the onion goes translucent..

2. Add in the ground spices to the onion, and let them bloom for a few seconds. Add in the mushrooms and cook them until 70% of the water content has evaporated and it starts caramelising and turning brown.

3. Add the sesame seeds into the mix and cook until they start toasting, at this point the mixture should resemble some sort of mince, season with salt, and remove it from the heat. Let it cool down before using it to top the flatbreads.

4. When the dough has proofed, remove it from the bowl and put it onto a clean working surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and make rough balls from each portion of dough. Return the balls into the bowl and cover whilst making the flatbreads.

5. Place a baking sheet into your oven close to the grill and turn your grill setting on. In addition, heat a flat large pan on medium high heat.

6. Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin. Using 1 portion of dough at a time, flatten it into a circle or oval shape until it’s around 0.5 cm thick, make sure that the dough is not stuck to your surface, top the dough with 2 tbsp of the mushroom mix, and drizzle some olive oil on top.

7. Transfer the topped flatbread into the hot pan, shroom topping facing up, and let the dough cook until the bottom gets golden. You will see bubbles forming from the top. When the bottom has cooked and gone golden, place the flatbread in the oven until the top has some golden blisters, remove from the oven and let it cool down a bit.

8. Continue doing steps 7 & 8 until all the dough and shroom topping has been used up. Serve warm with a sprinkling of parsley and fresh thyme leaves.