Pan flatbread – bread without an oven

When wheat or spelt flour is kneaded with water, certain proteins in the flour link up into an elastic network called gluten. It makes the dough mouldable and holds it together. If you let the dough rest briefly, this network relaxes and the dough is easier to roll out thinly without springing back again and again.

In the hot pan two things then happen: the starch in the flour absorbs water and cooks, and part of the water turns to steam. Where steam is trapped between layers of dough, bubbles puff up – sometimes the whole flatbread. The brown spots appear because sugars and proteins react with each other under strong heat; this creates the typical toasted flavour.

Because there is no raising agent in the dough, the bread stays flat. That is exactly the advantage: a thin flatbread cooks through in a few minutes and needs far less fuel than a thick loaf that has to bake for a long time in a pot or oven.

There are no fixed quantities, because every flour absorbs a different amount of water. So add the water gradually and knead until the dough is smooth and no longer sticks to your fingers. If it is too wet, a little flour helps; if it is crumbly, a little water. A splash of oil makes it more pliable and the breads a bit softer.

Roll small portions out evenly and thinly – a smooth bottle replaces a rolling pin. Spots of different thickness cook at different speeds. The pan should be properly hot but not smoking: too cold, and the bread becomes hard and dry; too hot, and it burns outside before it is cooked inside. Turn the bread when bubbles form and the underside has brown spots.

The flatbread is done when it has browned patches on both sides and is no longer doughy inside. Tear one open to check. To keep the breads soft, wrap them straight away in a clean cloth. They taste best the same day.

Flour is milled from grain that grows in the field, and it is not sterilised in the process. Raw flour is therefore not a ready-to-eat food and can contain pathogens. Only cooking it thoroughly makes the flatbread safe. Do not taste raw dough and wash your hands after kneading; the board and bowl are cleaned too.

In a power cut the cooking place is the most important safety point. A gas cooker in the kitchen may be used as usual, but a camping stove only outdoors – never in the home, a tent, an enclosed balcony or a garage. It gives off carbon monoxide, which you cannot smell and which can be deadly. Anyone cooking over an open fire outdoors checks the local rules on fires and wildfire danger first.

Hot pans and handles easily cause burns. Set the pan down securely, turn the handle inwards and keep small children away from the stove. For people with coeliac disease, flatbread made from wheat, spelt or rye flour is not suitable.

A little baking powder makes the breads lighter; then shape them slightly thicker and cook them over medium heat with a lid so that they cook through inside. Wholemeal, maize or chickpea flour work too. Gluten-free flours, however, hold together less well and need their own, tested recipes.

For the stock, flour is practical as long as it is kept dry and tightly sealed. White flour keeps longer than wholemeal flour, because wholemeal contains more fat and can go rancid over time. Remember that every flatbread also needs water and fuel – both must be planned into the stock.

Unleavened flatbreads have been cooked without ovens in many cultures for thousands of years – for example as chapati in South Asia or tortillas in Central America. They show that you need neither electricity nor a kitchen full of appliances to make bread.

Feel free to practise the recipe at home once while everything is normal. Then you know how the right dough feels and how hot the pan needs to be. In a real emergency you no longer have to experiment, you can simply get started.