Persisches Fladenbrot mit Kräuter-Walnuss-Dip (Persian flatbread with herb walnut dip)

Method

1. Whisk the flour and yeast together. Add the warm water, mix to a shaggy dough, then knead in the salt and olive oil, kneading by hand for about 8 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
2. Cover and prove in a warm place for 45 to 60 minutes, until roughly doubled.
3. Grind the walnuts finely in a food processor or spice grinder, close to a coarse paste rather than fine crumbs.
4. Combine the ground walnuts, yoghurt, herbs, garlic and olive oil in a bowl. Season with salt to taste. Chill until serving.
5. Heat the oven to its highest setting, at least 250°C, with a baking sheet or pizza stone inside.
6. Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Stretch each by hand into a rough oval about 25 cm long and 3 to 4 mm thick, dimpling the surface with your fingertips as you go, the way you would a focaccia. Scatter with sesame or nigella seeds if using.
7. Bake one or two at a time, 3 to 4 minutes, until puffed and blistered with dark spots. Watch closely; they go from perfect to burnt quickly at this heat.
8. Serve warm, torn by hand, alongside the chilled dip.

Method in the Thermomix

Written for a TM5 or TM6, 2.2 litre bowl. This covers grinding the walnuts and kneading the dough; stretching and baking the flatbreads stay entirely by hand.

1. Walnuts into the dry bowl. Grind 10 sec / speed 8, to a coarse paste. Tip out for the dip.
2. Flour and yeast into the bowl. Add the warm water. Mix 10 sec / speed 5.
3. Add the salt and oil. Knead 3 min / dough mode.
4. Tip out, prove and continue by hand from step 3 of the hand method; combine the ground walnuts with the remaining dip ingredients by hand.

Notes

• Grind the walnuts to a genuine paste, not a rough chop. Chopped nuts sit as separate pieces in the yoghurt rather than binding into a cohesive dip.
• Bake the flatbreads as hot and fast as your oven allows. A moderate oven gives a dry, cracker-like result instead of the soft, blistered texture this bread wants.
• Watch the bake closely rather than relying on a timer. At 250°C or hotter, the gap between perfectly blistered and burnt is under a minute.
• The dip keeps for 3 days in the fridge; the bread is best fresh and does not reheat well once fully cooled.

Ingredient substitutions

• Walnuts can be pistachios for a different, slightly sweeter dip.
• Yoghurt should be full-fat for the right body; low-fat yoghurt gives a thinner, wetter dip.
• For a gluten-free flatbread, a good gluten-free bread flour blend works, though the texture will be denser and less stretchy.