Bring back the bliss: gluten free chappattis / wraps

stack of gluten-free flatbreads

As easy flatbread that can can be served with curry or salad or used as a wrap.

I tried two recipes, on using tapioca gloop, the other using water to bind. I did the one with the tapioca gloop after being disappointed with the way the flatbread cracked when being rolled.

For those of you who haven't tried tapioca gloop (I think others call it gel) it is a great product for giving flexibility to foods, and making doughs easy to roll. Just take 10g of tapioca flour, mix it with 100ml cold water, and stir over heat until it goes clear. Cool and use as the liquid in the recipe.

First recipe
Ingredients

50g buckwheat flour
100g gf flour (40% urid, 40% tapioca,20% cornmeal)
2 tbsp oil ( I used olive)
60 ml water
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt and sugar if wanted

Whisk flours, baking powder and flavorings together.

Stir in oil and water and mix until smooth and flexible. Add extra water if needed so that when you press the dough the edges don't crack. Leave to sit under a damp cloth for a few minutes. As you take pieces to roll cover the rest of this dough with the damp cloth to stop drying out.

Take a golfball sized piece and roll thin, keeping pin and board well dusted with flour. Cook on a medium griddle until just cooked - the main part of the flatbread will look whiter and bubbles will form, any hot spots will be gold to black depending on quite how hot your griddle is.

Turn over and cook second side. If you have big bubbles holding the flatbread off the griddle you can press down with a cloth or paper towel. When I was little and being taught how to make chapatis this is what we did to get the dough to form one giant bubble so that the bread could be opened when cooked. You probably won't get quite this effect, but it is a technique for ensuring even cooking.

If you like a rustic charred effect you can put the flatbread on an open flame when ready - this used to make our chapatis expand like balloons.

Recipe 2

Having been disappointed by the flexibility I made the recipe again using the same ingredients but tapioca gloop and reducing the water.

Ingredients
50g buckwheat
100g flour (40%urid, 40% tapioca, 20% cornmeal)
tapioca gloop made with 10g tapioca flour and 100ml water
pinch salt and sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp oil
extra water to make smooth dough. I needed another 30ml

Knead until smooth, by hand or with machine. Cover as before with damp cloth. Roll and cook as before on medium griddle.

During the cooking stages these two flatbreads behave pretty much the same. The difference shows if you handle them the way you would if filling. Here are photos of both types of flatbreads rolled and unrolled twice for comparison. Unless you are intending to eat these flatbreads immediately you make them and don't much care how they handle, it is worth the extra few minutes making the tapioca gloop/gel.