Cumin Seed not-so Flatbreads

No, not naan - not-so-flatbreads ;-) I had some of this spicy carrot and bean soup in the freezer and felt like it one recent rainy and windy day. Soup for me, and most people to be fair, must have bread with it but I always feel regular bread just doesn't really go with curry based soups. I always want something more naan like for some reason. So I thought I would whip these up. I very loosely based the recipe on Nigella's 'Nigella Seed Flatbreads' out of How to be a Domestic Goddess, veganizing and replacing some things with stuff I had on hand. I opted for cumin seed instead of nigella seeds mostly as that's what I had in the cupboard but it works amazingly well. (Edit - I have since made these with nigella seeds, also known as black onion seeds and they were just as good, either work.) As for the not-so-flat part, they were supposed to be flatbreads but rose so well in the oven some could only be described as buns! I wouldn't change that next time either though as the texture was fantastic.

The breads themselves are beautiful, really light and fluffy softly spiced with cumin and went so well with the soup. The next evening I made a simple chick pea and veg curry and we had one on the side of that - very nice. I will always whip these up before a curry night, or indeed any time I make a curry spiced soup as they are really quite easy.

Perfect with a bowl of spiced carrot soup!

Cumin Seed not-so-Flatbreads 

Yields 12 Flatbreads

500g white bread flour
1 sachet easy blend or quick yeast (7g)
2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp full fat coconut milk
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp cumin seeds (or black onion seeds, both work well)

Mix the flour, salt, yeast and cumin seeds in a large bowl. Measure the coconut milk and vegetable oil in a pyrex measuring cup and fill up to 350ml with quite warm water. Give it a stir then pour over the flour and mix well. Tip the mixture onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until it's smooth and elastic, add more flour to prevent sticking as need be. Shape into a ball and place into a greased bowl and grease the surface. Cover the bowl with cling film and place in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Punch the dough down, give it a couple kneads and cut into 12 even size pieces. Gently knead each piece into a ball then give it a quick back and forth roll with a rolling pin to flatten out. Repeat with all the pieces placing them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.

Funny how uncooked bread looks like a black and white photo...

Preheat the oven to 220C and loosely cover the sheet of breads with cling film and place in a warm place for 20 minutes. Now remove the cling film and bake for 8 - 10 minutes until golden and risen again. Remove and place on a wire rack to cool, although they are best warm from the oven :-)

There, that's better!

The soup I served these with is a spicy citrus carrot and bean soup. Recipe comes from BBC Good Food, available here. It was really good but reminded me too much of my absolute favourite carrot curry soup which given the choice I would always opt for that one. Still, I can highly recommend it, had really nice taste and the addition of beans added a nice texture.

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 flatbread

Calories: 179

Fat: 4.2g

Sat Fat: 0.5g

Protein: 5.5g

Carbs: 28.5g

Sugar: 0.6g

Fibre: 2.1g

Sodium: 421mg

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