This gluten free potato flatbread is deliciously soft and super easy to make. You can use either riced potatoes or leftover mashed potatoes, the dough comes together in minutes and because it’s a yeast-free recipe, there’s no proofing required. Adding grated cheese, chopped parsley and garlic powder gives the flatbread an amazing flavour, while the potatoes make it extra soft and pillowy.
This is, without a doubt, the softest gluten free flatbread I’ve ever made (yes, even softer than my gluten free naan!), and it’s all thanks to the potatoes. You can use either riced or mashed potatoes in this recipe – in fact, it’s a great way of using leftover mashed potatoes!
The flatbread has a deliciously soft, pliable and pillowy texture, so you can easily roll it up and fold it without any cracking or tearing. Adding grated cheddar cheese, chopped parsley and garlic powder gives it an amazing flavour, but you can also add other herbs and spices, such as thyme, rosemary, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper and so on.
It’s also super easy to make. The dough comes together in minutes, either by hand or with a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, and it handles beautifully. You can easily knead it, shape it and roll it out into fairly thin flatbreads without any issues whatsoever – no cracking or tearing. Because it’s a yeast-free flatbread that uses baking powder, you also don’t have to wait for it to proof before you cook it, which makes the recipe even quicker!
And you’d never know it’s gluten free!! I know I say this for pretty much every single one of my recipes but it’s really true. Both the texture and the flavour of this flatbread are absolutely spot on, and even my non-gluten-free taste testers couldn’t tell the difference.
Finally, I should note that while I definitely took inspiration from the Indian aloo paratha and the Norwegian lefse, this recipe is too different to be called either of these. Aloo paratha is typically stuffed with a mashed potato filling (rather than the potatoes being directly incorporated into the dough), while lefse doesn’t contain any cheese or parsley, and typically uses butter, cream and sugar in the dough. That’s why I decided to call this recipe the very generic name of “potato flatbread”, though I’m sure many countries and cultures make something similar.
Before we get to the bits and bobs of making this amazing potato flatbread – if you like what you’re seeing, subscribe to my newsletter to keep up to date on the latest recipes and tips!
Top tips for making gluten free potato flatbread
- You can use either riced potatoes or leftover mashed potatoes. You’ll need 300g of whichever form of potatoes you choose. Make sure that they’re either lukewarm or cooled completely to room temperature before you add them to the dough.
- The best leftover mashed potatoes for this recipe are ones that aren’t overloaded with lots of butter, cream and/or milk. If they’re very rich in fats or contain a lot of milk, you may need to increase the amount of millet flour slightly.
- For best results, weigh your ingredients. The density – that is, the weight per cup – of both riced and mashed potatoes can vary enormously depending on how tightly you pack them (in the case of riced potatoes) and the preparation method (in the case of mashed potatoes). The same goes for gluten free flours: different brands and even different batches can have vastly different densities. So, if you want to get the perfect flatbread every single time, weigh your ingredients with a digital food scale.
- Psyllium husk acts as a binder and a gluten substitute. It ensures that you’ll get a workable dough that you can knead and roll out into individual flatbreads without cracking or tearing, and it gives the cooked flatbread just enough chewiness and flexibility so you can fold it or roll it up.
- You can make the dough by hand or using a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. In either case, it’s ready in minutes – you just need to knead all the ingredients together until the dough is perfectly smooth with no clumps of either psyllium gel or dry, unmixed flour.
- Roll out each flatbread until it’s about 1-2mm thin and 9-9½ inches (23-24cm) in diameter. Make sure to roll it out on a generously floured surface and lightly flour the top of the flatbread as well, so the rolling pin won’t stick to it. Before you start cooking it, brush away as much of the excess flour as you can.
- Cook the flatbread over medium to medium-high heat, and adjust the heat as necessary during cooking. If the flatbread is browning too quickly, reduce the heat slightly. If it’s taking too long to brown, increase the heat.
- To cook the potato flatbread: cook it on the first side for 1 minute to 1 minute 15 seconds, or until golden brown spots appear underneath. Flip it and brush the top with melted butter. Cook on the second side for about 1 minute or until golden brown spots appear underneath. Flip it again, brush the top with melted butter and cook for about 45 seconds or until the spots underneath are of a deep brown colour. Flip for a final time and cook for about 30 seconds or until the spots underneath are of a deep brown colour.
- Stack the cooked flatbreads on a plate lined with a paper towel – this will absorb any condensation that forms underneath the hot flatbreads. There’s no need to wrap them in a dish towel to trap the steam, they’ll be perfectly soft and pliable without it.
- Serve warm or cooled to room temperature. They’ll stay wonderfully soft and pliable even when cooled completely to room temperature. They’re definitely at their best fresh on the first day, but you can easily reheat them the next day either in a pan on the stovetop or even in the microwave.
Possible substitutions
Although all the ingredients in the recipe should be easily accessible either in your local grocery store or online, I still wanted to include a list of substitutions you can make. (NOTE: all substitutions should be made by weight and not by volume.)
- Psyllium husk: YOU CAN’T SUBSTITUTE IT WITH A DIFFERENT INGREDIENT. But if you use psyllium husk powder as opposed to the whole psyllium husk, use only 85% of the weight listed in the recipe. I recommend using “blond” psyllium husk, as it won’t add any colour or flavour to your flatbread or other bakes.
- Millet flour: You can use an equal weight of finely ground/milled brown rice flour instead.
- Sorghum flour: You can use an equal weight of white teff flour, light buckwheat flour or oat flour instead (the latter only if you’re not sensitive to oats).
A note on measurements (tl;dr: if possible, use a scale)
While I’ve included the volume measurements (cups and spoons) in the recipe card below, if at all possible (and I really cannot overemphasise this): USE METRIC GRAM MEASUREMENTS IF YOU CAN.
They’re much more precise and produce more reliably delicious results. This is true for pretty much all of baking – a kitchen scale will invariably give better results than cups and tablespoons.
And that’s it! This covers everything you need to know about this AMAZING gluten free potato flatbread. I usually use it for wraps, but you can also tear off smaller portions and use it to scoop up dips or sauces.
I really hope you’ll love it as much as I do.
Enjoy!
