Flatbreads Category

This is a Venezuelan bread that's round and flat and usually made of cornmeal. It's usually split open and stuffed with grated cheese, cooked meats, and other fillings.

This precooked pizza shell makes it easy to whip up a quick homemade pizza. Just add some toppings and bake it briefly in an oven. Boboli is a well-known brand.

Jamaicans love to butter these cakes and eat them with fish. Bammies are made of grated cassava, and often soaked in coconut milk before being fried.

This flatbread hails from Iran.

This is a Brazilian corn cake.

Flat bread shaped like a boat.

This unleavened flatbread is a staple in India, where people spread ghee on it and eat it with curries. You can make it yourself with wheat flour, salt, and water, or buy it ready-made in Indian markets.

These thin round wraps are widely used in southern Mexico, and they're the preferred tortilla for making tacos and enchiladas. They should be served hot. If you're watching calories, do this by cooking them on a hot, dry frying pan or by wrapping them in moist paper towels and briefly heating them in a microwave oven. If calories aren't an issue, fry them in oil. You can make corn tortillas at home if you have a tortilla press. Just mix masa harina with enough water to make a bread-like dough, press the dough until it's very thin, and then cook the tortilla in a hot, dry frying pan. Readymade corn tortillas are available in most supermarkets.

This is a large flat Middle Eastern bread that comes either hard (like a cracker) or soft (like a tortilla). You can soften hard lavash by moistening both sides and then placing it in a plastic bag for a few hours

These thin flour wraps from northern Mexico are used to make burritos, chimichangas, fajitas and other Mexican dishes. They're more pliable than corn tortillas, so they're a good choice if you need to roll or fold the tortillas before cooking them. Flour tortillas come in different sizes, including small, thick "fajita tortillas" to large, thin "burrito tortillas."

A focaccio is an Italian flatbread that resembles a pizza crust without the topping. Many cooks top it with cheese, onions, herbs, eggplant slices, and other ingredients before baking it, but you can also serve it plain.

This is the French version of Italy's focaccia.

A "gordita" (Spanish for "little fat one") is like a corn tortilla, only smaller and fatter. It inflates a bit when grilled, so it can be split to form a pocket and filled.

These Swedish flatbread is made with rye flour and flavored with aniseed and fennel seed.

A south Indian specialty, these rice cakes are steamed, then served with sauces.

A specialty of Native Americans in the Southwest, this flatbread is deep-fried just before serving.

Ethiopians use this slightly sour flat bread as both a plate and spoon when eating their traditional stews. The injera becomes saturated with juices, and is eaten at the end of the meal.

This Norwegian flatbread resembles a flour tortilla, only it's made with mashed potatoes. It's used as a wrapper for various sandwich fillings. Dried lefse should be moistened, then heated briefly in a microwave.

These very thin crèpes are used to make mu shu dishes. You can buy them in the frozen foods sections of Asian markets, but they're easy to make at home.

This Indian flatbread is made with wheat flour. It's usually served hot.

This flaky Indian flatbread is made like puff pastry, in that the dough is repeatedly rolled flat, brushed with clarified butter, folded, and then rolled again. When fried, the bread becomes light and flaky. It's served with kebabs and stews, or stuffed with various fillings.

This pliable Italian flatbread is usually stuffed with filling, much as tortillas are in Latin America. The plural is piadine.

This puffy Middle Eastern flatbread is often cut in half, pulled open to form a pocket, and then filled with hot savory ingredients. It's also served like bread at meals, or cut into wedges, toasted, and served with dips. Look for pita bread among the baked goods in supermarkets.

A specialty of El Salvador, these are tortillas stuffed with cheese and other flavorings.

This Iranian flatbread is about two feet long, enough for the whole family.

Mexican cooks put various savory toppings on these corn patties. Look for them in Hispanic markets.

These are crunchy corn tortillas that have been loosely folded and deep-fried. You just fill them and serve. Look for boxes of them among the Mexican foods in your supermarket, or make them yourself by deep-frying corn tortillas, forming them into a U-shape, then allowing them to harden into a crispy shell.

These thin wraps are used to make countless Mexican dishes. Corn tortillas have little or no fat, and they're the preferred tortilla for making tacos and enchiladas. Flour tortillas are softer, higher in fat, and more pliable. They're traditionally used to make burritos, chimichangas, fajitas, flautas, and quesadillas, though some cooks use them to make everything from spring rolls to peanut butter sandwiches. Before filling tortillas, cook them briefly on a hot, dry frying pan or wrap them in damp paper towels and heat them in the microwave. Store uncooked tortillas in the refrigerator or freezer.