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Flatbread

Grilled Flatbreads with Za'atar

This appetizer gets spiced up with a sprinkle of za'atar, a North African spice mix made from sesame seeds, thyme, marjoram, and ground sumac. No time to make the flatbreads? Use purchased pita instead and grill just to heat through. You can also serve the breads with the main course.

Sesame Onion Nan

Uyghur flatbreads Topped with a savory mixture of sautéed onion and sesame seeds, this moist, addictive bread gets a pleasant tang from a bit of yogurt added to the dough. Poking holes in it before baking — we use a thick skewer rather than the traditional chicken-feather quills — keeps the nan from getting too puffy.

Caramelized-Onion Flatbreads with Crème Fraîche

This clever appetizer is halfway between a pizza and a flatbread.

Norwegian Flatbreads

Lefse Enjoyed year-round, these soft flatbreads are especially common during holidays. For many Norwegians, and members of Norwegian communities such as those in the Midwestern United States, making lefse symbolizes the start of the Christmas season. They can be either sweet or savory: On the Christmas Eve buffet, they often accompany lutefisk (preserved cod) and pork ribs, but as a snack, they're popular rolled up, spread with butter, and sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar. Lefse are traditionally made using special grooved rolling pins; large, superheated griddles; and long wooden spatulas. However, we found that a regular rolling pin, a 10-inch cast iron skillet, a pastry bench scraper, and a thin metal spatula worked just fine. Cooking the potatoes thoroughly and using a ricer or food mill will ensure that there will be no lumps in the potato dough.

Blue Cheese and Caramelized-Onion Squares

Sweet caramelized onions and pungent blue cheese make a good pair in this simply elegant appetizer.

Coriander and Cumin Flatbread

This recipe is from Suzanne Goin, chef and owner of Lucques and A.O.C. restaurants in Los Angeles. It's great with her Moroccan menu in the October 2006 issue of Bon Appétit, or with just about any Mediterranean or Middle Eastern meal.

Pizza and Flatbread Dough

Flatbread with Sausage, Bell Peppers, and Asiago

There's no tomato or mozzarella on this flatbread. Instead, we have sausage, sweet bell peppers, and Asiago cheese, just one example of how you can devise a simple but original pizza by drawing on just a handful of ingredients.

Poori

This puffy deep-fried bread has a beautiful sheen and is wonderfully flaky. Its ravishing appearance is matched only by its exquisite flavor. This is why poori is generally served at parties, special dinners, wedding banquets, and most festive occasions. 

Lavash

With its tantalizing aroma of garlic, sesame, and Asiago cheese, this Middle Eastern flatbread may well be gone before you can even put it on the table.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

The surging popularity of sandwich wraps and quick Mexican snacks like quesadillas has turned the flour tortilla, a staple once largely confined to northern Mexico, into something found in supermarkets across the United States. Of the store-bought varieties, we are big fans of those from Maria & Ricardo's Tortilla Factory (800-881-7040), available at high-end supermarkets such as Whole Foods and by mail order from the company. (Dry-toast them slightly to freshen before using.) That said, we are even bigger fans of homemade flour tortillas. Fragrant and slightly puffy, they fall squarely into the "staff of life" category.

Lemon and Rosemary Fougasse

Fougasse is a favorite in southern France. It is said that the holes cut into the flatbread served a very specific purpose — they allowed a field worker to slip his arm through and carry the bread to work along with his tools. Serve this with the Bourride or as an appetizer, brushed with a little olive oil.

Grilled Vegetable Flatbreads Stuffed with Zucchini, Eggplant, and Tomato

Head north of Sunset, and you will happen upon this live-music supper club tucked away in the hills of tony Bel Air. The swank venue features a stage surrounded by tables where you can spy toe-tapping regulars such as Nicolette Sheridan and Virginia Madsen taking in the soulful jazz tunes. You can make a meal of chef Sharon Funt's delicious flatbread appetizer; each serving provides more than 8 grams of fiber.

Flatbread with Dukka

This delicious bread, which has been part of Egyptian cuisine since the time of the Pharaohs, gets beautiful color and vibrant flavor from dukka, a blend of spices and nuts widely used in the Middle East.

Fried Indian Breads

Pooris

Parsley Cumin Parathas

Inspired by Monsoon Wedding Monsoon Wedding is an intensely colorful chronicle of a wealthy northern Indian family's preparations for their daughter's marriage. During the run-up to the event, the bumbling wedding planner falls in love with the family's maid. Food plays a central role in the nuptial festivities.