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The Fire 50 · cook it at home

Blistered skillet flatbread (a home stand-in for the wood oven)

2 hr 30 min (2 hr rising), 30 min hands-on · 6 flatbreads

Ester's bread comes out of a wood oven blistered and smoky. A screaming-hot cast-iron pan or a pizza steel under the broiler gets the same char on a simple yeasted dough.

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The real one

You need

• 400 g (3 1/4 cups) bread flour
• 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 260 ml (1 cup plus 1 tbsp) warm water
• 2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for brushing
• To finish: flaky salt, and butter or olive oil
• To serve: cultured butter, smoked fish roe, grilled vegetables or dips

How to make it

1. Mix and knead (15 min): Mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar, add the water and oil, and knead 8 to 10 minutes by hand (or 5 in a mixer) until smooth and springy.
2. Rise (1 hr 30 min to 2 hr): Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled.
3. Shape (10 min): Divide into 6 balls, cover and rest 15 minutes, then roll or stretch each into an oval about 5 mm thick.
4. Heat (10 min): Heat a cast-iron pan over high heat until it smokes, about 5 minutes. Or put a pizza steel on the top rack and heat the broiler 10 minutes.
5. Cook (3 to 4 min each): Lay a flatbread in the dry pan. Cook 1 1/2 to 2 minutes until bubbles puff and the bottom blisters black in spots, flip, and cook 1 to 2 minutes more. Under the broiler, 1 1/2 minutes a side on the steel.
6. Finish and serve (1 min): Brush with butter or oil, scatter flaky salt, and serve warm with butter, roe or dips.

Tips

• Black spots are the goal; that's the wood-oven taste.
• Hold a pan lid over the pan for 20 seconds to puff the bread.
• Keep the cooked flatbreads wrapped in a towel so they stay soft.

Chef Amazing's own home version of skillet flatbread, in our words; not any restaurant's recipe.