Soft Wrap Bread
These no-oven-required soft wrap breads are soft, tender, chewy and flavorful, and the perfect side to countless main dishes.
I blindly made this bread for a dinner that I had been looking forward to for a long time.
To be honest, I made this wrap-style bread myself (instead of buying it) because there wasn’t a good bakery close to me and I didn’t want to eat cardboardy, stale pitas for dinner. My hopes weren’t very high for this bread – it was more like a means to an end.
But all of that changed. When I tasted it.
Amazing. That’s all I have to say. I don’t have adequate wordage to describe how delectable this wrap bread truly is. It is soft. It is tender. It is chewy and flavorful.
It pairs perfectly with savory foods and conversely, it is fantastic drizzled with honey and eaten warm (which is the way my husband devoured at least four of the lovely discs).
Talk about a versatile bread. I am dreaming about when I can make it next. The wrap is pliable so it can easily be rolled up around a delicious filling or cut into wedges and served with a topping of sorts (hummus?), or even used for mini pizzas- the options are endless.
Oh, and one more thing – the bread is dry-fried over a griddle or frying pan so you don’t have to fire up the oven and heat up your whole house to make it.
After making this bread too many times to count, I’ve also found that I now almost always make it with whole wheat flour (usually white wheat flour because that is what I have on hand to grind). The results are still extremely delicious and even healthier.
FAQs about Soft Wrap Bread
Depends on your mixer’s power/speed- you may need to cut down the batch if it’s too big for the mixer.
Yes, potato starch will work!
Yes, just make sure to grease the parchment or whatever is lining each unbaked wrap bread so they don’t stick. Alternatively, you can cook them, then freeze them in a ziploc bag; they reheat really well in the microwave (or on low heat in the oven) and taste really fresh, too.
Lots of things! Makeshift tortillas, mini pizzas, sandwich rollups, basically anything that I’d use a tortilla for, or in sandwiches.
Soft Wrap Bread
Ingredients
- 3 to 3 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (see note)
- 1 ½ cups 12 ounces boiling water
- ¼ cup potato flour OR 1/2 cup potato buds or flakes (I used potato flakes)
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast (see note)
Instructions
- Place 2 cups of the flour into a bowl or the bucket of a bread machine. Pour the boiling water over the flour, and stir until smooth. Lightly cover the bowl or bucket and set the mixture aside for 30 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the potato flour (or flakes or buds) and 1 cup of the remaining flour with the salt, oil and yeast. Add this to the slightly cooled flour/water mixture, stir, then knead for several minutes (by hand, mixer or bread machine) to form a soft dough. It may look like the flour/salt/oil/yeast mixture will never absorb into the boiling water/flour mixture. It will, I promise, but you may need to take it out of your electric mixer, if using one, and knead the flour in by hand or add it very gradually into your electric mixer.
- Note: You can allow the dough to go through the entire kneading cycle(s) in the bread machine, but it’s not necessary; about a 5-minute knead in the machine, once it gets up to full kneading speed, is fine. The dough should form a ball, but will remain somewhat sticky (the dough is fairly stiff, so don’t be worried – just be careful not to overflour the dough). Add additional flour only if necessary; if kneading by hand, keep your hands and work surface lightly oiled.
- Let the dough rise, covered, for 1 hour (I let mine rise up to 2 hours).
- Divide the dough into 8 pieces (each about the size of a handball, around 3 ounces), cover, and let rest for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Roll each piece into a 7- to 8-inch circle, and dry-fry them (fry without oil) on a griddle or frying pan over medium heat for about 1 minute per side (I cooked mine about 2-3 minutes per side and they didn’t dry out), until they’re puffed and flecked with brown spots.
- Adjust the heat if they seem to be cooking either too quickly, or too slowly; cooking too quickly means they may be raw in the center, while too slowly will dry them out.
- Transfer the cooked breads to a wire rack, stacking them to keep them soft. Serve immediately, or cool slightly before storing in a plastic bag.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from King Arthur Flour
Monica – I let the bread cool completely and stack about 6-8 breads inside a freezer ziploc bag (the gallon size). I’ve never had a problem with them sticking, especially if they are completely cooled before freezing. Hope that helps!
I’m curious as to how you store this bread to keep it fresh? would the 7 or 8 inch rounds fit into a gal ziplock freezer bag? or would I need to buy bread bags from king arthur flour as this is the only place I’ve seen that sells bags large enough to store homemade bread in? ;also if they are frozen should they have wax paper in between to keep them from sticking? thank you melanie, for sharing your wonderful recipes
Oh my, oh my, oh my! I have been cooking from your blog for months now and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to find this recipe! I just finished off the first wrap hot off the griddle with a little butter and honey, I couldn’t help myself! I hope the rest survive until dinner!
I made your San Francisco Chops the other day for my family and my parents and it was met with rave reviews and requests for the recipe! So yummy!
I am a little slow but congrats on the arrival of your sweet little girl! I am 8ish weeks away from delivering my 3rd little boy and you can bet I am going to be cooking a few batches of these wraps to throw in the freezer for some nice, cool, easy meals after the little one arrives! Thanks again for all your fabulous recipes!
Rachel – I actually use my electric griddle to dry fry these so I can do two at a time, so yes, go ahead and use your new griddle – should work great!
We LOVE these – especially with your chicken gyros….question .. .have you ever tried making them on your electric griddle to make more than one at a time? Just got the great griddle for mothers day this morning ..and wondering if could use it to dry-fry the wraps instead of one at a time in a pan? THANKS!!
This-is-the-best -ever with the chicken gyros!!! Am loving SO MUCH (and have eaten my weight in the heavenly tzatziki before dinner…)- that am making for mothers day dinner this weekend- HEAVEN.
Heather – the whole wheat flour will definitely make these little breads more dense than puffy. You might try adding at least 1 cup white flour to help balance that out or try cooking it at a slightly hotter temperature. Hope that helps a bit!
Hi, Melanie,
I love your site! I have never commented before, but I make and love many of your recipes. Your recipes and several weeks of practice are the reason my Thanksgiving rolls were absolutely perfect and a huge hit! I made this bread today and it was soft and pliable and tasted great, but my bread didn’t puff up very much and get those nice little bubble spots. It was pretty flat and skinny. Any ideas? I did use freshly ground white whole wheat flour without any white flour added…would this contribute to flat bread? Thanks again for all the great recipes!
Mame – yes, that is a little confusing to have the weight measure listed with the ingredients and then have the recipe indicate a cup measure for how much flour to start with. I measure the flour by scale, too, and then use my cup measure to take out of that amount – does that make sense? The wraps are definitely more dense when using all wheat flour – there isn’t really a way around that with this recipe so you might try using half white/half wheat next time. As for the actual flour amounts, if you are going to leave some flour out (which I usually do), leave it out of the potato mixture (so only add 3/4 cup to 1 cup of flour to that portion). You basically just want to achieve a stiff but still slightly soft/sticky dough. I hope that helps a little – let me know if you have any other questions!
Hello! So Mel, I made these in my friend’s bosch, I doubled the recipe, and it is only my 2nd time ever making a ‘yeast’ bread. My husband got me a kitchen scale for my birthday (yay!) so I loved that this had weights. when I measured out the wheat (I used whole wheat, store bought in bulk section so I am assuming white whole wheat?) I had much less than 6 cups, so when I put the 4 cups in with the boiling water, I had much less than 2 cups left to mix with the potato flakes & etc. Should I have done that portion by measurement too? Also, when you say don’t include all the extra flour, but that flour has been mixed with the potato flakes & etc, should you leave some of the extra flour out of that mixture?
I have been dying to make this for like 4 months, and finally got up the guts. The wrap was GREAT around the gyro recipe you have, but by itself it was a bit ‘denser’ than I was hoping for. Maybe just because I used whole wheat? Too much flour?
Thanks for your fabulous site!
In most of the rest of the world, this ‘soft bread wrap’ is called Na’an.
It’s been around for thousands, and I mean thousands of years.
Soccer moms, give yourselves a pat on the back for being culturally negligent.
Na’an – it never pays to be snarky and rude. And actually, to be fair, you are incorrect. This potato-flour dough is indeed just what it is called…soft wrap bread…whereas the recipe I already have posted on my site for naan is…well, naan. To my limited “soccer mom” knowledge, traditional naan is not made with potato flour or potato starch. Thanks for the pat on the back, though, and for taking the time to {almost} correct the rest of us.
Reading through comments to empower myself with knowledge before tackling this, and I come across this? You are one patient woman, Mel! I can only image the type of person behind a comment like this.
Made these today for the first time and wow! I doubled the recipe and I am so happy I did! Thank you for yet another keeper!
Hi Mel-Just a quick question. Do you use your Bosch mixer to make these? I’m trying to decide whether to use mine or just a regular stand mixer. Is this too small an amount for the Bosch? Thanks for your help.
Beth – I always double this recipe when I make it so yes, I use my Bosch. I haven’t made a single batch in so long, I forget whether it works in the Bosch or not. I think it should be just fine, though.
Actually, this is an English version of Indian flat bread called Naan, and it is great with any meal or as an appetizer served with Huumus or Tzatziki sauce. I serve it with Tandoori chicken and Tzatziki sauce.
This comment is rude. Naan is a type of flat bread. Mels soft wrap bread is ALSO a type of flat bread/wrap. They have differences and similarities. But a comment like this has no business in this post. It’s uninformative and offers no help or insight.
Do you heat them up before using? or do you just let them thaw?
Bri – I usually just let them come to room temperature. If they don’t seem pliable enough, I’ll microwave them for 10-20 seconds but usually just letting them thaw is good enough.
Hey Mel,
I am wanting to double this recipe and was wondering how much yeast I need. Thanks a million!
Hi Bri – I always double the yeast when doubling this recipe – so 2 teaspoons.
Hey Mel, for Powell I am planning on doing some wraps for lunch with hummus, deli meats, cheese (kind of like a pita, but I’m wanting to do a soft bread instead). Do you think this is the best one to use? I have made it before and it’s so yummy. I also have made your Naan which I loved too. Do these wraps freeze well? I’m having to make everything ahead of time so I would need these to be able to freeze. Thanks a million.
Bri
Bri – I think that combination sounds fantastic! (Can I come??) And yes, I think this soft wrap bread would be the best medium for the wraps. I freeze them all the time and they freeze beautifully. I griddle-bake them, let them cool completely and then put 8 or so in a freezer ziploc bag. I take them out the morning (or night) before I want to use them.
I’m just frying up my first batch of these. I used potato pearls (buds) and it seems from the comments that no one else has tried this. The potato bits didn’t hydrate well or dissolve into the dough. I was worried but I finished them out. The dough was sticky and from the sounds of the other comments, this was as it should be. I’m surprised to say that even with the potato bits throughout, these are still awesome! I used bread machine “rapid rise” yeast, since I couldn’t find any instant yeast at the store. I’m now whipping up a second batch using powdered milk instead of potatoes.
Fabulous bread! I will make this again and again. I will definitely make a double or triple batch next time since it was a little time consuming. So yummy!!!
Oh my god. I made this bread with the chicken gyros recipe last night b/c I have been craving greek food and we have a seriously sad lack of it in the bay area. This bread was so soft and yummy. I could not possibly imagine eating a store bought dry pita after this. Never again. It was so easy too. Thank you for this recipe Mel. 🙂
Hey,
So I used these dry mashed potatoes, and they ate a bit lumpy in my raising dough, is this normal? Will it dissolve? Thanks.
Amy – I don’t have lumps of potatoes in my dough when I make this so I’m not sure if it will dissolve. Did you make the breads? Did they turn out?
Hi Mel, I just had to share a quick story with you. I have made this wrap bread twice now- SO EASY- and the first time we had the chicken gyros. Last night we had more traditional gyro meat, which was also delicious; my kids LOVE the bread. Today my 4-yr old son had a picnic in the park with his pre-school class, and when I started unpacking his PBJ…he said, “Wait, where’s the wrap bread and hummus??? No thanks, I’ll just wait until we get home for lunch!” And yes, he scarfed down wrap bread and hummus as soon as it cleared the kitchen table. 🙂 What can I say, the kid knows quality.
Jenny in Idaho
Mel, we need a like button on here, just like facebook! I would totally hit it for Dana’s comment. 🙂
@Carl – even if it’s been done for hundreds of years, i’d like to see you try to make “tortillas” (which these definitely are not) this good without someone telling you how!
Mel, thanks for posting the delicious recipes for those of to whom breadmaking knowledge doesn’t automatically implant itself into our brains! 😉
I tried them tonight, and they were delicious! My only mistake was only making half a batch, to test them out! I won’t make that mistake again, rest assured. 🙂
congratulations on making tortillas…. something that’s been done for hundreds of years………….. white people (eye roll)
Mel- I have made many of your recipes and you have become my favorite recipe site. So glad to have found you! I think we have the same palate. 🙂 Anyway, I have made this recipe 4-5 times now and I finally made a discovery that seems to be a common problem. The first boiling water to flour ratio has too much flour or not enough water for me. As is, it is very crumbly and then the next step of adding all of the other ingredients turns into a very dry mess that barely holds together. By adding less flour in the first step, maybe 1 3/4 cups?, there is a much better result. Maybe this will help someone else!
Thanks so much!! I am determined to try again until I get it right:)
I have sooooooooo been looking forward to trying these, and today was the day. I was so bummed (ok… devastated) when they didn’t turn out. I followed the recipe exactly and they just never rose. I still tried rolling them out and cooking them, but I probably could’ve shingled my roof with them!! Do you know what may have gone wrong? Thanks!!
Alicia – I’m sorry this bread didn’t turn out for you. This particular dough doesn’t show a big outward sign of rising – it never doubles in size. It might get slightly puffy but even then, you may not be able to tell a huge difference in size. The only thing I can think of them turning out so hard and dry was if you rolled them too thin and cooked them at too high of heat. I’m not sure!
Mel, Does this bread open up like a pita too? I couldn’t tell from the comments and what you had described about it. 🙂 Thanks!
Hi Lindsay – no, this bread doesn’t have a pocket in it, like a pita. It is just a simple flatbread.
Try these and see what you think 🙂
Wow! You are right about the “stale” bread at the store, but I never knew better until now. Really easy to do. Made a greek chicken marinade and had wraps and hummus with these. I was unsure about the rise but found it made it pliable and soft and not doubled in size.
Any suggestions for potato substitute? Using sprouted flour and trying to stay as true to that as possible… Thank you!! :))
This bread looks amazing!! So soft & doughy.
Wow. These are so fantastic! I didn’t have potato flour or flakes, so I used the suggestion of another commenter and substituted 1/4 c. powdered milk. It worked great! We ate ours wrapped around homemade pan-fried chicken strips and all our favorite sandwich toppings. I also took your advice and ate the last one drizzled with honey. It felt like I was eating at a nice sandwich shop/bakery, not at home. YUM!
Just took these off the griddle and tasted one. They were so good. The first I took off was a little raw inside, so I just cooked it a bit longer and knew how to gauge my others. I plan to make some hummus later to have these as a snack tonight.
Just made these and they turned out great! Here’s my question, though: When you let them do their 1-2 hour rise, are they really supposed to rise? Mine didn’t seem to at all.
Either way, they taste delicious and I’m having trouble saving what’s left of them for dinner…
Kate – my dough gets very slightly puffy but doesn’t double in size or anything like that. The 1-2 hour rise period, I think, gives the dough time to rest and relax and maybe slightly puff. That’s all. Sounds like it turned out perfectly!
I’ve shared this site w/ so many of my friends
Sending them to this recipe
I make these over bread now
I often cut recipe in 1/2 as it’s just me and the dog
Thanks so much for a great recipe
These were so yummy. I made them with white whole wheat flour, and paired them a great Everyday Food recipe. So good. A keeper for sure. Thanks for all of the wonderful ideas.
Thanks, Corinne!
lol
and NOW i have a third batch going….in the bread machine after reading tanya’s post!! this time i used 1/2 cup of the potato flakes.
thanks again!!
jeninabudhabi – so glad you found your way here and am thrilled you love this soft wrap bread as much as I do!
mmmmmmm.
made one batch……and have another one going. the kiddos are having a hard time keeping their hands off. i goofed both times and only put 1/4 c potato flakes…and it still worked.
serving it w/
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/traditional-gyro-meat/Reviews.aspx
AND
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Tzatziki/Detail.aspx
LOVING your website. can’t believe i only just found you!!!!!!!!
This is by far my favorite recipe! We’ve made it 3 times in the past week! So SOOOO good!!
Thanks, Katy!
This was SOOOOOOOOOOOO good!! Thanks for another awesome recipe – you seriously rock 🙂
Thanks, Melissa!
My stomach hurts. Because I just ate 5 of these. I’m serious — 5.
These are SOOOOOO GOOD. Everyone should make them immediately.
Thank you very much.
Julianne – you are hilarious.
I made these wraps along with the Chicken Gyros and Tzatziki. It was a huge hit! You would have thought my hubby and kids hadn’t eaten in days!!!
Meadows08 – thanks for the smile! Glad this meal was such a hit with your husband and kids.
So, so good and easy! Just made these a few hours ago and used AP flour since I didn’t have any wheat flour. Also used 1/4 cup powdered milk in place of the potato flakes without any problems. Definitely going in our family recipe archives.
Heather – thanks for including your changes! I’m glad you liked these.
Mel – made these soft wrap breads today (YUMMY!) – I am not a bread maker at all, but these were so easy and your instructions are so detailed i may have to try some of your other bread recipes! Was talking with my neighbor while making them and she said she goes to All Recipes to get new ideas – i told her “don’t go there when you can look at MelsKitchenCafe – where it does not matter what you try it always turns out and tastes fabulous”
Thanks, Sue!
Oops, I must be lazy. I just dumped all the ingredients in my bread machine on the “dough” cycle and let ‘er rip. AWESOME results. Will make this again…and again…and again…
Tanya – actually, that’s kind of nice to know it still worked out dumping it all in together!
The second batch turned out 100% better! I used 1 1/4 cups (instead of 1 cup) boiling water and 1/4 cup water to dissolve the yeast.
Megan S – thanks for checking back in to let me know about this recipe. I do think that perhaps humidity and altitude make a difference on how much water to add. I hope others can benefit from seeing your comment and knowing an extra 1/4 cup water may help!
The first batch I made just wasn’t looking right to me (I am using active dry yeast and did exactly what you said but the whole thing just looked too dry), but reading some of the comments that’s what it seemed like it was supposed to do. I pressed forward and have cooked them up. They didn’t roll out well at all the dough was so thick. They seemed to cook ok but are kind of dense. So I decided to make a second batch using a little more boiling water. I haven’t rolled these out yet but the dough is softer and seems better. I had such high hopes for these, and it seems like it worked out great for everyone else, I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong.
I remember this post but didn’t save it for some reason! Do you think you’ll ever put the “printable recipe” links on your old posts, like this one? I know that will prob be a lot of work, but I’m sure many readers would appreciate it.
Veronica – that’s a big maybe. I have tried to update some recipes but it will be a onesie twosie process. Hopefully over time they’ll all get updated one way or another.