"Luchi" is a light and crisp flat bread. It takes very little water to make the dough:

2 cups white flour, 1 tsp salt, about 1/4 - 1/2 cup water, 2 tbls. butter or shortening, oil for frying

Mix flour and salt and cut in butter or shortening. Add just enough water to form a stiff dough. Knead until soft and smooth - about 10 min. Divide dough into 10 balls. Dust pastry board with flour and pat each ball into a thin round. Heat veg. oil and fry the luchi until golden brown on each side.

Chapati

1 cup white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 cup water, 3 tbs. melted butter

Mix flours and salt together. Add water to make a soft dough. Knead the dough well for about 10 minutes. Cover with a cloth and let sit for 1 hour. Knead lightly again. Shape into 12 small balls. Flatten each into 6-1/2 rounds on a floured board.

Heat griddle or skillet with a small amount of oil. Place one chapati on the griddle, when chapati bubbles up, flip it to brown the other side. Serve immediately with butter or plain.

I purchased the Crisco "butter" flavored shortening for making my Y2K flatbread because butter will not be available.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), November 21, 1999

Answers

What I'd like is a recipe for a New York style (probably originally Eastern European style) Onion Board.

If you've ever had one (ideally peeled in half like a pita, then buttered, and squeezed back together) -- a *real* one, with real (not dehydrated), soft (almost juicy) onion strips, you'll know what I'm talking about.

I get hungry just thinking about it, and it's been about 30 years since I've had it.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), November 21, 1999.

I have a zillion recipe books, I'll start looking...

-- Bardou (bardou@baloney.com), November 21, 1999.

bardou: Thank you, thank you, thank you. It sounds wonderful, can hardly wait to try it. Always wondered how they made flat bread. suzy

-- suzy (suzy@nowhere.com), November 21, 1999.

Don't forget Irish soda bread when you consider yeastless breads. I checked the Web once and there were more recipes than doomers have beans, from plain to sweet. It's very easy to make and a reasonable substitute if you don't have yeast. Also search on chapatti, naan and pita for a variety of flat bread recipes.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), November 22, 1999.

Thanks, Bardou, for the good info. While you're checking in your zillion recipe books, could you look for tortilla recipes?

I'd like good recipes for both flour and corn tortillas. Nothing fancy, just plain ol' tortillas. Thanks!

-- peg (peg@futureandahope.com), November 22, 1999.

Never mind. . . . I was just at the pleasanthill.com site and found the following:

http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/tortillas.html

Sallie Moriarty's Taco Shell Recipes

Soft Taco Shells

1/2 c. yellow corn meal 3 Tbsp. oil 1 c. flour 1 c. milk 1 egg 9 or 10 " Teflon pan Mix ingredients well. Sometimes you have to add more milk, to make shells thinner. Use the Teflon pan with a drop of oil on bottom. Get pan very hot. Add enough batter to spread thinly on bottom of pan. Fry on both sides; doesn't take too long! Turn heat down to medium after you start frying the shells. Keep warm in covered dish in oven.

Flour tortillas Makes 8 to 12 tortillas Freezes well. 4 c. flour 2 tsp. salt 2 tsp. baking powder 4 tbsp. shortening 1 1/2 c. warm water, approximately Combine dry ingredients. Cut in shortening. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and add the water, a small amount at a time, work mixture into a dough. Knead dough until smooth, cover and set aside for 10 min. Form dough into balls the size of an egg. Roll each ball of dough into a circle 6 inches in diameter (very thin). Heat a griddle or skillet on med. high heat. Place each tortilla on griddle and cook for approximately 1 minute on each side. Tortilla should be lightly speckled.

-- peg (peg@futureandahope.com), November 22, 1999.