Day 346.
It’s The Secret Recipe Club reveal day again and I am delighted with the beautiful blog I was assigned this month. Savour the Senses blog owner, Jenny, is an university student and a cook at a local farm-to-table restaurant in Boulder, Colorado. So, you can imagine how excited I was to be assigner her blog. I had a tough time deciding which of her lovely recipes to recreate. I really want to get around to several someday soon, including her Kale Chips (which I’ve seen all over the place lately and keep meaning to try), and Green Olive Hummus. But the one that really almost stole the day was her Grilled Enchilada Pizza. Talk about delightful! A grilled pizza topped with chorizo (which I’d convert to vegan chorizo), peppers, onions, a spicy organic tomato sauce, and Mexican crumbling cheese — it’s definitely on my list for the future.
But, in the interest of my recent bout of simplicity in dining, I finally decided on the beautifully simple and delicious sounding Roasted Garlic Flatbread. Like myself, Jenny pledged to make more bread this year and somehow, since the demise of my sourdough starter (a short vacation without it being fed did it in), I’ve been slacking on my bread making in the last couple of months. And I had really gotten into it before. (Some of my highlights being Mashed Chickpea-Cauliflower Bread and Sourdough Pockets.)
I made minimal adaptations to Jenny’s recipe, based on ingredients I had on hand and, probably a bit on altitude differences. I used minced garlic first because I had it on-hand and second, the kids are more likely to eat tiny pieces of garlic rather than large pieces (my husband and I love it in all forms). I added more flour than expected after the original 3.5 cups because my dough ended up being too sticky to deal knead without it. That’s likely a function of altitude differences, but I’ve left the recipe at a range 3.5 to 4 cups since that likely varies by location. I ended up using a bit over 4. All in all, the flatbread, my first foray into flatbread actually (unless pizza crust and pita bread counts!) was surprisingly simple and Jenny’s recipe turned out deliciously perfect.
Roasted Garlic Flatbread
Adapted from Roasted Garlic Flatbread.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 teaspoons (1 package) active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Directions
In a large bowl, combine the yeast, water, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil and let stand until bubbles begin to form (about 5 minutes).
Gradually add in 3 1/2 to 4 cups flour until the dough has formed.
Knead the dough on a floured surface until it no longer feels sticky, adding additional flour if necessary (about 5-10 minutes).
Place the ball of dough into a bowl with 1 tablespoon olive oil, coat with oil, cover with plastic wrap (I usually use a plastic grocery bag) and let rise until doubled in size (about 35-45 minutes).
Punch the dough to flatten, cut into four pieces, cover with plastic wrap (or grocery bag) and let rest for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 450 F and grease two baking sheets.
Gently stretch each flatbread into a 13×7 inch oval (mine ended up more rectangular) and place on a greased baking sheet (two per sheet).
Sprinkle each flatbread with garlic, basil, salt and pepper then drizzle with remaining olive oil. Bake at 450 F until golden around the edges (about 10 minutes).
The Results
The kids went absolutely nutty for this flatbread. It was fantastic. When we make it again, I might double the garlic for my the flatbreads for the adults (but that’s mainly because my husband and I are huge garlic fans). The kids thought this was the perfect amount of garlic and basil. The bread itself was light and airy. We cut ours up into breadsticks and the kids had it alongside mac and cheese. They asked for seconds and even thirds of the bread. Fantastic! I think these would make fantastic pizza crusts, too. Yum.
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