Battling Dough – Flatbread Edition

You may have noticed that lately there has been talk of making pizza, but no new pizza posts have surfaced. It is because I haven’t loved them.  The crusts have all been meh.  At best.

And I have tried lots of crust recipes.  From chefs and cookbooks and bloggers that I trust.  Really trust (although I am not saying who, for it is too embarrassing). And I really don’t know where things are going wrong.  I’ve tried all kinds of options – hand kneading and mixer; baking sheet, pizza stone, bake, bake and broil; hand forming, tossing, rolling, pulling … and the outcome is always (about) the same.

They have just all been a bit doughy.  And not in a good way. Dry too.  And almost dense. Doughy, dry and dense.  No thanks.

But after the last bust, I was determined to make something good with a basic dough.  And when I remembered that I had recently seen perfectly golden herbed flatbreads on the (beautiful new) Sunday Suppers website, I figured that was a good place to start.

Master the bubbly crispy cracker like base I was longing for, and then learn and adapt from there.

Thankfully we had success.

I halved the original recipe fearing if it went awry, that would be more waste, and if all went according to plan, I didn’t need to wolf down 16 flatbreads.  Yes, I realize things can be saved for later, but apparently if that idea popped into your mind, we haven’t met.  I am not exactly skilled in the art of moderation.

They were great as a crunchy counterpart to a grilled chicken and farmer’s market vegetable salad for dinner, and even better for breakfast with some prosciutto (yes, you read breakfast). I can’t wait to try them with cocktails and another batch of ricotta, maybe flecked with lemon zest and whipped.

But how these are served doesn’t really matter (you can’t go wrong).  The important thing here is I now feel ready to again tackle pizza dough.

And if you have a pizza dough recipe that gets perfectly crispy, golden (I’m afraid I can’t go darker in a home oven) and maybe even puffs up a bit in places, please, please, please send my way.  Comments or emails definitely welcome.

Special thanks to M for letting me play in your gorgeous kitchen!  xo

Notes: I loved the combination of rosemary and thyme, but the options are endless.  I made a few with toasted sesame seeds an think black pepper and garlic would be great too.  Feel free to experiment.

This recipe can easily be halved, but if you want to make more, I would make multiple batches, rather than double it.

Makes 16 flatbreads

Place warm water in a medium bowl; sprinkle with yeast. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

To the water and yeast, add in flour, oil, coarse salt, and the sugar. Stir until dough forms.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface; knead with floured hands until smooth, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough stand in a warm, draft-free place until it doubles in volume, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Divide dough into 16 equal pieces; cover with plastic wrap. Roll out 1 piece to roughly 4 by 10 inches on a lightly floured surface; transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush with egg wash; sprinkle with sea salt and herbs. Repeat with remaining dough, arranging 4 pieces per sheet.

Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until crisp and golden, 18 to 22 minutes. Let cool on sheets on a wire rack.