COOK: Flatbread

If you’ve been following for a while you probably know that we love our carbs, and our cheese. (Bacon is a close third.)  With this easy recipe you can have both in a few different ways!  (You can also eat the flatbread without cheese, but then your poor cheese will feel left out!)

There are a lot of different versions of flat bread, I’ll tell you what this is not: pita bread, naan bread, tortilla, or pancake.  What this is; a simple and easy recipe for a bread that is flat, good for dipping, making a fun pizza, eating with something spread on it (peanut butter, hazelnut spread, hummus…).

If you are nervous about making homemade bread, new to baking, don’t have a fancy mixer, this is a great bread to start with.  (Hand mixing directions will be below the stand mixer directions.)

This is great with my Chicken Souvlaki and Tzatziki Sauce.

Tips: If you buy Active Dry Yeast in the packets, each one has 2 1/4 teaspoons, if you are only using 1 teaspoon you can store the remainder in a sealed jar in the fridge.

Flatbread

Ingredients:

2 1/2-3 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast

1 teaspoon Salt

1 Cup Hot Water

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil (plus more to coat the bowl)

Preparation:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, with a dough hook, combine flour, yeast, and salt, turn on to start mixing, add olive oil to hot water and slowly pour in while mixer is running.  Stop and scrape down sides of bowl if needed so everything starts to combine.  If dough is sticking to the sides and bottom and not turning into a ball add a bit more flour, about a Tablespoon at a time.  

Once dough has reached ball stage let the mixer continue for 5 minutes.  Remove dough ball, add a bit of olive oil to the bowl, put in dough ball and swirl so all of the ball is covered, then cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about an hour, until doubled in size.

Turn dough out onto a clean counter and cut into 4-8 pieces.  (If we are doing flatbread pizzas I cut the dough into 4 pieces, it makes about 4 10 inch pieces, but you can make smaller pieces depending on how you will use it). Let your pieces set under a piece of plastic wrap to set for about 10 minutes. Heat up a cast iron pan, griddle, Blackstone, or thick bottomed frying pan. I set my stove top to medium/medium-low, or 350 degrees on an electric griddle or Blackstone, do not add any oil.

Roll dough out very thin, it will plump up a bit while cooking, it can be any shape (this is my favorite thing, because I cannot roll anything out into circles, but different shapes can be fun!).  Put rolled out piece of dough onto hot flattop, cast iron, etc.  Dry fry for about 2-3 minutes per side, the bubbles will turn a bit brown, and the rest of the dough will turn a light off white.  Once done put on a wire rack to cool.

Once cooled the flat bread can be stored in a sealed container in a cool, dry, space for about a week.

Hand Mix Directions:  Mix all ingredients with a wooden spoon until mostly combined, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and continue to mix until it forms a ball, then kneed by hand for at least 8 minutes until dough is soft and a bit elastic.  Put into oiled bowl, and continue with directions from above.

Flatbread Pizza: If we are making pizzas we add our sauce, a bit of cheese, toppings of our choice, and more cheese.  If using an oven bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes. We put them on a cookie sheet, but if you want a crispier crust put them right on the over rack.  On the Blackstone we cover them and cook for (Some sort of time, I’ll ask KC, he’s the Blackstone chef!)

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COOK: One Hour French Bread

Over the last 4-5 years I have tried at least 10 French bread recipes, some were total failures, some worked sometimes but not all the time... you get the point.

When I found several recipes for one hour French bread I was very dubious, but I've made this 4 times now and it has turned out perfectly three times,  one time it didn't quite turn out but I've determined it was because KC was making his mom's Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup and I think the kitchen was a bit too humid (humidity is rare in Colorado, so if you live somewhere humid take that into account.)

One Hour French Bread

Ingredients:

2 Cups Warm Water (105 degrees-110 degrees)

2 teaspoons Sugar

2 Tablespoons Yeast (Regular Active Dry Yeast, DO NOT use Rapid Rise or Bread Machine Yeast)

2 teaspoons Salt

3 Tablespoons Canola Oil

5 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour

Preparation:

In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer add Water, Sugar, and Yeast.  Let proof, or bloom, for about 10 minutes until yeast is frothy.

Add Salt, Canola Oil, and Flour, using the dough hook mix on low setting until combined, then turn up to medium and let continue to kneed until dough is smooth and slightly elastic looking.

Cover bowl with a warm (not hot) damp flour sack towel.  Let rise for 15 minutes, set a timer so it doesn't over-rise.  (if your kitchen is on the cooler side heat your oven to 150 degrees while mixing dough, turn off, place bowl in oven to rise.  I also think this will help if you kitchen is extra humid, however I haven't tested that theory yet.)

Prepare a baking sheet with either parchment paper or a silicon mat, (I use the Amazon Basics brand and love them, I don't get anything if you buy from this link, just sharing my favorites!)

Punch down dough, split in half, and then form each into a loaf shape, I just gently roll it and then tuck the ends underneath.  I'll try to post a video next time I make it.)

Cut 4-5 slits on top of each loaf.  Turn oven on to 375 degrees, let bread sit by the oven to rise, only let it rise for as long as it takes your oven to heat up.  (About 12 minutes.)

Bake for 23-25 minutes, it should be a golden brown, and if you knock on it it will sound hollow.

I keep ours in the fridge so it lasts longer, although it's usually gone pretty quickly.  

It's great for French Bread Pizza, we add sauce, cheese, and our favorite toppings (pepperoni, jalapenos, olives, etc) and bake it at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

We also like this with the following recipes:

Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup

Pasta Carbonara

Clam Linguine

Chicken Tetrazzini 

French Onion Chicken

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COOK: Sandwich Bread

 I know a lot of you have been waiting for this recipe, it's so easy, and tastes so much better than store bought, plus it's cheaper!  

Sandwich Bread

Ingredients:

2 Cups Warm Water (About 100-100 degrees)

1 Tablespoon Yeast

2 Tablespoons Honey

2 teaspoons Salt

2 Tablespoons Canola Oil (Vegetable Oil will work too)

4 1/2-5 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour (White or Wheat, or a mixture of both)

Preparation:

I use my Kitchen Aid Mixer and the dough hook, if you do not have a stand mixer you can mix with a wooden spoon, and kneed by hand for twice as long.

In large mixing bowl combine Yeast, Honey, and Warm Water, let sit about 10 minutes until yeast has bloomed (it should be foamy and bubbly.)

Add in Salt, Oil, and 4 1/2 Cups of Flour.  Mix on low, until combined and not overly sticky (if still very sticky add four 1/2 cup at a time and mix.

Increase speed to to medium and let mix/kneed, for 5 minutes.  

Remove dough to a lightly oiled bowl, flip dough to cover all sides.  Cover and let rise about 1 hour until doubled in size.

Punch down and form into two loaves, place into two large loaf pans.  Cover with a flour sack towel or loose plastic wrap.  Let rise for 1 hour.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, knock on the top and if it sounds hollow it's done.

Immediately remove from loaf pan to cool on a wire baking rack, if desired rub tops with butter.

Store in a sealed container or zippy bag for up to a week in the fridge.  Can also be frozen.

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COOK: Four Ingredient Crusty Artisan Bread

This is the only bread recipe you need! It's super easy, you don't have to knead it, it tastes amazing, and only uses FOUR ingredients!

The only draw-back is that you need to let the dough rise for a minimum of eight hours, so I normally mix it up when I'm making breakfast and packing lunches and then let it sit all day and pop it in the oven just in time for dinner.

Crusty Artisan Bread

Ingredients:

3 Cups All-Purpose White Flour
2 teaspoons Salt
1/2 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 Cups Warm Water

Preparation:

Put all of the dry ingredients in a bowl big enough to allow your dough to at least double in size and give them a quick mix.

Add the water, mix until everything looks combined and wet, be careful not to over mix! It usually comes together for me in about 1-2 minutes.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit somewhere warm for 8-24 hours. Make sure it's sitting somewhere that it won't be bothered, if it gets moved or shaken it will lose all of the wonderful bubbles as it rises and those bubbles are very important.

When you are ready to bake your bread you will want to put a covered enameled dutch oven, about 5.5 quart size or bigger, in the oven, covered, and turn to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. You want the dutch oven to heat up along with the oven. This helps the bread to achieve maximum delicious crustyness (a very tecnical term, crustyness) on the outside.

While the oven is warming up dump a good amount of flour on the counter, at least a big handful to keep the dough from sticking, the dough will be very wet.

Then dump the dough from the bowl onto your floured counter. (Sometimes I use a rubber spatula to help release it from the sides of the bowl. You don't want to play with the dough more than needed, because it will demolish all of those gorgeous bubbles we spent so long creating!

Quickly form dough into a round loaf, there is no trick here, I just pat it around the sides until it kind of looks like I think a loaf should.  Then, let it rise on the counter for about 30 minutes.

After the dough has risen you will want to take the dutch oven out of the oven, quickly put your dough loaf into the pan, cover it and place it right back into the oven.  If you are like me your dough is on the other side of the kitchen, so you grab it and quickly zip back to the oven and drop it in the pan and hope it keeps it's shape.

Bake for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes are up, quickly open the oven, remove the lid, and shut the oven and let the bread cook another 7-10 minutes. (In my oven 7 minutes is perfect!)

Remove from pan immediately to a clean dry towel or a wooden bread board.

Now, just cut and enjoy!  It's delicious plain, but also good with some butter, honey, and cinnamon, or homemade basil pesto.  

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