Today I thought I'd share a recipe that is always very popular at our house during the summer grilling season. We really enjoy crispy, chewy, warm flatbreads straight off the backyard grill. These are great just cut in wedges and served beside your favorite summer salad or soup but we use these flatbreads in many other ways as well. We've used them as a base for a salad, as part of great grilled chicken salad wraps, the base for great pizza cooked on the grill or as pictured above brushed with garlic oilive oil and sprinkled with herbs from the garden which make great hors d'ouevres topped with some roasted tomato jam and freshly grated parmesan or romano cheese. I often make this dough a day in advance, especially if using it for breakfast and store it overnight in a sealed container in the fridge. I find the flavor of the flatbreads improves with this method.
I've included instuctions for making your own garlic olive oil as well because I find many commercially available garlic oils just don't have enough flavour for me so by making my own I can have it just how I like it. See a great brunch idea using flatbreads at the end of this post too.
Flatbread Dough
4 cups flour
1/2 tsp instant rise yeast
1 & 1/2 cups lukewarm water
2 tsp sea salt
Place all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with a dough hook. Mix for 5 -10 minutes on medium speed. You may need to add a little more flour, a tablespoon at a time until the dough doesn't stick to the sides of the bowl. Alternatively stir together with a wooden spoon before turning out onto a floured bread board and kneading for 5-10 minutes. Cover the dough and allow to rise for about an hour until about doubled in size. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for another few minutes. Divide into 6-8 equal portions, form into balls and let rest for about 10-15 minutes before stretching or rolling the dough out into about 9 inch rounds.
Preheat your gas grill to about medium low heat and place the stretched dough portions a couple at a time directly on the grill. Watch these carefully, adjust the temperature and move them around on the grill as needed. At this point you can brush them with garlic olive oil and sprinkle with chopped herbs if you like before flipping the flatbreads and grilling the flatbreads for about another minute.
Garlic Olive Oil
2 cups extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, sliced
Over minimum heat heat the olive oil and sliced garlic slowly for about 15 - 20 minutes or just until the garlic slices begin to bubble at the edges. remove from the heat and allow to cool before storing in an airtight container or in mason jars. While the oil is still warm, you can add fresh herbs to the oil for extra flavour. Rosemary and oregano work well, just be sure to crush the leaves a little before adding them to the oil to impart more flavor tot he oil.
And finally, one more of my favorite ideas for great grilled flatbreads is as a base for a great brunch. Here, I've used garlic and herb flatbread beneath 2 eggs over easy, fried tomatoes and a sprinkle of fresh black pepper and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Crumbled bacon or breakfast sausage can obviously be added as well.
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Beautiful flatbreads and such a lovely idea to pair them with homemade garlic oil.