The baking mission for Twelve Loaves for September was to bake bread with something sweet or savory from the Farmers Market. My Farmers Market Bread is a sweet and savory, crispy delight.
The inspiration for this Rosemary, Fig & Onion Flatbread came across my inbox a few weeks ago and I’ve had it on my list to make ever since.
The original version, called Figgy Focaccia, uses a basic bakery pizza dough, but I used a Spelt and olive oil pizza dough made with home milled spelt flour.
The figs came from a local farmer’s market called the Heirloom Living Market. This was the first time I had visited this market. I’ll definitely be visiting it again and again. I got some great vegetables, fruit and other neat items, and had fun chatting with the Market Directors – both of whom are bakers. How cool is that! They even offer a spelt pizza dough, but of course, I wanted to make my own.
I started out making focaccia but it turned out to be a crispy flatbread. It provided a delicious base for the figs, onions and rosemary.
Rosemary, Fig & Onion Flatbread
For the list of ingredients for the toppings, refer to the recipe for Figgy Focaccia from All Recipes.com
To make the pizza/focaccia dough, follow the directions below:
Spelt and Olive Oil Pizza Dough
This whole wheat pizza crust utilizes an overnight sponge and a biga.
Adapted from: Whole Grain Breads by Peter Reinhart
Makes: 4 Pizza dough balls
Ingredients:
Soaker:
- 227g (1 3/4 cups) whole grain Spelt flour
- 4g (1/2 teaspoons) salt
- 198g (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) water
Biga:
- 227g (1 3/4 cups) all-purpose Spelt flour
- 1g (1/4 teaspoon) instant yeast
- 1/2 – 5/8 cups plus 2 T water
Final Dough:
- Use all of the soaker
- Use all of the biga
- 56.5g (7 tablespoons) whole grain spelt flour
- 5g (5/8 teaspoons) salt
- 5g (1 1/2 teaspoons) instant yeast
- 2 1/4 teaspoons agave nectar
- 2 tablespoons Olive oil
Directions:
1. Making the Soaker:
Mix the soaker ingredients together until the flour is hydrated. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for 12 to 24 hours.
2. Making the Biga:
Mix the biga ingredients together in a bowl until the dough forms a ball. Knead the dough in the bowl for a couple of minutes to ensure the flour is completely hydrated. You’ll need to use wet hands for this part because the dough is really tacky. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then knead it again using wet hands. Transfer the dough to a clean bowl and cover it tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate it for at least 8 hours. Take the biga out of the refrigerator about 2 hours before mixing the final dough.
3. Mixing the Final Dough:
Combine the soaker, biga, 7 tablespoons of whole grain spelt flour, salt, yeast, agave nectar, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium bowl. Mix with a dough whisk or wet hands until the ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the dough. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky. Add a little more flour if necessary.
4. Kneading the Dough:
Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and roll the dough in it. Knead the dough for 3 to 4 minutes, until the dough is soft and very tacky. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes while you line a sheet pan with parchment paper, then oil it with olive oil.
5. Form the pizza balls
Knead the dough for another minute and make any final adjustments. The dough will feel soft, supple and very tacky. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, about 8 ounces each. Form each piece into a tight ball and place the balls on the prepared pan. Roll the balls in the oil to coat the entire surface. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use, up to 24 hours. You can use the dough right away, but I didn’t need it until that evening so I refrigerated it for several hours until it was time to make the focaccia.
6. Preparing the Flatbread and Toppings
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. with a baking stone on the bottom rack.
The original focaccia recipe had you grill the onions on the grill and then bake the focaccia in the oven. Although grilled onions would’ve tasted great, I thought it was rather silly to use the grill just for the onions so I opted not to use the grill at all.
I took one of the dough balls and spread it out into an oval shape onto parchment paper sprayed with olive oil. Then I drizzled olive oil over the dough and placed thinly sliced onions and fig halves on top of it and gently pressed them down.
Next, I added the rosemary leaves and sprinkled a couple of pinches of kosher salt over the top.
7. Baking the Flatbread
Slide the flatbread (on the parchment paper) onto the preheated baking stone. Bake at 450 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool slightly, then slice and serve warm for a crispy and satisfying meal or appetizer. I enjoyed mine with a Caesar salad.
Happy Baking!
Cathy
For a slightly different whole grain version of this dough, check out my Einkorn and Olive Oil Pizza post.
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