Rosemary Fig & Onion Flatbread #TwelveLoaves

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.

A cracker it’s not, savory bread, it is…

I tried to make more sourdough rosemary lavish crackers yesterday, but the dough wouldn’t let me. It wanted to be bread. So I made Sourdough Rosemary Focaccia instead.

 

I was feeding my sourdough starters and decided to make crackers with the discarded sourdough. I had invited a friend over who likes sourdough bread so I thought I would introduce him to the Sourdough Rosemary Lavish Crackers topped with roasted tomatoes. I had just slow-roasted some more tomatoes from my garden so I needed to use them up.

I had a little more discarded starter than I had used in the original cracker recipe so I tweaked the recipe a bit to include more starter and flour, etc., but when I mixed all of the ingredients and felt the dough, it wasn’t cracker dough. No, this was different. It was so smooth and buttery (I mean olive oily) and workable. I just knew it wasn’t meant for crackers. This was bread dough. Flatbread dough to be sure.

The good thing about this dough is it is versatile. If you want to make focaccia, use the version below.  If you prefer to make crackers, use the cracker version.  

 

Savory Sourdough Rosemary Focaccia

Makes: 2 small or 1 large Focaccias

Adapted from: Sourdough Rosemary Lavish Crackers

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups unfed or recently fed sourdough starter
• 2 cups unbleached bread flour
• 1/4 cup, plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/4 teaspoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped, additional for garnish
• 1 tablespoon water, more if needed
• Kosher salt, for sprinkling on the top
• Roasted tomatoes, or your choice of toppings

 

Directions:

1) Preparing the sourdough starter for use in the focaccia:

Remove the starter from the refrigerator, measure the amount needed, and let it warm up to room temperature. If you don’t have enough starter for this recipe, use this method to activate and increase your starter.

 

2) Mixing the Dough:

Stir the sourdough starter and oil together in a large mixing bowl using a wooden spoon or Danish dough whisk.

Add in the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt and rosemary) and mix until thoroughly blended.

 

3) Bulk Fermentation:

Let the dough ferment for 2-3 hours at room temperature. Do a fold after the first hour. The dough should double in bulk.

 

4) Preparing the Focaccia:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. with a baking stone on the middle rack.

Spray a piece of parchment paper with olive oil.  Remove the dough from the bowl and shape it into a ball.  Place the ball on the parchment paper.  Let it rest for about 5 minutes.

To make small focaccias, cut the dough in half and cover one half while you’re preparing the other one.

 

 

5) Shaping and Topping the Focaccia:

Using lightly oiled fingers, spread the first ball of dough into an oval shape on the parchment paper.

Drizzle more olive oil over the top and press lightly with your fingertips to make indentions in the dough. 

Sprinkle kosher salt over the top and place the roasted tomatoes evenly around the edges and middle of the focaccia.  Press them gently into the dough. Drizzle with more olive oil, if desired and garnish with fresh rosemary.

 

6) Baking the Focaccia:

Slide the focaccia onto the preheated baking stone using a pizza peel or the back of a baking sheet.  Bake until it is golden brown about 20 – 25 minutes.  Remove the parchment paper partway through baking to make sure the bottom get’s baked through and evenly browned.

 

7) Cooling and Serving

Remove the focaccia and let it cool slightly before serving.  You can slice it or break off pieces to serve.

The roasted tomatoes puffed up during baking. It was pretty cool.

 

Someone told me recently that bread just wants to be, well bread. I agree. There’s no doubt that this dough wanted to be bread. It looked like it, smelled like it, felt like it, and ultimately, it was, bread. So I let it be bread.

And, since this savory Sourdough Rosemary Focaccia is not a cracker, I’m submitting it to the Twelve Loaves challenge for August. 

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy

Moroccan Anise Bread and Chicken Tagine

It was my turn to choose the bread and flavor for the May 30th Baking through Flatbreads and Flavors FB Group. I had a hard time deciding what to pick until I ran across the Moroccan Anise Bread. One of the suggested dishes to accompany the bread was Chicken Tagine. The anise flavor in the bread and the spices used in the Chicken Tagine sounded so different yet tantalizing that I decided this was the dish to try. Moroccan dishes can include up to 30 different spices, but don’t worry, this version only uses 6 different spices, lemon zest, garlic and cilantro.

 

The day I originally planned to make this meal, I was too exhausted from work and other activities to cook so we went out to eat instead. We ended up eating Thai that night, but during the course of the evening, my taste tester, Joe, started talking about an episode of America’s Test Kitchen he just watched and as it turns out, they made Chicken Tagine. I said, “that’s what I was going to make!”  He’s like “Really!  I didn’t know that’s what you were going to make.”  I guess I hadn’t told him. We decided to make it together another day. 

We made this meal this past weekend and it was divine. I got the marinade going and did some of the prep work ahead of time and when Joe got there, I put him to work. He cooked the chicken tagine and I made the bread. It was a fun evening! We really enjoyed this dish. I hope the other bakers like it as well.

 

The recipe in the Flatbreads and Flavors’ book calls for parsley and jalapenos which I didn’t have, and the Test Kitchen recipe called for cilantro which I did have so I used the combination of spices and ingredients that I had on hand and incorporated part of the process from each recipe to create the final dish.

 

Moroccan Chicken with Olives and Lemon (Chicken Tagine)

Adapted from: America’s Test Kitchen and Flatbreads & Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

Serves: 4 to 6 people

Ingredients:

Marinade:

• 3 pounds chicken (drumsticks, thighs and breasts -cut into two pieces)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice from 2 to 3 lemons, diluted with 1/4 cup water
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped

Broth:

• 1 1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 strips lemon zest (about 2 inches by 3/4 inch)
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, from 1 to 2 lemons*
• 5 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 5 teaspoons)
• Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, halved and cut into 1/4-inch slices (about 3 cups)
• 1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 to 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch-thick coins (about 2 cups)
• 1 cup Greek cracked green olives, pitted and halved
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

*We used the reserved marinade instead of squeezing more lemons.

 

Directions:

Place the chicken pieces in a large nonreactive bowl, add the lemon juice and garlic, and toss to coat.  Let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour, turning occasionally.

Meanwhile, combine the spices in a small bowl and set aside.  Mince 1 strip of lemon zest; combine with 1 teaspoon minced garlic and mince together until reduced to a fine paste; set aside. Adding a little bit of kosher salt makes it easier to incorporate the garlic and lemon zest into a paste. Watch this video to see how it’s done.

Season both sides of the chicken pieces liberally with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large heavy--bottomed Dutch oven (we used my Cast Iron Dutch oven and it worked great) over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke. Brown chicken pieces skin side down in single layer until deep golden, about 5 minutes; using tongs, turn chicken pieces and brown on second side, about 4 minutes more. Transfer chicken to large plate; when cool enough to handle, peel off skin and discard. Pour off and discard all but 1 tablespoon fat from pot.

Add onion and the 2 remaining lemon zest strips to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have browned at edges but still retain shape, 5 to 7 minutes (add 1 tablespoon water if pan gets too dark). Add remaining 4 teaspoons garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add spices and cook, stirring constantly, until darkened and very fragrant, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Stir in broth and honey, scraping bottom of pot with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. Add thighs and drumsticks, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add carrots and breast pieces (with any accumulated juices) to pot, arranging breast pieces in single layer on top of carrots. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast registers 160 degrees, 10 to 15 minutes.

Transfer chicken to plate or bowl and tent with foil. Add olives to pot; increase heat to medium-high and simmer until liquid has thickened slightly and carrots are tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Return chicken to pot and add garlic-zest mixture, cilantro, and lemon juice*; stir to combine and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately.

We served the Chicken Tagine with yellow squash and zucchini from my garden. 

 

We sopped up the broth with the Moroccan Anise Bread.  The bread has a little bit of a licorice flavor from the Anise, but it’s not overpowering. 

 

I’m so glad I chose this dish. The flavors of the Moroccan Chicken, squash and onions and the bread tasted really good together. You could also serve couscous with the chicken dish but since we were having bread, we didn’t need another grain.

If you’re looking for a recipe for the Moroccan Anise Bread, you might try this version from the New York Times  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/dining/133orex.html.  The NYT’s version is similar to the version in the Flatbread and Flavors’ book in that it includes whole wheat and white bread flour; however, the version in the book also includes some cornmeal.

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy