roasted vegetable pizza

Looking back longingly at the focaccia days gone by, roasted vegetable pizza seemed like a delicious way to kick-up the summer.

ingredients
the dough
3/4 cup lukewarm water
1½ teaspoon yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup high gluten flour
1 cup wheat flour

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon Herbs de Napa (optional) 

1 tablespoon truffle oil (or olive oil)

the topping
3 ounces brie
15 spears asparagus, diced
2 cups roma tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons capers
2 tablespoons truffle oil (or olive oil)
1 teaspoon pepper

preparation
1. In a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup, combine the lukewarm water, yeast, and a pinch of sugar. Set aside for 10 minutes. See "sourdough brie boule" for photos of fermenting yeast.

2. In your stand mixer bowl, with the dough hook attached, combine the flour, sugar, garlic salt, herbs, and truffle oil.

3. Pour in the yeast mixture and "stir" until a shaggy dough forms.

4. Increase the stand mixer speed to 2 and knead until a cohesive dough forms.  The dough will be stiff. My dough didn't come together because I was only using 2 cups of flour.

5. Turn the dough out onto your counter top, knead by hand a few turns, shape into a ball, place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

6. Turn the dough out onto your counter top, roll out, and place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet or pizza stone.

7. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

8. While the crust is baking, saute the asparagus and tomatoes with the truffle oil and pepper. Add in the capers, stirring to mix.

9. Spread the vegetable mix evenly over the crust and top with the brie.

10. Bake until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 10-15 minutes.

Original recipe found here.

sourdough flatbread

Flatbread, the tofu of breads. Why the tofu of breads? Because it can easily be jazzed up with a variety of spices and goes well with almost anything.

Yield: 18 pieces of flatbread
150 calories per piece
Active time: 25 minutes
Total time: 120 minutes

ingredients
the dough
1 cup fed sourdough starter
1/2 teaspoon yeast
2 cups high gluten flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 cup water

the topping
1/4 cup olive oil
everything topping or a spice blend of your liking
(I'm a nerd and have a standing mixture of mesquite spice blend and olive oil)

preparation
1. Prepare your sourdough starter.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the fed starter, yeast, and sugar. Stir to blend.

3. In a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup, combine the water, egg, and olive oil. Whisk with a fork to combine.

4. Add the flour and salt to the starter mixture, stirring to combine.

5. Pour in the water mixture, stirring well to incorporate. The mixture will be thick.

6. Cover with plastic wrap, and set aside for 1 hour.

 

7. Stir the dough to deflate.

8. Preheat your griddle to high and set-up your rolling station by cutting two pieces of parchment paper and arranging your oil.

9. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop out a portion of dough. Use a metal spoon to cut the portion of dough in half.  Place the portion on the parchment paper, which has been lightly oiled. Lightly oil the top of the dough portion, place the second piece of parchment paper on top, and roll.

10. Slowly pull back the top piece of parchment paper. Pick up the second piece of parchment paper, carry over to the griddle, gently set the flatbread onto the griddle, and slowly pull off the parchment paper.

11. Cook the flatbread for about 2 minutes, flipping over when bubbly. You can fit about 4 pieces of flatbread on the griddle, you just have to make sure to keep track of how fast and at what stage they're cooking.

12. Place on a paper towel lined plate after both sides are golden brown.

Other modifications:

• Don't have a sourdough starter in the wings? Check out my earlier flatbread post.

Original recipe found here. 

roasted tomato and caper focaccia

My typical lunch: A Kind bar, yogurt, and fruit.
My typical dinner: A salad.
Time for a change.
Enter focaccia.

Yield: 1 large flatbread
190 calories per slice, if cut into 12
Active time: 15 minutes
Total time: 225 minutes

ingredients
1 1/4 cup lukewarm water
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons garlic salt (My friend gave me a roasted gray, so I used that.)
1 teaspoon ground pepper
2 teaspoons dried basil (or any Italian herb)
4 cups high gluten flour
10 Campari tomatoes
1/4 cup capers

preparation
1. Wash and slice the tomatoes in half, simmering in a pan lightly coated with olive oil under medium heat on your stove top until slightly blackened, about 10 minutes. (Turn the tomatoes occasionally to avoid charring.)

 

2. Place the tomatoes to a bowl, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the capers. Stir well and set aside.

3. In a 2 cup Pyrex cup, combine the lukewarm water, yeast, and a pinch of sugar. Set aside for 10 minutes.

4. In your stand mixer bowl, combine the flour, basil, olive oil, garlic salt and pepper.

5. With the dough hook attached, "stir" the ingredients and slowly add the yeast mixture, continuing to "stir" until a shaggy dough forms.

6. Increase the speed to 2 and knead until a smooth and cohesive dough forms, about 5 minutes.

7. Turn the dough out onto your counter top, knead by hands a few turns, and shape into a ball.

8. Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise until the dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

9. Turn the dough out onto your counter top, punch down, shape into a ball, and let rest for 5 minutes.

10. Grease or arrange your parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet.

11. Pick up the dough and hold it by one end, moving your hands along the edge in a circle to stretch it out. You'll need to move quickly to prevent the dough from getting too thin in the middle.

12. After you've stretched the dough a bit, place it onto the backing sheet and gently stretch the dough, from the middle outwards, to the ends of the baking sheet. Be gentle because the last thing you want to do is rip the dough.

13.  Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise until very puffy, about 1 hour.

14. With you fingertips, make a pattern of dimples throughout the dough.

15. Evenly sprinkle the tomato mixture on the dough.

16. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Original recipe found here.