The Daring Bakers' February 2013 Challenge, Crackers and Flatbread

Sarah from All Our Fingers in the Pie was our February 2013 Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to use our creativity in making our own Crisp Flatbreads and Crackers!

After sitting on the ledge for some few, maybe two Daring tasks, all the while watching my friends complete some awesome challenges, I was of course, envious inspired to hitch myself back on a brand new challenge bandwagon.

Except- and there always is one, amirite(?) being gung-ho at the beginning of the month does not float me through to the end, wherewith fiascospellsmylife, pesky plan changing bumps fragment most of my semi-schedule driven days and here I sit, four full days after post date, tidying up this later than all Daring Baker update in hopes you read before Day 5. Though quite actually these were in my oven three days ago, that being another story, another day. "Better late than never"says feeble voice to me, thus my answer to the February challenge that makes its way to March.

So onto we go. With the choice of doing both or either crackers and flatbreads, I chose the latter, the flaky crisp flatbread sounded easier, much faster to get through. Inspiration bursting at the seams, dontchathink? Being a leavened flatbread, yeast was made to proof and with the simple basics of dough making, preparation was a smooth and rather effortless task- 18 minute wait for endproduct led to thrills, squeals and all (whoopwhoop!). How pathetic simple my life, you say?

Crisped magnificence is literally at the tip of your fingertips, where, voila! right before your eyes, flour turns into flatbread and disappears not much after. 

Herbed Flatbread

(recipe from DB challenge page)

Ingredients:

• 1 c warm water (about 110°F)
• 1 tsp active dry yeast
• 3 c all-purpose  flour, plus more for rolling
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• coarse salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 large egg whisked with 1 tbsp water, for egg wash
• sea salt, for sprinkling
• ¼ c fresh rosemary or thyme

Directions:

• Place the water in a medium sized bowl and sprinkle the yeast. Let stand until the yeast is foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour, oil, 2 tsp coarse salt, and the sugar. Stir until a dough forms.
• Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 2 minutes. Use as much flour as necessary so it is not a sticky dough. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and roll the dough around in the bowl so that it is also lightly oiled on the surface. Cover with saran wrap. Let stand in a warm place until it doubles in volume, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4. Divide dough into 16 equal portions and cover with plastic wrap. Roll out each piece to approximately 4"x10" on a lightly floured surface. Transfer to parchment lined baking sheet. Brush with the egg mixture and sprinkle with sea salt and herbs.
• Bake, rotating sheet halfway through baking, until crisp and golden, 18-22 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes~ In place of rosemary/thyme, I used cilantro snips and garlic on some, sesame seeds and chili flakes on others. Though they were just as good plain with a sprinkle of salt.

A few minutes in the oven, with  heat turned off led to those very crisped edges perfect for hummus dipping and tearing apart by hands of all shapes and sizes.

Color me yellow. Couldn't fit  these into any of the other shots, so here goes, some pretties on their own canvas.

All this talk of flatbread is cue for a very good naan( Indian flatbread par excellence) recipe- any and all ideas welcome!  Perhaps those incessant raids of Trader Joe's freezers would finally come to an end.

Thank you Sarah, for breaking me out of my challenge intermission, and bringing me to task with an invigoratingly crisp, totally topnotch challenge.

******

Confidence through Christ, the only way to go!

 ^"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. "Hebrews 10:35