Sunday, June 17, 2012

Flat Bread

Dr. Butler, a guest chef, came to class to teach the buttas how to make homemade flat bread and pasta.  It was such a fun class and everything we had was delicious.  These recipes are definitely keepers.

Flat bread:
1/4 cup warm water
1 Tbs plus 2 tsp yeast
1 large egg, beaten
1/2-2/3 cup water at room temperature
3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp Kosher salt or 1 tsp fine sea salt
1 Tbs plus 1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup clarified butter (Ghee) at room temperature
olive oil
optional: delicious seasonings, such as Fleur de sel, Piment d'espelette, and Parmesan, to taste

To make the dough: Combine 1/4 cup water and yeast and let stand for 10 minutes.  Mix egg with remaining water and stir into yeast.
Combine flour, salt, and sugar in bowl of a mixer with dough hook.  Add butter and mix at low speed.  
Then add egg mixture and mix till dough comes together.  Continue in machine for 3-4 minutes on low-medium until dough is smooth.
knead by hand for a brief time and then form a ball.
Lightly oil a bowl and put the dough into it.  Slightly oil a piece of plastic wrap and place over dough.  Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise for 2 hours.

Mama B prepared the dough in advance.  This is what it should look like:
Preheat oven to 350.  Put racks at upper and lower oven positions.  
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment and oil lightly.

Flour the dough and cut ingot quarters.  Take one quarter and flatten it into a rectangle to work with; cover the rest with a damp towel.
Open rollers of a pasta machine to the widest setting (Level number 1).  Roll the dough twice through the pasta machine at the widest setting and then once at each setting up to the 8th setting (the second from thinnest).   The flat bread will get thinner as you move it through the pasta machine settings.  Here is a video demonstration:
Once finished, cut into pieces approximately 3 inches wide and 10 inches long.  
Put on parchment paper and brush with good olive oil.  Sprinkle with sea salt, black pepper, or herbs of your choice and cook for 6 minutes.  Then swap the top and bottom trays and cook for 6 more minutes.  
It may take another 1-3 minutes to get the perfect light brown color.  Let cool on cooling racks.  Store for up to a week in air tight containers.  It is so delicious!
We even tried putting herbs into the dough, here is a picture of our Rosemary Flat Bread dough:
It was a really fun night!  The buttas are practically professionals at this now.  Please stay tuned for Dr. Butler's Homemade Pasta recipe.  

1 comment:

  1. Taught that big guy everything he knows..what up!

    ReplyDelete