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Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Mini Flatbread with Hummus ... and more

Virtual Potluck has teamed up with California Olive Ranch and Bob's Red Mill for a special four-week Healthy New Year promotion, pairing whole grains from Bob's Red Mill with with healthy olive oil from California Olive Ranch.

And that's good news for you, because each week, I'll be giving away the same olive oil and grain combo that I'm working with. Sweet, huh?

This week is the appetizer, and I'm working with hard white whole wheat flour and Arbequina extra virgin olive oil.
  • In week 2, it will be a side dish using grande whole grains blend along with miller’s blend extra virgin olive oil.
  • In week 3 it will be a main dish with quinoa and Arbosana extra virgin olive oil.
  • In week 4, I'll be making a dessert with whole wheat pastry flour and everyday fresh California extra virgin olive oil.
For the appetizer, I went with Mediterranean flavors. These little flatbreads can be made well ahead of time and you can assemble them just before guests arrive. Or, if you prefer, let your guests assemble their own.

Mini Flatbreads with Hummus and Warm Olive Salad

To make the flatbreads:
1 cup Bob's Red Mill hard white whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon California Olive Ranch Arbequina extra virgin olive oil
Up to 1/2 cup water
For the hummus:
1 15-ounce can chickpeas
2 tablespoons tahini or peanut butter
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic, finely minced
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt - or to taste
To make the warm olive salad:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sliced kalamata olives
1/4 cup feta cheese, cut in small cubes
For the garnish:
Diced tomato
Parsley, chopped

To make the flatbreads:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees with a baking stone in the oven.

Place the flour and salt in the bowl of your food processor fitted with the proper blade for processing a small quantity of dough. Pulse a few times, then add the oil and pulse again a few times.

With the processor running, add the water only as fast as the flour can absorb it until the dough forms a ball - you probably won't need all the water - you should have a tablespoon or so of water left.

Remove the dough from the processor and divide it into 16 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball, then roll each ball into a flat disk about 4 inches in diameter. Bake the disks on the preheated baking stone until they are puffed and lightly browned in spots on the bottom, about 1 minute. Depending on the size of your stone and how fast you can roll them out, you might want to bake them in batches. I baked four at a time.

Remove them from the oven and let them cool on a rack. You can make these ahead of time. Let them cool completely before storing.

To make the hummus:
Blend everything in your food processor or blender. You can also use a stick blender. Blend until it's the consistency you like - some people like it silky smooth, while other prefer more texture. It's really up to you. Add more olive oil, if needed, to reach your desired consistency. Taste and add more salt if needed.

To make the warm olive salad:
Heat the olive oil VERY GENTLY on the stove. You don't want it boiling - or even very hot - no warmer than hot tap water. Pour the olive oil over the olives and cheese and let them marinate in the warm oil.

To assemble:
Put a dollop of the hummus on the flatbread. Top with olives and cheese, then add tomatoes and parsley. Drizzle with a little extra olive oil, if desired.

To enter the giveaway:

For your mandatory entry, visit either the Bob's Red Mill or California Olive Ranch Facebook page and retrieve the current week's Virtual Potluck code word. Use that code word in a sentence in your comment here.

For an extra entry: Follow Bob's Red Mill, California Olive Ranch, and Virtual Potluck on Twitter, and tweet a link to the contest using the #virtualpotluck hashtag. Then comment here again, telling me that you've tweeted..

More Blogs, More Ways to Win: Get additional entries in each week's giveaways by visiting our host blog where you'll find a complete list of the other participating Virtual Potluck Bloggers. You could win there, too! So let's do the math on this one. Twelve bloggers, 4 weeks - that's 48 recipes and 48 chances to win something. Not a bad deal, hmmmm?

One more added bonus! If you buy California Olive Ranch oil from their online store, you can get a 10% discount by entering coupon code BLOGFRIENDS at checkout.

Contest begins when this posts and ends at midnight, mountain time, on Sunday, January 8. Open to US residents only.

Bob's Red Mill and California Olive Ranch supplied us with the grains and olive oils to work with and will be shipping the product to the winners.

The winner is Wehaf! Congrats!