Hey, look, I'm back to blogging. Well, not really.This recipe is a guest post from my friend Karen who blogs at Karen's Kitchen Stories. You should go check out her blog - she's got lots of fantastic stuff and her photos are lovely. Or follow her on Facebook. Yes, you should do that, too.
This tomato and onion flatbread is so easy to make, and is amazingly thin and crispy. When you pull it out of the oven, you can hear it crackle.
What I love about this flatbread is that you get the joy of eating pizza without all of the extra calories. The flatbread is light and thin, and the topping is simply tomatoes and onions. Veggies! It’s almost health food, right?
I’ve made this in advance, reheated it on a hot baking stone, and served it as an appetizer. We’ve also had leftovers for breakfast! Last night, we had it as a side to baked salmon, along with a salad. It’s really versatile.This crust is a great vehicle for lots of toppings. Once you get it stretched out onto the half sheet pan, you can choose any toppings you like.
Honestly, I think pizza and flatbread should be its own food group.
One note: Be sure to keep an eye out for any puffing up of the dough as it bakes. While I’ve made this flatbread many times, this time the flatbread rose up about 6 inches in the middle in the first five minutes of baking (eek!), so I stabbed in in the middle with a fork to flatten it out. It worked out fine!
Tomato and Onion Flatbread
Inspired by Jim Lahey’s My Bread
For the crust:250 grams (about 1 3/4 cups plus) bread flour
5 grams (1 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
2.5 grams (3/8 teaspoon) salt
1.5 grams (generous 3/8 teaspoon) sugar
150 grams (2/3 cup) room temperature water
Extra virgin olive oil
For the topping:
14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup thinly sliced white or yellow onion
1/2 teaspoon crushed red peppers
Mix the dough ingredients in a large bowl with your hands, spoon, or dough whisk. The dough should be fairly stiff. I added an extra tablespoon of water.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 2 hours, until more than doubled.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. If you have a baking stone, place it on the middle rack.
Drizzle olive oil onto a half sheet pan.Take the dough and stretch it lengthwise onto the pan. Let it relax.
While it is relaxing, using a strainer, drain the diced tomatoes, reserving the liquid.
Using a blender, hand blender, or food processor, mix the tomatoes, 3/4 cup of the reserved tomato juice, olive oil, and salt. Set aside.
Continue to press and stretch the dough until it nearly fills the sheet pan. Pinch together any breaks in the dough.
Ladle the tomato sauce over the entirety of the dough.
Sprinkle with the onions and crushed red peppers.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges are slightly charred. Using tongs, pull the pizza onto a cutting board.
Serve hot or at room temperature.
