Potato Flatbread with Zucchini and Mint

It's been almost two months since I last posted. Sorry it took me so long to come back online but life kind of intervened... Anyway here we are in our summer river retreat enjoying family, friends and retirement. Hard to believe we finally have time on our hands. What a treat!

I have been baking up a storm, mostly Gérard's rustic batards which have become a staple in our house since it is such a tasty bread and such a reliable recipe and if I make a double batch, there is enough for us, for the freezer and for the neighbors too, which is always nice. Although the other day, I overlooked the fact that it was searingly hot out and I let the dough overproof. That's how I discovered that, when overproofed, Gérard's dough makes deliciously flavorful and crusty flatbreads (not pretty to look at though).

However this zucchini flatbread was made with a different dough. I found the recipe for it in The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum, an excellent book which I have certainly underused since I bought it last October. It calls for mashed potatoes but I didn't have any on hand while we had some leftover steamed potatoes. I just peeled the skin off one and mashed it with a fork and voilà, it worked. I also had one zucchini, mint from the garden, some red pepper I had roasted the week before and kept in olive oil, fresh goat cheese and, in the freezer, a bag full of za'atar, a flavorful Middle Eastern seasoning which is also delicious on salads and veggies but goes equally well with grilled meats and yogurt cheese, among other dishes. For best flavor, the dough is made 24 hours ahead of time.

We had friends over and I totally forgot to take a picture of the baked flatbread. The pictures you see show it before it went into the oven. Size-wise, it would have made a meal for the two of us with a salad on the side. There were four of us and we had it as an appetizer.

Ingredients (for one 10-inch flatbread):

100 g unbleached all-purpose flour

0.8 g instant yeast

2 g sugar (Beranbaum uses 8 g)

2.5 g salt

38 g mashed potatoes (or peeled and fork-smashed steamed potatoes)

7 g olive oil (Beranbaum uses butter) + 4.5 g for the bowl

44 g water (preferably potato water) at room temperature

8 g lightly beaten egg

Toppings to taste: here I used an unpeeled zucchini, sliced very thin, steamed for 1 minute in the microwave and squeezed dry, ribbons of grilled red pepper, crumbled goat cheese, mint, za'atar, pepper and salt but you can use whatever you have on hand that goes well together and looks pretty.

Method:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast and sugar. Then whisk in the salt, add the mashed potato and olive oil and mix with a wooden spoon or rubber scraper until just incorporated in clumpy bits
2. Add the water and egg and stir in until blended
3. Using an oiled spatula or dough scraper, scrape the dough onto a counter and knead it lightly for about 15 seconds, just to form a smooth dough with a little elasticity
4. Pour 4.5 g of oil into a bowl and place the dough in the bowl. Turn it over to coat all sides. Cover tightly and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or until slightly puffy
5. Set the dough, still in the container, in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours (if planning to use it right away, double the fermentation time to one hour and skip the fridge part)
6. When ready to bake, lift the dough out of the bowl and place it on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper (Beranbaum uses an oiled pizza pan)
7. Press down on the dough to deflate it gently and shape it into a smooth round by tucking under the edges. Allow it to sit for 15 minutes, covered
8. Place a baking stone on an oven shelf at the lowest level and preheat the oven to 475º F/246º C one hour before baking
9. Using your fingertips, press the ball of dough out into a 10-inch circle, sprinkle with some olive oil from the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit for 30 to 40 minutes, until the dough becomes light and slightly puffy with air
10. Garnish with the desired toppings and set directly on the hot stone
11. Bake for 10 minutes, check for color (turn 180º if your oven has heat spots as mine does) and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until nicely colored
12. Eat while still warm.

This flatbread goes to Susan, from Wild Yeast for Yeastpotting.

Honey-& Goat Cheese-Filled Muffins

I have been a subscriber to Eating Well Magazine forever. I like its health and/or nutrition-related articles although I rarely cook or bake from the recipes. The January-February 2010 issue is different. For the first time in months, I found myself reaching for post-its and earmarking pages, especially from the Wake Up to Whole Grains feature article, written by Maria Speck. Speck was raised by a German father, to whom she attributes her yearning for whole grains, and by a Greek mother who taught her to love the flavors of her native country (hence the figs, the goat cheese and the honey). I love whole grains too and, maybe because I hail from the Mediterranean as well (through my mom whose grandma was a black-eyed Provençale with Italian forebears), I have a passion for figs and goat cheese. So I decided to try these whole-grain muffins. They are good! They keep two or three days at room temperature and freeze really well. If frozen, Speck recommends microwaving them (wrapped in a paper towel) for 30-45 seconds on High. Personally I don't really like them warm (I don't think the flavors come out as well) but I love them at room temp. My only modification was not to put in any sugar (Speck adds 3/4 cup packed dark or light brown sugar to the batter). To my taste, the muffins are plenty sweet without it but the Man thinks they could be a tad sweeter and he eats them spread with rhubarb jam. Since I don't have a sweet tooth, if it were not for him, I probably would have skipped the honey as well (although I do love the flavor). For all I know, the taste for sweets might be genetic: until his very last years, my dad didn't like sweets either and as for myself, even as a Parisian child, on the eagerly awaited occasions when my mom took us to the neighborhood bakery to purchase our afternoon snacks, my brothers always chose a "pain au chocolat" or a "pain aux raisins" (chocolate or raisins croissants) or a "chausson aux pommes" (apple-pastry) but I always went for a "pain de gruau" (a plain crusty mini-loaf). I even remember that when my tonsils were taken out (I must have been 7 or 8) and I had to eat soft food for a day or two, my mom splurged on 3/4 of a liter (that's how ice-cream was sold in Paris then, maybe still is) of vanilla ice-cream from nearby Boissier, a renowned "pâtissier, chocolatier et glacier" (pastry-shop & chocolate and ice-cream maker). I ate one spoonful, loved the feel of the cold gliding down my sore throat but had to stop eating as the sweetness and the richness literally made me gag. Since there were no freezers in those days, my whole family promptly had the ice-cream for lunch! To this day, I feel guilty for turning down a treat that my mom bought with such love and anticipated joy and that we could probably ill afford... Well, at least, I have been consistent with myself over the years. I still don't care for most ice-creams! Ingredients (for 12 muffins): 100 g crumbled soft goat cheese or reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchâtel) (I used Trader Joe's plain fresh goat cheese, one of those sold in a package of three) 30 g honey grated zest of half a lemon 8 g vanilla extract, divided 317 g white whole wheat 5 g baking powder 3 g baking soda 1 pinch of salt 2 large eggs + 1 large egg white 260 g plain yogurt (Speck uses buttermilk but I didn't have any. If using thick Greek yogurt, such as Fage, you may need to dilute it with some milk. I used homemade yogurt and it was fine as it was) 50 g extra-virgin olive oil 107 g dried figs, chopped (I used Black Mission figs) chopped caramelized hazelnuts for topping (Speck uses turbinado or granulated sugar but I had a bit of leftover hazelnuts I had kept in the freezer from another recipe and I used that) Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF/218ºC. Line 12 regular muffin cups with paper liners or coat with cooking spray
2. Thoroughly combine the cheese, honey, lemon zest and 1/4 teaspoon of the vanilla extract in a small bowl. Set aside
3. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl
4. Lightly beat eggs and egg white in a medium bowl, add the sugar (if using) and the remaining vanilla extract and whisk until dissolved
5. Gradually whisk in yogurt (or buttermilk) and oil until smooth
6. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not overmix. Fold in the figs
7. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Add 1 generous teaspoon of the reserved cheese filling to the center of each muffin and cover with the remaining batter (the filling should not be visible). Sprinkle with finely chopped caramelized hazelnuts (or sugar if using)
8. Bake the muffins until the edges start to brown and the top springs back when gently pressed (13 to 15 minutes, according to Speck. In my case, it was closer to 20 minutes)
9. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

Nuke-the-Zuke Quick Bread

I wanted to celebrate World Day 2009 by making a bread that could be mixed, baked and put on the table in less than an hour (with less than 10 minutes of actual busy work). I also wanted to demonstrate that fast food doesn't need to be junk food, so I used 100% whole wheat flour (I chose white whole wheat which is as nutritious as regular whole wheat but much lighter).

Since so many quick recipes rely on meat or meat products, I wanted this bread to be vegetarian (albeit not vegan as I could never ever renounce eggs and cheese). So I chose zucchini, a quick cooking vegetable - which I washed without peeling it, sliced and nuked for 4 minutes in the microwave. To make sure this quick bread was packed with enough protein to make it a main course for a family with teenagers, I used eggs, goat cheese and yogurt (as well as a tiny amount of almond milk) and to make it fun, I spiced it up with some "piment d'Espelette" brought back from France last spring. Paprika - hot or regular - can be used instead. The result is a colorful and flavorful savory bread which can be eaten hot, warm or cold, on its own or accompanied by a bowl of soup or a salad. Excellent at room temperature with a side dish of diced zucchini sauteed in olive oil and splashed with lemon juice!

Bottom of the bread

Ingredients (for 6 servings): 250 g white whole wheat flour (I used Trader Joe's) 100 g fresh goat cheese (from Trader Joe's again), crumbled 125 g plain yogurt (I used sheep milk yogurt from the farmers market but regular yogurt would be fine) 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 200 g zucchini, unpeeled, washed, sliced and steamed for 4 minutes in the microwave 2.5 tsp aluminum-free baking powder 60 g milk (I used almond milk but regular milk would be just fine) 7 g piment d'Espelette (or paprika) pinch of salt

Method:

1. Turn on the oven (350F/180C)
2. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and piment d'Espelette (or paprika)
3. In a smaller bowl, thoroughly mix (with a fork) goat cheese, yogurt, eggs, olive oil and milk
4. Spray a bread pan with oil
5. Place a handful of zucchini slices in a row on the bottom of the pan (in case you decide to serve the bread upside down)
6. Pour the egg and cheese mixture into the bowl containing the dry ingredients
7. Mix gently until incorporated
8. Add the zucchini
9. Pour the batter into the bread pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a tester or cake knife comes out clean
10. Serve hot, warm or cold. Enjoy!

Nuke-the-Zuke Quick Bread was sent to Zorra for the 2009 bread roundup she is kindly hosting on her beautiful blog.