flatbread and scapes

One of our favorite summertime meals is hummus (heavy on the garlic!), flatbread, and a big salad of fresh greens, feta, peppers, and olives. Yum! I’ve tried a few different pita and flatbread recipes, and then realized there was one in my go-to cookbook, Baking Illustrated. Yup, that’s the book I’m always linking to. You really should buy one!

Here’s my version:

Grilled Flatbread

makes 16 6- to 7- inch breads

4 1/2 tsp instant yeast
4 tsp sugar
3 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour*
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups water, room temp
1/2 yogurt**
2 T olive oil, plus more for oiling the bowl

1. In your mixer, combine yeast, sugar, salt, flours. Add water, yogurt, and olive oil and quickly mix. With dough hook, knead on medium speed for 8 minutes, adding flour in 1-tablespoon increments if necessary for dough to clear sides of bowl (it will stick to the bottom of the bowl, though. This is a wet dough!) Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.

2. Transfer kneaded dough to a large oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for 45 minutes to an hour, until doubled.

3. Punch down, turn onto lightly floured work surface and sprinkle with flour as necessary. With chef’s knife or pizza cutter, divide into 16 equal portions. Roll each portion into a round ball. Roll each ball into a 4-inch circle, let rest for 10 minutes, then roll to 6-inch circle.

4. Heat your grill, high heat. (Alternatively, you can use a large, heavy skillet, but I always end up with burned flour when I do it that way!) Life the dough circles, gently stretch to about 1-inch bigger, and set on grill. Cook until small bubbles appear, about 30 seconds. With tongs, flip, and cook until there are deep golden brown spots (2 minutes). Flip again; cook until bottom has deep golden spots, 1-2 minutes.

5. Transfer to wire rack, cool for 5 minutes. (Brush with melted butter if you’re going Indian!) Serve the breads warm. Or, wrap the breads tightly in foil and store at room temp for up to 2 days; reheat on the grill or in a 300-degree oven.

*Or you can figure out your own combo of whole wheat and white. This bread can stand up to quite a bit of whole grain without losing its tender chew.

**Or, if you’re like me and can’t seem to keep yogurt in the house, mix half sour cream, half milk, and a splash of lemon juice together.
*****

My other favorite recent discover is Garlic Scape pesto! These crazy little things were in my CSA box, and since I hadn’t the foggiest, I googled them. As soon as I saw the recipe for pesto, I scrapped my previous dinner plans and pulled out my blender. Yum!

For my pesto, I used more oil in order to get a better consistency. I also threw in some fresh basil. I served it on penne, with chopped fresh tomatoes. It was hot and spicy in a fresh garlic sort of way. Delish!

I think garlic scape season is probably over, but should you happen upon those strange creatures next summer, make pesto!

chocolate chip scones

It’s Friday — and that means tomorrow is Latte and Scones Day! Here’s the recipe I use:

Chocolate Chip Scones
adapted from Baking Illustrated, a cookbook I highly recommend

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 T baking powder
3 T sugar
1/2 t salt
5 T cold butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes*
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream/half and half/milk

1. Preheat oven to 425.

2. Whisk dry ingredients together.

3. Using two knives or a pastry blender, cut butter into dry mixture until it resembles coarse meal with a few larger lumps. (Don’t be afraid of butter lumps!)

4. Add chocolate chips.

5. Stir in heavy cream (or your dairy of choice!) with a rubber spatula just until dough begins to form — about 30 seconds. The mixture will be very shaggy.

6. Turn out onto a floured counter and knead the dough by hand for a few seconds. Pat into a round, about 1″ high. With a sharp knife, cut into 8 wedges.

7. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Brush tops generously with cream, then sprinkle with sugar.

8. Bake until tops are light brown, 12-15 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.** Serve warm.

*Cold butter is the key. If you get interrupted mid-recipe (’cause that never happens, right?), throw the bowl into the fridge. It’s gotta be cold in order to be light and airy.

**Don’t skip the cooling part. These are much better after they’ve had a chance to cool and firm up a bit.

Make ahead: I usually make a few batches at a time, whenever I have time. I shape them into wedges, cram as many as I can onto a baking sheet, and then throw them into the freezer. Once they’re hardened, move them to a ziploc bag. Then on Saturday morning, I pull out whatever I need and proceed from the “brush with cream” step. Frozen scones may need a few more minutes in the oven.