Ad Hoc Grilled Flat Bread

I didn't wake up this morning with the intention of posting an entry, it just happened. Being my day off, I decided that I just had to bake something, but I didn't want to be at it all day. After ruminating on the thought a while, I remembered my previous experiments with Giada De Laurentiis' pizza dough recipe from March's Bon Appétit. It was easy, simple, and delicious, as good pizza dough should be.

I followed the recipe as I had previously; yeast, flour, sugar, salt, knead, rise, punch, and roll...you know the drill. However, because of the hot weather, I didn't really want to heat up the kitchen with a 450°F oven, so I looked, as many of us do in the Summer, to the grill. I just set the burners to a medium heat and let it warm up. Going back to the dough, I brushed it with some extra virgin olive oil ans sprinkled it with some Asian seasoning blend, sesame seeds, kosher salt, and fresh ground black pepper. I threw it onto the grill until the bottom was brown and had nice grill marks, then flipped it over and let it go until done.

The results...




( ^ That's my favorite picture ^ )



Right off the grill, the crust is hard and crunchy while the inside is soft and fluffy...in a word, perfect! And those charred bits, the bets part, if you ask me.

Just cut it up and dip into some duck sauce and you got a nice appetizer or snack.

Grilled Flat Bread
3/4 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
1 envelope active dry yeast
2 cups (or more) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil

Pour 3/4 cup warm water into small bowl; stir in yeast. Let stand until yeast dissolves, about 5 minutes.

Brush large bowl lightly with olive oil. Mix 2 cups flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add yeast mixture and 3 tablespoons oil; process until dough forms a sticky ball. Transfer to lightly floured surface. Knead dough until smooth, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls if dough is very sticky, about 1 minute. Transfer to prepared bowl; turn dough in bowl to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Punch down dough. Roll out dough into desired shape (mine was rectangular) and brush with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with Asian seasoning (I had some Emeril's Asian Essence on hand), kosher salt, sesame seeds, and coarsely ground black pepper, all to taste.

Set grill to medium-ish heat and all it warm up, about 10 minutes. Transfer dough to grill, close top, and grill until the bottom is golden brown and delicious. Flip bread over and repeat on other side, until it looks done to you.