Spicy Flatbread
Ingredients
Dough: (enough for 4 smallish rounds)
2 TB. yeast– 2 packages
2 tsp. sugar
1 Cup warm water
3 TB. olive oil
2 3/4–3 Cups flour
2 tsp. salt
Topping:
2 tsp. Turkish Oregano
2 tsp. cracked rosemary
1 tsp. dehydrated minced garlic (2 cloves fresh, minced)
1/4-1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper or Aleppo pepper
3 TB. olive oil
1 tsp. coarse salt (sprinkle on to taste)
Directions
Mix yeast, sugar and warm water. Let stand for 5 minutes until foamy brown. Mix in olive oil.
Add flour 1/2 cup at a time, along with the salt, blending in with a spoon.
Stop once you have added 2 1/2 Cups of flour, and use the rest of the flour on the table while kneading.
The dough will be a bit sticky; dust the dough and your hands with flour and work it into the dough.
The dough will go from wet and sticky to smooth and elastic while kneading - don’t add too much flour, it should be a soft dough, as then the dough will be dry and hard once baked.
Divide the dough into four pieces for bread or small pizzas, two pieces for larger pizzas, knead each one briefly into a nice round shape, then place on an olive oil covered baking sheet.
Roll the dough balls over until covered with oil, then let stand for 20 minutes. The dough will start to get puffy as it rests.
While the dough is resting, prepare the topping if using.
Mix all ingredients except salt.
Stir to blend, let stand.
After 20 minutes, pat the dough into shape.
Just start patting with palms from the center out, circular shapes roughly 6-8” across. The dough should be about 1/4” thick.
At this point, follow your pizza recipe if using the flatbread as crust.
A fair amount of olive oil on the baking sheet will help the crust to not stick if it is weighted down with toppings, but it is till best to not be too heavy handed with the toppings.
To bake the bread, preheat the oven to 400°F.
Brush olive oil on the baking sheets and place 2 bread rounds on each one.
Spoon 1⁄4 of the spice mixture onto the center of each piece of dough and spread the spice/oil mix out to the edges.
Once the spices are spread over the top, let rest again for 20 minutes.
Sprinkle with coarse salt and then bake for about 15 minutes, until the bread is golden brown.
Remove, cool briefly, cut into wedges and serve.
