Tomato, Tapenade Flatbread

An unexpected parcel came from France - a bottle of tapenade, two ceramic bowls, a few postcards an a sweet message from a friend!

My friend Lucile sent me a parcel of goodies from Paris and it had everything I loved, I now have two new hand made bowls added to my collection.

I made flatbread with a health(ier) crust with a combination of white flour, wheat flour and ground flax seeds, smeared generously with tapenade and topped with cherry tomatoes, ricotta cheese and basil and cooked till it turned golden an crunchy!

The good part about making pizzas and flatbread is that when it comes to topping, you can pretty much do what your heart desires! I used tapenade and thought it tasted wonderful…but if you are not a big fan olives, you can go with different kind of cheese and mushrooms with some caramelized onions.

The trick is to roll the dough out really thin- for this purpose I added some olive oil into the dough when I was kneading it. It helps in keeping the gluten in control when the dough rises and the finished dough is more manageable.

You can make them round or rectangular or even squares…whatever shape is easier to achieve.

Makes 3 flatbreads

cooking time 30 to 40 minutes plus resting time for the dough

Things you will need:

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup wheat flour

2 tbs ground flax seed

2 tbs olive oil

2 tsp dry active yeast

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup lukewarm water plus more for kneading

Dissolve yeast in the water and let it sit for about 15 minutes or till the yeast is activated (bubbly). Meanwhile in a large bowl add both the flours, flax seed, salt, sugar and mix well to combine. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour yeast and olive oil. Start kneading and keep adding 1 tbs of lukewarm water at a time till it comes together as a dough. You dont want it to be too sticky or too dry, it should become a ball. Place in a large oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let it rise for 2 hours in a warm spot.

After two hours the dough would have doubled in size. Take out on a generously floured board and kneed for a few minutes using your fingertips. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts and roll out into a thin rectangular shape. Use your hands to stretch it while rolling out to achieve a nice shape. In a preheated oven at 350F bake each flatbread for about 12 to 15 minutes. This is your base for the flatbread…from here you can dress it up however you want but here is what I did.

tapenade

cherry tomatoes, halved

ricotta cheese

fresh basil leaves

balsamic vinegar

some fresh greens (any kind)

salt & pepper

Smear a generous amount of tapenade on the flatbread, arrange the tomatoes, add some cheese, tear basil leaves and add on top. Sprinkle some balsamic vinegar and season with some salt and pepper. Bake in the oven at 400F for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool, slice and serve!