Bruschetta Flatbreads

Bruschetta Flatbread


I tend not to be very imaginative when I order starters in an Italian restaurant. I go for the Bruschetta almost every time. I'm so predictable on this front that I could even rank all the chain restaurants by how good their Bruschettas are (Pizza Express- excellent, Zizzi- terrible).

Bruschetta is a beautifully simple dish- some type of bread, chopped, sweet, fresh tomatoes, red onion, fresh basil and away you go. I like to use different colours of tomato, like the red and yellow cherry tomatoes, because it looks so pretty when it's served. Some people like the bruschetta topping to be warm, almost like pizza, but traditionally it's cold, with the warm bread underneath. That's the way I like it- it makes me think of summer!

Making your own bruschetta is very easy. Take any good bread like French stick or ciabatta and drizzle it with garlic oil or spread it with garlic butter and grill until crisped a little. Then serve straight away with the tomato salad topping and a little salt. Delicious for lunch, starters or a snack.

If you really want to go fully home-made then try out my simple flatbread recipe below and serve freshly cooked with bruschetta topping.




Make Bruschetta flatbreads

For a printable recipe click here: Brushcetta Flatbreads Recipe

Ingredients
(makes 7-8)

For the flatbread
500g strong white flour
7g yeast
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
300ml warm water

For the topping
24 cherry tomatoes
1/4 red onion
handful of fresh basil
50g butter
3 cloves of garlic, crushed

Method

1. Mix the dry bread ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Add the olive oil and warm water and mix with a wooden spoon. The mixture will start to come together but will still look floury and stringy.
3. Turn this 'blob' of dough out onto a slightly floured surface.
4. Knead it 7-8 times until it resembles a smooth ball of dough.
5. With your hands, split it into two even pieces, then again and again until you have 8 small lumps of dough.
6. Keep two pieces out, but put the rest back in the original bowl and cover with a lightly oiled  piece of clingfilm. Don't wrap them in it, just lay it over them and tuck the sides in a little.
7. Roll out the two pieces into a flat oval shape, no more than 1 cm thick.
8. Grease a baking tray and lay the two flat breads on it.
9. Blend the garlic and the butter together in a small dish with the back of a teaspoon until well combined. If you're not a fan of butter, swap this for 2 tbsp olive oil and mix that with the crushed garlic instead.
10. With a sharp knife, prick the flatbreads gently in three or four places and then spread some of the garlic butter over the top.
11. Bake the flat bread for 10-15 minutes at 220 (200 fan, gas mark 6) until it is crisping and turning golden brown.
12. Meanwhile chop the red onion finely. Then chop the cherry tomatoes into small chunks (around 12 chunks per tomato). Mix the red onion and tomatoes together in a small bowl. Add a little salt (taste and add more to taste- you'd  be amazed how much salt tomatoes can take).
13. Remove the flatbreads from the oven and spread a little bit more of the butter on.
14. Top with a good spoonful of the tomato mixture and then tear some basil leaves over it and sprinkle on some salt.

Enjoy a bit of Italian sunshine at home!

Balls of bread dough

Rolled out flatbreads on a baking tray

Garlic butter

Chopped tomatoes and onion

Bruschetta Flatbread

Comments

  1. I love making bread. I will try this soon. Pinned, stumbled, and yummed :) Good for you, tracking your progress with cooking! How exciting!

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