 At this time of year I am usually banging on about how we should be madly bottling and preserving the seasons surplus to enjoy over the colder months, and having just scoffed the last jar of bottled apricots in a tart that’s what I should be doing myself but I’m not.
Every now and then I become enchanted by certain combinations of ingredients or flavours, or a particular process that produces a great result, I have had brief affairs with chocolate and lemons, dallied with noodles and nuts, been totally distracted by balsamic vinegar…returning recently to one of my very first loves, Bread dough.
As a trainee chef, back in the dark ages, we spent a day making bread with our tutor. Real yeast doughnuts deep fried and dusted in cinnamon sugar, perfect little white dinner rolls, whole meal loaves, Kaiser rolls and for the finale we made a large plaited 5 strand loaf. I loved it all and recall travelling home on the bus with my bags bursting with fresh baked bread, the yeasty smell driving the other passengers to near distraction.
Dough has not lost its charm for me, I am not so keen on sour dough but I love peasant style breads, free form, make it up as you go along sort of breads. With this in mind I have put together a simple all purpose flat bread recipe that you can improvise with and adapt to suit yourself.
If you have attended a dg cooking class this year then you will recognise the basic dough as the one we make into Sciaciatta during the class.
If you have never made bread before then you can be confident of getting a good result if you follow this recipe, its easy, as bread goes its pretty quick, will make the house smell fantastic and makes 2 or 4 loaves.
Market day flat bread
I imagine that food like this would have been sold from market stalls for centuries before, packaging and bulk distribution took over. Each day the loaves would probably vary according to what was plentiful. Some would be a meal in themselves like a deconstructed pizza, others delicious in their simplicity for spreading with cheese, dunking in soup or snacking with beer according to Richard who is something of an expert when it comes to both snacking and beer.
6 cups plain flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 sachet instant dried yeast – (8 grams of instant yeast)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 ½ cups warm water
In a large bowl combine the sugar, salt, flour, yeast and oil. Stir in the warm water and mix to form a soft dough, turn it on to the bench adding more flour if needed, then knead until smooth and springy, 5-8 minutes.
Place dough into a clean greased bowl, cover with cling film and microwave on low power for 1 minute, rest the dough for 10 minutes then repeat. After the second rest the dough should have doubled in size. (Alternatively set aside in a warm place until doubled in size).
Punch the dough down, knead lightly and divide into two or four pieces. Roll and stretch the dough into oblongs and transfer to baking sheets. Add toppings of your choice and bake in a preheated oven at 210 ° for 20 – 30 minutes. Bread should be golden and sound hollow when tapped.
 Ricotta, Basil, tomato and Parmesan:
Ricotta is a low fat soft cheese made from whey, spread it over the bread as a base flavour then top with slices of fresh tomato, basil leaves and grated parmesan cheese. Drizzle with a little olive oil.
Thyme, bacon and goat’s cheese:
Spread the dough with tomato paste, scatter with chopped bacon, crumble with goat’s cheese (feta) and sprinkle with fresh or dried thyme.
Garlic and Parmesan:
Brush the dough with olive oil, sprinkle with 3 chopped cloves of garlic, grated parmesan and rock salt – excellent with a cold beer according to the expert.
Grape and chocolate: 
I love this, using the fat purple grapes from our vine; the family aren’t so keen, try for your self or improvise with other fruit.
Press the fruit over the surface of the dough, scatter liberally with chocolate chips and brown sugar. Serve warm.
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