The BBQ word has crept in to the title of this post. A yell of delight! Finally, two days in a row of spring warmth (even ‘heat’ dare I say, in the full sun).
This flat bread is a summer staple in our house, accompanying dips and soaking up sauces at BBQs. Its appearance on our menu heralds summer, just over a week before official summertime, and ushers in six months and more of outdoor cooking! Bliss…
Yesterday was a public holiday and without a meal planned, as we like to go with the flow and see what the day brings, I found myself with bits and pieces to use up. I remembered some Sicilian fennel sausages in the freezer and decided on a simple BBQ, wedging them into our favourite, quick-and-easy flat breads, along with some roasted red pepper and a bit of left-over rocket. Nothing fancy, but incredibly tasty fare; all the more so because it’s cooking outdoors. What a difference that makes after months of oven on, full-blast, not only baking up goodies but in order to keep me warm.
The BBQ hadn’t seen light of day since around mid October. Needless to say, it took some overhauling and sprucing up to be functional for SS2013! I had, I think, cleaned it, spritzed lemon juice on the lava and de-greased it at the end of autumn, but all the same, it took around an hour to get it reasonable enough to cook on. New lava, a good scrub and removal of various ‘wildlife’ that had moved in to hibernate – either over winter or to avoid the increasing sun. Either way, one bin bag later and some thorough hand scrubbing and the BBQ tongs were finally ready to go. Today though, chill grey cloud looms to remind me that it’ll be a few weeks more before the BBQ is a regular at evening meals. Just glad of this quick griddle up to feed us after my hard work spring cleaning the BBQ.
- 250g plain white flour (tipo ‘00’ / bread flour)
- 1.5 tsp dried yeast
- 2 tbsps fresh rosemary, chopped, plus extra to garnish
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 125ml hand-warm water
- sea salt
- Sieve flour into a large bowl, add chopped rosemary, dried yeast and a little sea salt and combine. Make a well in the centre and add the olive oil and then the warm water. Stir to combine and finish into a springy dough by hand.
- Tip out onto a lightly-floured surface and knead the dough for 5 minutes. Use semolina to knead on as it makes the dough easy to turn.
- Cover with a damp T-towel or cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for an hour.
- Divide the dough into four equal pieces and flatten each to 4mm ovals with the palm of a hand.
- Use a pastry brush to coat each oval lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and some more chopped rosemary.
- Griddle on a medium-high heat on a BBQ flat plate or a flat-based, heavy-based (ideally cast iron) hob pan for around 5 minutes each side, until risen slightly, hollow to tap and golden in colour.
sounds delicious. This is a recipe I am certainly going to try. And your photography is superb as always! It is obvious you are looking forward to summer – so I wish you well for happy summer days ahead!
Thanks Jill, as ever for your support and comments. Yes, really looking forward to some settled spring into early summer weather. However ‘mild’ a Maltese winter, it’s still a long one in a very chill house! Most days in winter, it’s warmer out than inside, so once it’s OK enough to cook outside on the BBQ, I’m out there! Saves the electricity bill whirring up too much with the oven on to heat me, and whatever’s baking! Autumn your way now, but I expect it’s pretty mild down under for a while yet? Print button – I can’t think why I didn’t put it on from day one; I must go back an activate it on all recipes.
ps – the “print recipe” button is a great addition!
Holy Smack! These things are fantastic! I cooked them on charcoal with out a griddle. Charcoal was piled on one side, and the grill was rotated over the coals, cooking 2 loafs at a time. A big hit in our house.
Sam, I am glad these worked. I can’t wait for more settled weather here in Malta so I can get out BBQ-ing again and make these!
If the first day of almost spring up here in canada. Dug out the BBQ from the snow. Husband came home from work and asked first not what kind of steak but if I was going to make that bbq bread again. Thanks 🙂
Wonderful to hear it’s a first up on the ol’ BBQ! Mine to uncover and dust off soon for Easter too, and those breads!
Blimey! I’ve just followed this recipe and produced the most astonishing flat breads, which we cooked on a barbecue.. They resemble naan breads from a REALLY good Indian restaurant, so pleased with the results!
Hi Helen,
So glad the recipe worked for you! I love these breads and make them loads, and use the recipe for pizza bases too. Regarding the cheesecloth squares, I bought a packet from Lakeland which is a UK kitchenware company but it does deliver overseas at reasonable rates. Those cloths are very lightweight anyway! http://www.lakeland.co.uk/ The cloths come under jam and preserve making items I think. Hope this helps, even if a little late with my reply!