As you may already know my all-time favorite is yeasted dough. Though I love bread and especially baking bread by myself, I mostly use it for sweet things e.g. buns, brioche or challah. My friendship with yeasted dough began with cinnamon raisin buns which are - honestly - the love of my life. Eating them warm when they're still fresh from the oven makes me weak. I could literally eat them all day long.
This time I came up with an non-sweet recipe with yeast dough: arabic semolina flatbread. Coming from a country with an extreme arabic and jewish influence, flatbread has always been sort of a must-have on our table. No matter if plain or spicey, thick or thin, crispy or soft, chewy or oily, it is usually eaten with everything, either with meat or rice and vegetables. And soaking a piece of flatbread in a left-over salad dressing or sauce is just culinary heaven! Seriously, who needs meat when there's flatbread and salad dressing?
This recipe for semolina flatbread is very easy, no dough braiding, no swirling, no complicated forming. But the result is stunning. An extremely soft and fluffy inside and some toasted sesame seeds on top. The semolina goes just great in flatbread, as it gives a slightly cakey consistency to the bread and a nice yellow color.
Semolina flatbread
20gm fresh yeast (or 2 tsp dry active yeast)
175ml warm water
250gm semolina
250gm white flour
1.5 tsp salt
125ml olive oil
1 egg (for brushing)
3 Tabsp sesame seeds (for sprinkling)
Crumble the fresh yeast into the warm water, stir a little bit and let sit for a few minutes until the mixture starts to become light and bubbly. In a large glass bowl, sift together semolina, flour and salt. Add the bubbly yeast mixture and olive oil, gently mix using a wooden spatula or spoon. If the dough seems to be dry, add a little bit more water, if it seems too wet, add some sieved flour. Now remove the dough from the glass bowl and start kneading it on a slightly floured surface for about 2 - 3 minutes until it becomes very soft and elastic. Put it back in the glass bowl, cover with a kitchen towel or a plastic wrap and leave it at a very warm place for about 60 - 90 minutes until the dough has doubled in size. Meanwhile line two large baking sheets with baking paper. Remove from the glass bowl and knead again for about 1 minute. Devide the dough in two parts. Place each part on a lined baking sheet and roll it out using a rolling pin or simply your hands. The dough should be 2 - 3 cm high/thick (about 1 inch). (It doesn't have to look perfectly even, the more natural and messy it looks, the better it will taste...) Leave the two baking sheets at a very warm place again for about 30 minutes until the dough has slightly risen. Preheat your oven to 200 C. Beat the egg and brush the top of the risen dough. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for about 30 minutes until nicely golden. Serve warm or cooled, both versions are delicious!
