I’m probably the least creative cook I know. I often find myself paralysed by the question ‘What’s for dinner?’
I also like to make bread, but am probably the worst dough-handler ever. For some reason gluten does not like to cooperate with my hands.
So what if I could make something for dinner, involving bread, that would be reasonably foolproof? With my limited culinary imagination I came up with the following: casserole-dish flatbread with vegetables.
The bread is inspired by focaccia, even though it ended up being too thick. I proofed the dough (a mxture of white, whole grain, and rye with wild yeast) once in bowl before spreading it in a baking dish with copious amounts of olive oil and letting it proof a second time.
During that time I stir fried onion, courgette, aubergine and mushroom (yes, in more olive oil!) with italian spices. Then I finger-pressed the dough (as with focaccia bread) and simply layered the veg on top with some parmesan.
Would the bread turn out ok, or would it get squashed and mushy from the topping? No stress of course; I’ll just have two hungry, whining women on my hands if it’s a failure!
I let it bake for maybe close to an hour…
It ended up being a moderate success. The bread wasn’t too doughy, though I will definitely make it thinner next time. The oil made it nice and crispy on the bottom. And there were leftovers for tomorrow!
