Monday, May 12, 2008

Whole Wheat Flatbread Stuffed with Tomatoes, Basil and Turkey



A.K.A bread dough baked around tomatoes and ham. I call it a baked sandwich, but "Stuffed Flatbread" sounds so much fancier!
This recipe is very flexible; just follow the instructions for the bread dough, but fill it with anything you would put in a hot sandwich. I think onions, cheese, and bell peppers would be good, or pizza style with tomato sauce and mozzarella. Use your imagination! I calculated that a half cup of whole wheat flour would be enough for one sandwich, so I decided to make dough with 1 cup and form two sandwiches. I cooked one immediately after the second rise, but I froze the other one after the rise to be cooked the next day. I left it on the counter during the night before the day I wanted to eat, and baked it in the morning. The dough pooled a bit, but it tasted the same as the first one.

Bread dough (for 2 sandwiches):
  • 1 cup whole wheat
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2-3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp yeast (about half a packet)
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1/4 cup warm milk
  1. Combine the yeast, milk, and sugar; mix well.
  2. Combine flour and salt
  3. Add milk mixture and water to the flour; mush everything together with your hands and knead until the dough is smooth and holds together well, about five minutes. (The dough will be sticky at the beginning)
  4. Let the dough rise in a warm spot for an hour (I tried letting it rise in an oven I had heated to 200F and then turned off, but the dough developed a crust on top; I also tried this for the second rise, but the oven beneath was turned on and the bread had started cooking, the second time I made the recipe I turned the oven on to 150F and turned it off when the air inside felt mildly warm to my hand.)
  5. Form a ball with the dough and divide it into two.
  6. Flour a flat surface and stretch out the dough to form 6" squares.
  7. Place your filling of choice on one half of the dough and fold the other half on top.*
  8. Don't make it rise a second time! Just bake it!
  9. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes (depends how stuffed it is; just don't let it burn)
*After step four you can wrap the sandwich with parchment/wax paper and put it inside a plastic bag and freeze. Leave it to defrost on the counter during the night to bake it in the morning, but don't just place it in the oven because if you do, the frozen from the water will steam the bread instead of baking it.

7 comments:

Toutizes said...

what a great idea. I think I'd fill one with a raw egg and ham.

Unknown said...

Ooh! I didn't think of eggs!

Agnes said...

I believe that in Italy they call it a calzone

Unknown said...

Yes, I thought I had mentioned that in the post, but I guess not.
Anyways, the dough is bit different from pizza dough.
But, yes.

claire said...

whoa we just made calzone in foods!
it was disgusting. the amount of processed foods we put in the filling.. it tasted like plastic!

but this looks so yummy like i want to take my computer screen and eat it! XD

Unknown said...

I don't get what is the point of making something yourself if you don't use quality ingredients. I can just imagine: rubber cheese!

claire said...

yea... also the sausage was so.. i dont even know what was up with the sausage.. canned tomato sauce though, canned olives, etc...!