Harissa Flatbread

I don’t have much to report this week. The cat (who’s name has become Murph) is settling in just fine and dandy, and I’m really enjoying having her around. My Monday consists of laundry, some focaccia-style flatbread, a slew of Vice News videos to get my blood boiling, and the sound of pounding rain outside.

A few days ago my article Behind the Scenes: My Food Photography Set Up, was featured on Freshly Pressed. Thank you WordPress for the feature, but most of all thank you readers for all your comments and likes! Hopefully I’ve at least inspired a few of you to challenge yourselves to take great images for your own blogs.

I’d also like to start sharing up and coming foodie (and other) blogs along with my posts. Today’s share is Stovetop Story. Julie is French, living in the United States, cooking her way through college and sharing her recipes and food photos with you here on WP. You can check out her healthy-geared recipes right here.

Harissa Flatbread:   yields 1 medium flatbread

7 g                              yeast

1/2 cup + 2 TB           warm water

1+1/2 cup                   bread flour

3/4 TB                         sugar

1 tsp                            salt

2 TB                             olive oil

1+1/2 tsp                      harissa spice blend

-Stir the yeast into the warm water with the sugar to dissolve, in the bowl of a stand mixer.

-Blend together the flour, salt, and spice in a separate bowl.

-Add the oil to the stand mixer bowl, then the dry ingredients, and mix with a dough hook for 5 minutes on low speed to develop the dough.

-Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature until the dough has approximately doubled in size. This time frame will vary depending on the temperature of your home, but anywhere between 40 minutes and 2 hours.

-Preheat oven to 425 F.

-Once the dough has risen to double it’s original size: sprinkle a clean workspace generously with cornmeal, and roll out as thin as you can with a rolling pin. The dough will have a slight spring, and will shrink back a bit after you roll it out, so don’t be shy to roll it as thin as you can.

-Brush the dough with a nice amount of olive oil, top with assorted vegetables and a poached egg, sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper, and bake on a pizza stone for 15-20 minutes or until the edges are nicely golden brown.

-Rest out of the oven for 5 minutes on a wire rack, drizzle with some additional olive oil, and enjoy!