RECIPE: Grilled Flatbread

Whew! We are in the middle of a brutal heatwave here in Southern Ontario. We often don't see temperatures like this until mid-August around here. When it gets this hot, even a foodie like me doesn't feel interested in much more than ice water, popsicles, and ice cream, lol!

By dinner time yesterday I just wanted to lie down on a bed of ice cubes and really didn't care what we ate!! None of us were feeling like a heavy meal in this heat. But I figured I better come up with something. No way was I turning on the oven and preferably not even the stovetop as I was already dripping with sweat.

My solution? Grill some flatbread up on the barbecue, whip up a batch of hummus, and pull the leftover Creamy Cucumber Salad out of the fridge. There was plenty of fresh fruit stashed in the fridge for nibbling on, too (blueberries, pineapple, cherries, and cantaloupe).

How to Make Grilled Flatbread

(Makes 6 single-serving size flatbreads)

You will need:
1/3 of a recipe of Whole Wheat Refrigerator Dough (1 loaf worth)
Olive oil

Preheat both sides of your barbecue on high for a few minutes. While the barbecue's heating up, divide the bread dough into six equal pieces. Roll each piece out to about 1/4" thick or so. You may need to sprinkle the dough with some flour to make it more manageable if it's gotten a bit sticky. You can make the flatbreads round or oblong, whatever floats your boat :) Mine always turn out a bit misshapen (wait, that would be "rustic hand formed" wouldn't it? ::grinning::) Brush one side of the flatbreads generously with olive oil (I use a pastry brush to do this) and place them on a large platter or cutting board to carry them out to the barbecue.

Turn the heat on the barbecue down to medium. Carefully place two of the flatbreads, oiled side DOWN, on the grill. Close the lid and let them cook for about 3-4 minutes or so, then open the lid to check how they're doing. They should have some "bubbly" spots on the surface of the dough (I would have taken a photo of this but it started raining pretty hard while I was barbecuing last night!). Brush the tops with olive oil, then flip the breads over and cook 2-3 minutes on the other side. Remove to a clean plate and repeat with remaining dough.

You can serve these whole, or slice them into strips. Last night I cut ours into strips for spreading with hummus. Lots of delicious possibilities for these yummy grilled treats! If you want to get really fancy, you could mix some herbs or spices in with the olive oil before you brush it on the dough, but these are fabulous without any embellishment, too.

I shared this recipe at Friday Feasts, Friday Favorites, Foodie Friday and the GCC Recipe Swap.