Last Sunday I hosted a pop up at Wild by Tart in Victoria, we served up a 4 course menu to just under 200 wonderful people.
I designed the menu with Chef Mattie and we focused on seasonality, using the best ingredients we could get our hands on and really and truly - making food that we want to eat.
For starters we served an Italian peach, Graceburn, honey & thyme flatbread with scotch bonnet oil. The fluffiness of the warm bread along with the slight char on the crust complimented the creamy cooling Graceburn cheese and sweet acidic Italian peaches- which we tossed in a light scotch bonnet oil to add a small undertone of warmth (but not overpowering heat). We then brushed the crust lightly with clarified butter, drizzled over some honey and finished with some picked thyme, black pepper and Maldon salt. Et, Voila!
For this dough we will start by making a polish, that’s a pre ferment, which will improve the flavour of the dough without using a sourdough starter. Once you’ve made this dough once you’ll be hooked.
Here I’m using Graceburn Dairy cheese which is very similar to feta except it’s British and kept in brine. If you can’t find it use feta in it’s place!
Makes 6 flatbreads
150ml room temp water
150g strong white flour
¼ tsp dried yeast
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110ml room temp water
¼ tsp dried yeast
320g strong white flour
9g maldon salt
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Olive oil
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For cooking:
50g melted butter
1 bulb Roasted garlic
2 ripe peaches
½ bunch Fresh thyme
30g Honey
120g Graceburn cheese/Feta
Ground black pepper
Maldon salt
Scotch bonnet oil/chilli oil
Day 1
· Make the poolish by stirring together the water, flour and yeast in a large container. Cover and leave overnight at room temperature.
Day 2
· In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the flour and salt, add in the water, yeast and all of the poolish
· Mix on a low-medium speed until a dough forms
· Turn the machine off and let it relax for 5 minutes
· Mix on a medium speed for 10-15 minutes until a smooth dough forms
· Generously grease a large bowl
· Shape the dough into a ball and place in the bowl, drizzle a little olive oil over the top, cover and leave at room temperature for 6 hours
· Portion into 90g balls and dip in olive oil, placing on a large baking tray
· Continue until the dough has been divided and balled up
· Cover loosely with clingfilm and place in the fridge overnight
Day 3
· The next day take the dough balls out of the fridge for 10 minutes before using, they will keep like this for 2 days in the fridge
· Heat up a heavy frying pan or cast iron skillet
· Put the grill on
· Drizzle a small amount of oil in a pan
· Using your hands stretch the dough out to a 6-8inch circle depending on how thick you like it
· Gently lift into the hot pan and let it cook for 2-3 minutes. The top should look dry around the edges
· Brush with the softened garlic butter and put the skillet/frying pan into the grill to cook the top
· Once golden remove from the oven and transfer to a chopping board
· Top with the sliced peaches, a few sprigs of thyme, a crack of fresh black pepper and the cheese. Finally drizzle with honey and chilli oil
· Enjoy warm
