Refrigerator flatbread

I love fresh, hot bread with dinner, but it's just not an option on a normal workday -- who has 3+ hours of lead time for dinner? This recipe has two advantages, though. First, the dough is made ahead and waits in the refrigerator until you're ready to bake it, up to about a week. Second, it's cooked on the grill, so there's no waiting to heat the oven and baking stone. Since I have no grill at my apartment, I cook it in a grill pan over the stove.

This bread is great on its own or dipped in herbed olive oil. It's a natural parner for hummus, and it makes a good pizza crust too (especially for grilled pizzas). You could even slice a flatbread open and stuff it with some kind of filling. It's about the most versatile bread recipe I know.

The ingredients and basic procedure come from Bobby Flay's Boy Gets Grill; the slow rise is my modification, inspired by Peter Reinhart.

In large mixing bowl, combine

1. 1 1/2 c warm water (below 110F or you'll kill the yeast)
2. 1/2 t instant yeast

If using active dry yeast instead, wait 10-15 minutes for it to proof; otherwise, immediately mix in

1. 9.5 oz (2 cups) King Arthur unbleached all purpose flour

Use the paddle on your mixer; mix for about 1 min on low speed once everything is together. Cover the mixer with a towel and let rise until doubled, 1-2 hours (usually 1). Briefly mix in

1. 1/2 t salt (kosher or sea)
2. 2 T olive oil
3. herbs and spices, if desired (?)
   

These aren't added initially because salt slows the yeast growth and oil can interfere with gluten formation. I think this would be a good time to add herbs or spices if you wanted (black pepper or rosemary, maybe?). Many of them actually boost yeast growth, but a few can inhibit it. (Read more in Shirley O. Corriher's CookWise, a book everybody should have.) Now swap the paddle for the dough hook and add another

1. 9.5 oz (2 cups) King Arthur unbleached all purpose flour (that's 19 oz or 4 cups, total)

Knead with the dough hook until bread is smooth and plastic, about 10 minutes. It should stick to a small spot on the bottom of the bowl, but not come up the sides. Add a little flour if it does, or a little water if it doesn't stick at all.

Now, you could leave it on the counter another 2 1/2 hours and then procede straight to shaping. But instead I transfer it to a plastic container sprayed with non-stick spray (or lightly oiled), and I shove it in the fridge. Here it can sit for at least 12 hours, and up to a week. The container needs a cover that will let gas escape so pressure doesn't build up; aluminum foil or plastic wrap is fine. I prep this dough as I'm making dinner, and by the next morning it has almost doubled in size again, ready to use. As an added bonus, the long slow rise develops all sorts of nice flavors you just don't get from an hour or two on the counter top.

The recipe makes enough for 4 flatbreads. When you're ready to bake, remove a portion, shape into a ball and then flatten into a disk. Stretch it like pizza dough, either tossing in the air or poking with your finger tips on the counter. If you can't stretch it as thin as you'd like, let it relax for 5-10 minutes and try again. It needs to sit, covered loosely with plastic wrap, until the dough comes to room temperature and has puffed up a bit. To speed things up, I put it on a non-insulated cookie sheet over a pan half full of hot tap water, which gets it ready to cook within 30 minutes. Hmm, just enough time to get the rest of dinner together...

Heat your grill (pan) to medium or medium-high heat. Brush or spray the top of the bread with oil, and sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Flip that side onto the grill, and then oil and season the other side while the first one cooks. The top of the bread will develop bubbles as it cooks; once the bottom has some nice char marks and is lightly golden, it's ready to flip. It's pretty hard to screw the cooking part up -- if the outside looks like something you'd want to eat, the inside will be fine.