Anything that involves dough and resting time is often labeled by many of us as difficult, complicated, and time- or energy-consuming.
So, I’ll try to entice you with how few ingredients you’ll actually need to make this very simple recipe — perfect for a snack, a picnic, an aperitif, or as a side dish to other meals.
If you don’t usually have a bit of flour, tomato purée, olive oil, salt, and oregano at home,
I don’t even know what you’re doing reading this blog: I assume these five things are mandatory in your pantry — they should have come with your kitchen cabinets and pots the very first day you started living on your own.
Their absence in the kitchen is basically illegal. They’re like your ID documents: mandatory.
Alright, so imagine you need to throw together something tasty for someone you care about, but you’re recovering from a week-long flu, your fridge is empty, and your energy is low — this recipe could really save the day.
Here are the ingredients and the preparation:
• 200 g all-purpose flour (type 0)
• 100 g lukewarm water
• 1 generous pinch of salt
• 200 g tomato purée
• 1 clove of garlic
• Extra virgin olive oil and oregano to taste
Mix the flour with the water (it’s best to make a well in the center), salt, and a couple of tablespoons of oil until you get a compact dough.
Let the dough rest at room temperature in a bowl covered with a kitchen towel for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, season the tomato purée with olive oil, salt, oregano, and the garlic clove crushed with a garlic press. Mix well, set aside and make yourself a coffee. You’ve already overtaken the hard part.
After the resting time, cut the dough in half, roll it out lengthwise with a rolling pin, and place the two thin sheets of dough on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and brushed with olive oil.
Spread half of the tomato sauce over the flatbreads. Put the tray in a preheated oven at 220°C (430°F) for 15 minutes.
Remove the tray from the oven, spread the remaining sauce on top, and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil to your liking (if you don’t have cholesterol problems and your oil is good — as I hope it is — don’t be shy with it).
Put the tray back in the oven and bake in grill mode for about 5 more minutes, or until the flatbreads are nice and crispy.
If you don’t eat them right away (which would make you happiest), you can reheat them in the oven before serving, because since they’re unleavened, their texture isn’t soft but rather crunchy.
Easy, right?
Allow me a small bit of pedantry for those who consider it a miracle to have flour, olive oil, tomato purée, and oregano in their pantry:
Type 0 flour is slightly less refined than type 00, which is better suited for cookies and shortcrust pastry.
Since this recipe celebrates the art of improvisation, you can absolutely make it with type 00 flour — as long as it’s from this millennium and not the previous one.
Enjoy your meal!
Betti