Red Pepper Coques with the BBB

 

Easy, delicious, make ahead(ish)...  All winning points for this month's challenge bread!  Karen chose a tasty Catalan-style flatbread known as Red Pepper Coques.  The dough is made the day before and will last up to three days in the fridge.  The topping may also be made ahead, leaving only rolling and assembly (and baking), when you want to eat these.  Preheat the oven while rolling out and it's an easy, delicious appetizer or light dinner served with a salad.  My daughter had many ideas for things these breads would pair well with, indeed having two pieces for dinner and two later for a snack.  At the last minute, I decided to steam some broccoli to add to our flatbreads and it was a good decision.  Very tasty and that was the flavor of choice for my eldest.  Steamed in the instant pot and shocked with cold water to stop cooking, they were fine to add with the rest of the topping and stay green and tender with just a touch of color.  Oh, I also added a couple leeks.  They needed to be used up.  Paired nicely with the onions and garlic.

Pine nuts aren't something I keep on hand because they are so perishable, but they were brilliant on this bread.  Such an awesome flavor after roasting!  Hooray for the bulk section and getting just the amount you need for a recipe.  Our host also was adamant that the sherry vinegar is super important to the flavor of the recipe.  Since I don't keep sherry vinegar I was going to use rice vinegar instead for a similar flavor.   Fortunately we happened to get a mini bottle of sherry vinegar in a recipe bundle the week before I baked.  I saved that and used red wine vinegar for that recipe instead so I would have the sherry vinegar for this one!

The dough is wonderful, comes together in a flash in the food processor, though it can be kneaded by hand or mixer as well.  This was my first time using the dough blade for my processor.  I am in love with using the infused olive oil in a bread dough now, so much flavor!  And the crust is delightfully crispy with a bit of chew in thee middle.  We loved the broccoli on top even though it didn't originally call for it.  However you choose to top this flatbread, it is most definitely worth a bake and we would love for you to join in as a buddy baker this month! You don't have to have a blog to participate, a picture will do.  Just send a picture or your post of your finished bread to the host kitchen by the 29th of this month.  You will receive a Bread Baking Buddy graphic to keep or add to your post, and be included in our Buddy round up at the end of the month.  New recipes are posted every month on the 16th.  Check out our Facebook group to see the participants' baking results during that time.

Red Pepper Coques

Makes 4 flatbreads to serve 6 to 8

Dough:
468g (16½ oz / 3 cups) bread flour (100g fresh ground, sprouted Kamut, 170g light spelt, 200g all purpose)
2 tsp sugar
½ tsp instant yeast
102/3oz (11/3 cups) ice water (I used 300g for my flours)
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (I used a Tuscan herb infused olive oil)
1½ tsp table or fine sea salt

Red Pepper Topping:
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 large onions, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced (red onions + two small leeks)
2 cups jarred roasted sliced red peppers
3 tbsp sugar (I used 2 and might only use 1 next time)
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp sherry vinegar
¼ cup pine nuts
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley

Dough:

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a dough blade, pulse the flour, sugar, and yeast about 5 times to combine. Turn the processor on and slowly pour in the ice water.  Process for about 10-20 seconds.  Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

Add the oil and salt to the dough and process for 30 to 60 seconds, or until the dough forms a ball.  Remove the dough from the bowl and knead by hand for a few seconds, forming it into a ball.  Place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, and up to 3 days.
Topping

Heat three tablespoons of the olive oil in a 12-inch frying pan over medium heat.  Add the onions, red peppers, sugar, garlic, salt, pepper flakes, and bay leaves.  Turn down the heat, cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes over medium low. 

Remove the lid and continue to cook, stirring regularly, for another 10 to 15 minutes until the onions are golden brown.  Discard the bay leaves and transfer the mixture to a heatproof bowl to stir in the vinegar. Cool completely before using. You can make the mixture in advance and refrigerate overnight.

To Prepare the Coques:

Knock down the dough and divide it into four equal sized pieces. Shape each piece into a tight ball and place seam side down on your work surface.  Cover with oiled plastic wrap.  Let rest for an hour. (Possibly due to the flours I used, my dough did not need so much time to rest, maybe 15-20 minutes initially and 3-5 minutes during rolling if it was springing back too much.  Really a nice dough!)

Place oven racks in the upper and lower third positions and preheat the oven to 500ºF.  Brush two half-sheet pans with 2 tbsp olive oil each. (I actually only baked half my dough on one sheet and saved the rest for the next day - that nice make ahead quality of the recipe.)

Place one dough ball on your work surface and roll it out to a 15-inch x 5-inch oval.  Place on the baking sheet, lengthwise.  There will just be room for two on each half-sheet pan.  Repeat with the remaining dough balls.  If the dough springs back, let it rest for another 10 to 20 minutes, (3-5) and continue rolling.  Dock each about 15 times with a fork.  Brush each piece of dough with the rest of the olive oil.

Bake the dough for 8 minutes, rotating the pans at the four minute mark. 

Remove the pans from the oven and spread them with the red pepper and onion mixture.  Sprinkle with the pine nuts.  (I added the broccoli at this time as well.)  Place the baking sheets back into the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, switching and rotating the pans at the 8 minute mark.  Bake until the flatbreads are golden and crispy.

Remove the pans from the oven and let cool on the pans for about 5 minutes.  Sprinkle with the parsley and transfer to a cutting board to slice and serve.  A pizza wheel works well to slice these!

Enjoy!

The rest of the Bread Baking Babes:

• Blog from OUR Kitchen – Elizabeth
• Judy’s Gross Eats – Judy
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen
• My Diverse Kitchen - Aparna
• Bread Experience - Cathy
• Thyme for Cooking - Katie
• My Kitchen in Half Cups - Tanna
• Bake My Day - Karen
• Feeding My Enthusiasms - Elle 

Approximate nutrition for one slice of flatbread, given five slices per bread:

Approximate nutrition for half of a flatbread: