Grilled Flatbread With Pesto And Goat Cheese

by A.J. Coltrane

Or Pesto and Goat Cheese Grilled Flatbread? It definitely featured pesto:

The dough formula:  400g Bread Flour, 240g vaguely warm water, 9g kosher salt, 8g extra virgin olive oil, 1.5 tsp instant yeast. (60% water, 2.25% salt, 2% oil)

Those are very “normal” ratios. It was basically a grilled pizza dough. Or focaccia. Take out the oil and it’s a baguette dough. Normally I’d use 1 tsp of yeast, but this was the same “company-coming-over-soon” night where things needed to be ready quickly. The “extra” yeast ensured that the dough would be ready for dinner, and it allowed for additional reshaping, leading to a lighter end result.

For the grilling process:  I stretched out the dough and tossed it onto the grill over medium heat. After a few minutes I brushed the top with olive oil and flipped it over. I  brushed the new top lightly with oil, then spread on the pesto. When the flatbread looked like it was about done we scattered goat cheese over the whole thing.

What follows is the first picture on this blog of an actual human that we know personally. This one happens to be a very short female:

Not my child. She belongs to the dinner guests. Though she’s small, she almost single-handedly ate a 1.5 pound flatbread. Anytime short people will eat food without complaint I’ll call it a victory.

I also think I learned a little something about pesto in the process. Something like this FN recipe is a “standard” pesto. It calls for 2 cups packed basil, 1/2 cup grated Pecorino, and 1/4 cup pine nuts. I used ~2 cups packed basil, ~3/4 cup grated parmesan, and ~3/4 cup buzzed toasted pine nuts.

I like it way more with the additional cheese and (especially) pine nuts. I feel like it’s more earthy and complex with the balance tilted away from the basil. Hopefully the “lesson” sticks.