Something to eat

This is the dish we have been eating fairly often in the past couple of weeks.

I don't know exactly what to call it. It's a bread dough pulled into a rectangle, topped with oil, paved with raw sliced vegetables, herbs, spices, and a bit of cheese.

It is similar to the large rectangular pans of dough topped with vegetables we saw in the shops in Rome. It is also related to the variations on this theme that we were served at the kiddush after services at the Great Synagogue in Florence and it is also a culinary cousin to Pita Za'atar.

Here are two ready for the oven.  Right now the pushcart fruit guy a couple of blocks away has lots of zucchini and tomatoes. When he has red and yellow peppers or mushrooms I use those. If I had thought of it today I would have used the skinny asparagus that he was selling today. 

Simple bread dough for vaguely Roman Style Pizza 

put 2 cups water in a bowl ( if my kitchen were cold I would have warmed it for 30 seconds in a microwave)

add 1 Tbs flour to the water 

sprinkle with 1 tsp yeast

go do something for a while (5-30 minutes)

After the while is over add 1 Tbs brown sugar and one of salt to the bowl

add about 1/3 cup of oil to the bowl

add flour by the cup and mix with a spatula after each addition

keep adding flour and incorporate the flour into the mixture before adding more

When it gets hard to mix with the spatula start mixing( kneading) with your hand

when the dough is smooth--that means the gluten has developed cover the bowl with a towel. You can let it rise on your kitchen counter but if you don't have time to bake until tomorrow put the bowl in a big plastic bag and put it in the fridge until you are ready to bake.

When the dough has doubled divide the dough into baseball-sized lumps and put on a tea towel to rest or on parchment paper.

Cover a sheet pan with parchment paper and preheat oven to 420

oil your hand and gently stretch one ball of the dough into a rectangle. Go slowly You can use gravity to encourage the dough to stretch. Put the stretched dough on the parchment paper-lined pan. You can continue to pull the dough into shape. Of course, if you want you can make a thicker crust. 

Sometimes you will need to let the dough rest for a bit while you are stretching it into shape. You can get started on another of the dough lumps to let one not fully stretched rectangle rest. you can let the stretched rectangles rise for 20 minutes before adding the vegetable topping--or not. The final product will be different but either way, it will be good. I wanted these ready for lunch today and didn't have time for the additional rise. There were no complaints.

Thinly slice up vegetables. 

Oil the dough rectangle

add spices(I used black pepper, basil oregano, smoked paprika, hot paprika, and cayenne)

I love carefully arranging the vegetables. If you don't have the patience, you don't have to. I have been kind of mashing the vegetables into the dough as I arrange them. The dough rises around the vegetables. I topped the vegetables with more of the herbs and spices If you are lactose intolerant skip the cheese. If you like cheese you can shred or finely cut cheese to top this.  These are topped with a mixture of smoked gouda and aged cheddar.

This pair is topped with some Colby Jack

Bake until they are golden brown ( that might be about 15-20 minutes or longer depending on your oven)

If I were serving these at a party I would cut them into strips for serving. If we eat them for a meal we cut them into large slices.

great synagoue in florence