Step-by-Step Homemade Flatbread and Hummus

I absolutely love Middle Eastern cuisine. I saw a few recipes posted recently that I just had to try! Here are the step-by-step instructions to make both. Make sure you begin cooking with the assistance of two knuckleheads. Here are mine:

Flatbread

(adapted from this recipe for Syrian Pita Bread)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup warm water (about 105 degrees)
3 1/2 T active dry yeast
6 cups unbleached flour
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 cups warm milk (also 105 degrees)
Olive oil (for bowl)

Directions:

Set a pizza stone on the bottom rack of the oven and preheat the oven to 500°. In a bowl, combine the water and yeast and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.

In a mixer, combine the flour with the salt. I used coarse Himalayan pink salt.

Pour in the yeast mixture and then the warm milk and mix until the dough forms a ball. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it a few times. Form the dough into a ball. Lightly oil a bowl with olive oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl and turn to coat.

Cover the bowl with a warm, damp rag and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour. Punch down the dough and cut it in half. Cut each half into 8 pieces and roll them into balls, then flatten into 6-inch rounds. Arrange the rounds on the work surface or on floured baking sheets; cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until puffy, 25 minutes.

Using a lightly floured pizza peel, slide 4 of the rounds onto the hot pizza stone at a time and bake for about 5 minutes, until the pitas puff up. Serve hot or wrap in foil to keep warm.

Makes 8 flatbreads.

Hummus

(adapted from How to Make Really (Smooth) Authentic Hummus)

Ingredients:

2 cups soaked chickpeas
1/4 cup tahini
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic, roasted
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cumin
Additional water (or cooking liquid from chickpeas) to thin

Directions:

To make a really delicious hummus, you must purchase dried beans and soak them. I soaked about a cup of chick peas in salted water for 8 hours. Here is what they look like after soaking.

You can roast your garlic in advance by coating in a little grapeseed oil and wrapping in foil. Roast in your oven for about 20 minutes, or until garlic is paste-like. Cook the soaked chickpeas in a pot of water about 1 hour or until tender. Here’s what they look like after cooking.

Combine all ingredients into food processor and run until it is smooth. You may need to add a few splashes of the cooking liquid (or water) to reach the desired consistency.

We served our hummus and flatbread with roasted vegetables. Choose a few of your favorites, coat in grapeseed oil, and roast in the oven at 425 degrees until they are tender. We made eggplant, tomatoes, and onion.