The fifth recipe in the Breads section of The Modern Baker, and the last in a series of flatbreads, is Crisp Cornmeal Flatbread. This bread is actually what I would consider a cracker rather than a flatbread. When I think of flatbread, I think of pita bread, naan, tortillas, and the like. But that was OK with me, because I was a little flatbreaded out at this point.
I was looking forward to these crackers, as they had some interesting ingredients that I thought would lead to great flavor. One of the ingredients was cornmeal. As it happened, I had just visited the farmer’s market and picked up some red cornmeal, so I decided to use it in this recipe.
The other ingredient that we haven’t seen thus far in the book was cayenne pepper. And even though the recipe only called for 1/4 teaspoon, I knew a little would go a long way, especially in crackers.
I began by mixing the ingredients in the food processor, then setting the dough aside to rise.
After the dough had risen, I divided it into two piece, which I then rolled out to make the crackers. The directions say to roll the dough to the size of the pan on the work surface, then transfer it to the pan. I decided to bake my crackers on Silpat, so I rolled each half on the Silpat, then lifted it onto the pan.
I rolled the dough out to the edges of the Silpat, then trimmed the overlapping bits.
I was left with a very thin dough that almost completely covered the baking surface.
I baked the flatbreads in a 350° F oven for about 20 minutes, until they were golden brown and crisp.
They came out beautifully. The cornmeal gave a nice color and nutty flavor, and the crackers were crunchy with just a bit of heat from the cayenne. And talk about flat….
I broke the bread into irregular pieces and put them in a bowl. It looked great; unfortunately, we ate them all before I had a chance to take a picture.
This recipe is right up there with the pita bread as my favorite of the flatbreads. Definitely one to make again.
