Flatbread

I found a set of flatbread recipes I had added, diligently, to my folder into which I would throw, each week, anything that passed the tests of a) sufficiently tantalising and b) sufficiently doable (plus c) does not use a million ingredients - yes, I mean you Mr Ottolenghi). These were courtesy of Dan Leppard, the bread guru, one of whose books I have and whose bread recipes usually scare the bejeezus out of me. Fermenting times...add pickle juice...knead every 10 minutes for three hours...ok I exaggerate, but it is easy to be intimidated by bread recipes. So I cut out the flatbread pages, put them in my folder, and then ignored them every time I took the folder out. Until last week. One of those, don't-be-an-idiot-of-course-you-can-make-these things moment. In the blurb Dan tells me that once you have mastered them, suppertime will never be the same again. Hmm, I think. See, I am an enthusiastic cook/baker, I think we established that a long time ago.  But I also have a very busy, high octane job, and weekday nights are emphatically not for baking. Weekdays, if it's pizza it's takeout - though I will make a fabulous low GI high roughage salad to go with it.  I look carefully at the cornmeal flatbread recipe. It really doesn't seem too bad. I throw in the polenta, yeast, water, flour, salt, oil...at least, I don't throw them in, I actually treat every step of the process with great respect, because frankly guys if you are going to make bread, the number one rule is, don't mess with the instructions. Seriously. If it says use lukewarm water, then use lukewarm. Not cold, and not boiling hot. Yes, it will interfere with the yeast, giving you flat bread no matter what type you are trying to make. Etc. So I follow the steps, and literally 35 mins later I have a really cool, stretchy dough to make ball shapes out of, which I stretch out, create ridges round the side, and hey presto. Huge suppertime revelation. That, as I say, was a week ago, and since then we've had mozzarella and tomato flatbreads, feta, mushroom and mustard flatbreads with rocket scattered on top. Pumpkin and spice flatbread. Even chocolate flatbread with M&M's, for which I will not apologise. As Dan said, once you've mastered the flatbread, suppertime will never be the same.

Meanwhile, I'm about to experience Groundhog Day. In December I will be having my fifth orthopaedic operation. Surely I deserve a Loyalty Card at my local hospital (entitling you to a free blood transfusion with extra points!!) How much am I looking forward to the rebuilding of my right foot? there are no words for the plummeting awful anticipation of weeks back on crutches. But then, we are back where my blog started. Baking on one leg. Expect lots of experimental recipes in the weeks to come.