{"id":8335,"date":"2011-10-13T23:59:47","date_gmt":"2011-10-14T03:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/?p=8335"},"modified":"2019-08-22T22:56:12","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T02:56:12","slug":"barley-sesame-flatbreads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/barley-sesame-flatbreads\/","title":{"rendered":"Barley-Sesame Flatbreads"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Barley-Sesame<\/a><\/p>\n

This week at la domestique we’ve explored barley, an ancient wheat-free grain. Today I’m baking with barley flour. For thousands of years the people of Africa and the Middle East have used barley ground into flour for their flatbreads. Barley flour is slightly sweet with a bit of a malty flavor. It enriches bread dough, resulting in a more moist loaf. However, barley flour is low in gluten, so it must be used in combination with higher gluten flours to maintain the structure of the bread. I was excited to discover an Afghani recipe for Barley-Sesame Flatbreads<\/em> in the book, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone<\/a>, by Deborah Madison.<\/p>\n

In the recipe, Deborah combines active dry yeast with several types of flour. Why use yeast in a FLATbread? I know it seems odd, but yeast adds flavor and creates air bubbles. The air bubbles give the bread structure in the form of pockets which makes for a lighter (not dense) texture. Barley flour, whole-wheat flour, wheat bran, and bread flour come together for a flavorful dough that bakes up like a soft pillow. Toasting the barley flour in a dry pan is key to releasing its nutty flavor. Use your intuition when making this recipe, as I found the dough to be very wet and ended up tossing in about 1\/4 cup more bread flour. The humidity and your measuring technique can affect how much flour you will need. Maybe you feel that your dough is way too dry? Carefully add more water a little at a time.<\/p>\n

Once the ingredients are all measured and ready to go (mise en place), the recipe for Barley-Sesame Flatbreads<\/em> is simple and straightforward. Everything goes into a big bowl and then the dough is turned out onto a cutting board and kneaded- just until smooth. After being left to rise (doubling in volume) for an hour and a half, it’s child’s play dividing the dough into pieces and rolling each piece up like a ball the size of a lime. Actually, this is a great bread to make with kids, as it’s so manageable for their little hands.<\/p>\n

After the dough balls have rested for 15 minutes, it’s time to roll them into flatbreads and add the sesame seed coating. Set the flatbreads aside to rise while you heat a griddle or nonstick skillet. The bread is cooked in the pan, just like a pancake. Take a moment to savor the warm, nutty aroma that fills the kitchen.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed the Barley-Sesame Flatbreads<\/em> on a plate of yogurt flavored with lemon and dill. You could serve a bright, tangy salad atop the bread or maybe some ground lamb or lamb meatballs and cilantro. To be honest, it was delicious spread with peanut butter and strawberry jelly for a midnight snack.<\/p>\n

\"Barley-Sesame<\/a><\/p>\n

Barley-Sesame Flatbreads<\/h4>\n

recipe from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone<\/a> by Deborah Madison<\/p>\n

makes 18-20 small breads<\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/h5>\n

2 1\/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
\n1 cup barley flour
\n2 tablespoons barley malt syrup or honey
\n2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
\n2 teaspoons salt
\n1\/2 cup nonfat dry milk or dried buttermilk
\n3\/4 cup whole-wheat flour
\n1\/4 cup wheat bran
\n2 cups bread flour
\n1\/2 cup sesame seeds
\nolive or sesame oil for the pan<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Activate the yeast by sprinkling it into 1\/4 cup warm water. Set it aside until bubbly.<\/p>\n

Toast the barley flour in a dry pan over medium heat, stirring often, until it darkens to a light brown in color and you can smell the nutty aroma.<\/p>\n

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 1\/2 cups warm water, malt syrup, oil, salt, and yeast. Stir in the dry milk and add the flours in the order written. Once the dough becomes too heavy to mix, turn it out and knead it on the counter until smooth. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turning it once to coat the top. Cover with a damp towel and allow the dough to rise until doubled in volume, about 1 1\/2 hours.**<\/p>\n

Gently push down the dough and then bring it out the bowl, onto the counter. Using a bench scraper, cut of sections of the dough weighing 2 oz each. Roll the pieces of dough into balls, cover with a towel and allow to rest 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

Roll each piece of dough into a flat circle about 1\/4 an inch thick. Scatter sesame seeds onto the counter and press each side of the dough into the sesame seeds to coat. If the dough is not moist enough to adhere to the sesame seeds, brush each side of dough with a little water so the seeds will stick. Cover the flatbreads with a towel and allow to rise for 20-30 minutes.<\/p>\n

Take your griddle or nonstick skillet and cover it with a thin layer of vegetable oil, using a paper towel to wipe out any excess. Heat the pan over medium heat until hot. Place as many flatbreads as will comfortably fit into the pan and turn the heat down to medium-low. Cook the flatbreads for 5 minutes per side. Be careful that the pan is not too hot. You want to give the bread time to cook through without turning too brown or burning on the outside. Serve the flatbreads warm.<\/p>\n

**Bread rises more quickly at altitude and I bake at 5,280 feet. Therefore, my flatbread dough had doubled in volume in an hour and fifteen minutes. If bread is allowed to rise for too long, the yeast get tired and start to die. This leads to a sweaty, saggy dough that will not rise when baked. Keep an eye on your dough when it’s rising and don’t be afraid to move on to the next step even if it hasn’t been 1 and 1\/2 hours.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week at la domestique we’ve explored barley, an ancient wheat-free grain. Today I’m baking with barley flour. For thousands of years the people of Africa and the Middle East have used barley ground into flour for their flatbreads. Barley flour is slightly sweet with a bit of a malty flavor. It enriches bread dough, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","spay_email":""},"categories":[240,187,235,9],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8335"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8335"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19368,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8335\/revisions\/19368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}