292: Cinnamon-Apple (Sourdough) Flatbread

I fed my sourdough over the weekend, only to realize that I didn't have a particular use for my sourdough starter again. I thought I had a recipe I wanted to make, but I couldn't remember what it was. I had breakfast covered for Sunday and for the week, and was even making yeast rolls, so I didn't need bread. I wanted to make a snack for Alex for the week, but I'd already made sourdough grissini and whole wheat crackers in the past few weeks, and no other snacky-type items were coming to mind.

I looked at my bowl of apples on the table, and decided to search for "apple sourdough recipe."

That's how I decided to make the recipe for Cinnamon-Apple Flatbread. This recipe took both a cup of sourdough starter and 2 teaspoons of yeast. It also took dry milk and olive oil. I used my stand mixer so it was easy to combine the dough. It took about 6 minutes to knead the dough in the stand mixer. Naturally, the stand mixer makes the dough come together easily, but the dough was pretty soft and pliable so I think it would have been easy to knead by hand as well. I had the oven on, so I covered the dough and let it rise on the stovetop for 2 hours, deflating it after 1.

I deflated the dough after a second hour was up and divided it into 2 equal pieces. I could have made an 18x13 inch flatbread; instead I sprayed and oiled two 9x13 inch pans and stretched and patted the dough into them. The recipe said to let the dough shrink back from the edges and rest for 15 minutes before stretching it all the way into the corners.

While the dough rested, I prepared the apples for the top. As the recipe instructed, I cut the apples into 8 wedges and then cut each wedge into 3 pieces, except for the small wedges which I halved. I microwaved the apples for 9 minutes with a mixture of honey, maple syrup, and granulated sugar, which amounted to ⅓ cup.

I sprinkled the apples on the dough after stretching it out to the corners of the pans again. I combined a quarter cup of the liquid with a quarter cup cinnamon sugar (heavy on the cinnamon, which likely led to a thinner syrup that it should have been) and drizzled that over the apples and the dough. I heated the oven for a minute to create a warm space, and put the pans in there to let the dough rise for another hour.

After the hour was up, I heated the oven and baked one pan for 20 minutes, and another pan for 25, since I wasn't sure if/how much I would need to adjust the baking time for smaller pans of dough.

Cinnamon-Apple Sourdough Flatbread

This was pretty good. It tasted best warm, but it was still okay at room temperature. It was different from most things I make, in that it wasn't a savory snack or just a sweet dessert. The bread was simply bread - it wasn't sweet on its own at all. The bread had a good texture, a close crumb but still a little chewy - if you'd expected something akin to a cinnamon roll, you won't find it here. I want to say it again - this was simply bread. I have trouble describing bread, but trust me that this was good. It went well with the apples and the cinnamon syrup on top. If you like the flavor of cinnamon rolls but not the sugar (or texture - it's not as tender), this flatbread is a good option. It was good as a snack (we ate it late), but also for breakfast since it's sweet enough to be appealing but not too sweet to eat on an empty stomach. It might be good with cheese, if you like an apple-cheese-bread combination and don't mind a little sugar with it. This was different from what I usually make, in a good way. It could pass for a snack or a less-sweet dessert. I'm not sure if I'll make it again because it's simply a lot of food, but I encourage you to give it a try if you've got some extra time.