Short and Tweet 2 Challenge: Olive oil and potato flatbread
My mother’s potato cakes were so irresistible that one of my aunts used to remark, “They’d give an anchorite a case of the TTTs” (tummy touching table). So, it was a blend of nostalgia, interest and a slight feeling of apprehension for household waistlines that prompted the selection of this week’s Olive oil and potato flatbread from pg 77 of Dan Lepard’s Short & Sweet.
As for the first challenge (Chocolate and almond fudge cake) this has been an intriguing glimpse into what happens when different bakers tackle the same recipes with different flours, ovens and experience. One of the best outcomes of such diversity is the discussions on Twitter, in blog posts and their comments: there are some remarkably informative explanations that range from folding technique and flour to the water content of potato and its impact on the hydration of a dough. These discussions are highlighting that it’s probably helpful in the future if we can state which flour/ingredients we used (where we can) and whether we checked temperatures with an independent (oven) thermometer. Contributors have generously provided some remarkably helpful photographs and hints in their write-ups and also in the comments of the various posts and I strongly recommend reading those for their wealth of information.
It is sad but true that you can probably guess how much this sort of detailed discussion thrills me. I must emphasise however that all entries (eg, a photograph and, “It was very tasty - I’m going to bake some more/I liked it but the children didn’t take to it”) are very welcome and hugely enjoyed.
I’m leading with Tony Inga’s flatbread because I’m smitten by the casual detail, “[made with Olive Oil from] my family’s sicilian olive grove!”. 
Retaining the italian theme, Carl Legge of Carl Legge introduced some of us (that would be me) to the delightful term ‘Salamoia’ that he’d used to top his Olive Oil and potato flatbread. 
Louise McLaren of Please Do Not Feed the Animals! reports on her experiences with timing in the recipe and how much she enjoyed the final outcome: Short and Tweet.
Misky of Misk Cooks has usefully blogged an illustrated Baker’s Progress of attempts and baking notes 1 and 2 for the flatbread. Along the way, Misky’s muse has contributed flatbread poetry. Update: admirably, Misky has posted notes on a 3rd and very successful attempt.
Jo of Zeb Bakes produced a please-feed-me-now rarebit version of the Olive oil potato flatbread.
Carla Tomasi has chipped in with a rosemary salamoia on her flatbread.
BakeCakeCrumbs of Cake, Crumbs and Cooking sent along: Dan Lepard’s Olive Oil Potato Flatbread - Short and Tweet complete with helpful notes and illustrative photographs.
What did I do? Oh. During my first attempt a series of blinding throbs during the first stretch in the bowl allowed me to cover and thrust the dough into the fridge before crawling off to the bright lights, loud noises and foul odours of the migraine experience that followed. Some 30 hrs later, the dough had taken on a distinctly off-putting grey hue to its top (although thankfully, not underneath) and was horribly slack and lumpy. I think the colour-change was related to potato oxidation as I’d covered the bowl loosely with a cloth. I continued the recipe as well as I could with a very cold, remarkably sticky dough and was pleased that it baked fairly well and the clumps of flour/potato seemed to have worked themselves out.
The second attempt looked like a better dough but in my post-migraine haze I fell asleep shortly after putting it in the oven. My Best Beloved helpfully took the flatbread out for me but didn’t know how to check that it was cooked. As I slept on, the semi-cooked flatbread cooled, was pulled into several uneven pieces and put back into the oven to finish cooking at a fairly low temperature. At this point, a lapse of memory intervened and the bread wasn’t removed until I woke up and asked after its welfare. Let’s just say that I now have a generous amount of well-toasted, demi-fried breadcrumbs to scatter over vegetables or pasta: apparently, the covers-a-multitude-of-sins word here is pangrattato.
I’ve learned a lot from other people’s reported experiences when baking this. I look forward to this week’s challenge for 13 November: Cheese & black pepper buttons &/or Buttermilk oatcakes pp 258-9. If you blog about your experience with this recipe, please post links in the comments or tweet pictures or links to @foodcraftspace or @evidencematters using the hashtag #shortandtweet - Thank you. It’s the same procedure if you don’t blog but just post a photograph of your work. Please send the links by 8pm 13 November.
Schedule for the #shortandtweet November challenge (December’s schedule will be posted tomorrow).
Outline for #shortandtweet challenge and its conditions.
Thank you to everyone for taking part. I look forward to seeing everyone’s savoury biscuits/oatcakes.
