Whole Wheat Flatbread

The term "flatbread" immediately takes me to visions of a crispy, salty thin bread dipped in olive oil or smeared with a soft cheese, perfectly enjoyed with briny olives and a glass of red wine. It turns out that Beth Hensperger's version of flatbread is more like a focaccia loaf. Her cookbook, "The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook," is a follow-up to her her James Beard Award-winning book "The Bread Bible." My mom very thoughtfully gifted me with the BLBMC when she gave us our bread machine for Christmas and I've been pouring through the book regularly, overwhelmed by the range of recipes (300!) that can be created in a bread machine (including jams and chutneys!). Unfortunately, I missed the mark out of the gate, trying a recipe that I naively believed would yield a pan of crispy, crunchy, cracker-like bread even *after* I added the required 2.25 teaspoons of yeast. It turns out that lots of yeast does not a thin, cracker-like bread make!

No matter. It was still pretty delicious and provided the perfect platform for toddler-sized pizza when topped with tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese.

*WHOLE WHEAT FLATBREAD*
Yields one (1) jelly roll pan's worth of bread

Ingredients
2/3 cup water
1 cup milk
3 T olive oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/4 t yeast

Combine all ingredients, in the order listed above, in the bread machine, making sure to keep wet ingredients separate from the yeast (added last). Program the bread machine for the 1.5-pound dough cycle. Meanwhile, brush a 15x10x1 metal jelly roll pan with olive oil. Remove the dough from the machine upon completion of the cycle and turn it out onto the prepared pan. Using the heel of your hand, press and flatten the dough to fit the pan. Sprinkle with olive oil and cover gently with plastic wrap, allowing the dough to rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk (about one hour).

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove the plastic wrap and gently dimple the dough with your fingertips, sprinkling olive oil and coarse sea salt across the surface. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until nicely browned. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan and cut into squares before serving.