Roman Bread - Flatbread

Get ready because my new The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook and I are dangerous. This is the perfect bread for anytime and a must have with all your wonderful fall soups and stews. If you have any leftover freeze it to use in your Thanksgiving stuffing.

The onion is added at the beginning with all the other ingredients, so it gets incorporated right into the dough. You can sprinkle it with grated Asiago cheese in place of the salt or with another dried herb, such as basil, before baking.

Roman Bread - Flatbread
2 pound loaf
print recipe

For the dough:
1 1/2 cups water
4 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon SAF yeast or 1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon bread machine yeast

For the topping1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons dried rosemary, crushed
Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling

1. Place the dough ingredients in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer's instructions. Program for Dough cycle; press Start.

2. Brush a large rectangular baking sheet with olive oil. When the machine beeps at the end of the cycle, press Stop and unplug the machine. Immediately remove the bread pan and turn the dough out onto the baking sheet. With oiled fingers or a rolling pin, press and flatten the dough into a 1-inch thick oval. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 40 minutes.

3. Twenty minutes before baking, place a baking stone on the lowest rack of a cold oven and prehet it to 425 degrees F. If you are not using a baking stone, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

4. Using a small, sharp knife, slash the top of the cough with a big tic-tac-toe grid, no more than 1/2-inch deep. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the rosemary. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until browned. When the bread comes out of the oven sprinkle it with the coarse salt. Serve cut into squares the day it is made, warm or at room temperature.