Cheesy Summer Squash Flatbread

This cheesy summer squash flatbread is heaped with marinated squash, blue cheese and mozzarella for a savory snack (goes great with white wine or chilled beer!) or even as a main course. In that case, you can serve it with salad to complete the meal. 

So, our weather hasn’t been great – lots of rain and very little sun – but after the drought/scorcher that was summer 2022, I’m not about to complain. My tomatoes are still small and green but my summer squash are flourishing.

I grew them from seeds in smaller pots and transplanted them thinking they might vine but this variety of crookneck squash does not. That said, I deliberately chose the seeds that said “good in pots” and so they are! 

Fortunately, even though I have five plants, they grow just a few squash at a time and so – for now - I’m able to keep up with the harvest but we’ve still been eating a lot of summer squash and that’s a good thing. 

This is the first time I’ve attempted growing these crookneck squash but since they’ve turned out so easy, I know it won’t be the last. Only one caveat: I picked one to cook a week ago that was as big as full grown but it still had some green on it. Talk about bitter! I figured the size was what mattered but now I know not to pick them till they are completely yellow. 

Cheesy Summer Squash Flatbread

If you don't have summer squash, zucchini is an excellent substitute. In fact, this recipe is adapted from one on the delicious. magazine website using courgette (BrE for zucchini.)  If you do not have a 12 in cast iron skillet, this can also be baked in the oven on a pizza stone. Put the stone in as you preheat the oven. 

Ingredients

For the flatbread dough:

1 2/3 cups or 200g strong white flour plus extra for dusting

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

4 1/2 fl oz or 133ml tepid water

1/4 cup or 60g fed sourdough starter

For the topping:

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil

3 small summer squash, trimmed (about 300g)

Finely grated zest 1 lemon

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 1/2 oz or 100g Roquefort or other strong blue cheese, crumbled

4 1/4 oz or 120g fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons pine nuts (20g)

Optional for serving: lemon wedges (from the one you zested)

Method

In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt together. Add the tepid water and the sourdough starter. 

Use a wooden spoon or a Danish dough whisk to combine everything into a wet and sticky dough. 

Use damp hands to form it into a loose lump. Cover the bowl with a damp towel or cling film and then leave it at room temperature for 6-8 hours.

Important: Stretch and fold the dough over several times during the rising time to develop the gluten. I set a timer for 30 minutes to remind myself to keep doing this step often.

Meanwhile, warm the olive oil in a small pot until it just starts to shimmer. Remove the pot from the heat and add in the sliced garlic. 

Leave to infuse until the oil is cool. Strain out the garlic with a small sieve and save for adding to the flatbread to serve. 

Cut the summer squash in half and scoop out any seeds. Discard or compost the seeds. Cut the squash into long ribbons using a vegetable peeler or slice finely lengthways. 

Put the thin slices in a bowl with the lemon zest and 2 tablespoon of the garlic oil, then season with a sprinkle fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Massage the salt, pepper, zest and oil into the squash as you might do it raw kale for kale salad. Set aside for at least 30 minutes but longer is better to help soften the squash. 

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C, and then start heating a large cast-iron skillet on your stovetop.

Roll out the dough into a circle on a piece of nonstick baking parchment. Despite mine being nonstick, I found it still needed quite a bit of flour underneath so it would turn loose when I needed it to. You may find the same. 

Prop the squash bowl on its side so that any juices that have accumulated can run off. Soak it up with a paper towel and discard. We are looking for crispy flatbread so want to keep the toppings as dry as possible. 

When the iron skillet is very hot, carefully transfer the dough circle to it. Cook the dough on the stovetop for about 2-3 minutes. You can see the middle starting to cook here. 

Pop the skillet into your preheated oven to cook the flatbread before adding the toppings. I set a timer for five minutes. 

When your timer rings, remove the flatbread from the oven. 

Top it with the summer squash slices, crumbled blue cheese, sliced mozzarella and pine nuts.

Return the flatbread to the oven. Cook for a further 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the summer squash is golden in places. 

You want a crunchy top and a crunchy bottom. Check the bottom with a wooden spatula and leave it in a bit longer if it isn't to your liking. 

Likewise, if you desire a little more color on your squash or cheese, you can turn the oven to broil for another minute or two. Just be watchful so it doesn't burn. 

Remove the pan from the oven and slide the flatbread onto a cutting board. Top with the reserved garlic and some more garlic oil, if desired. 

I found that extra oil was not necessary as the oils from the cheese created little pools already. In fact, I dabbed them with a paper towel to remove some of the oil. If you are a fan of oily focaccia, this probably won’t bother you. I like mine on the drier side. 

Cut into wedges to serve.  

I also gave my slices a squeeze of lemon juice. You might want to as well.

Enjoy!

It’s Foodie Extravaganza time, when my fellow bloggers and I share recipes for random foodie holidays. This month it’s National Zucchini Day on 8 August but our host, Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm said I could sub in my summer squash since many people use them interchangeably. Thanks, Wendy, and thanks for hosting! Check out all the recipe links below. 

• Black Bean and Zucchini Enchilada Casserole by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cheesy Summer Squash Sourdough Flatbread by Food Lust People Love
• Golden Zucchini with Whipped Ricotta and Feta by Pandemonium Noshery
• Keto Zucchini Balls in Creamy Tomato Gravy by Sneha's Recipe
• Seared Zucchini Topped with Fresh Corn Salad by Culinary Cam
• Zucchini & Orzo Pasta Baked Cheddar Casserole by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Zucchini Slaw by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Zucchini with Cheese Flatbread by Palatable Pastime

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board.

Pin this Cheesy Summer Squash flatbread!

 .

Spicy Lamb Murtabak #BreadBakers

Spicy lamb murtabak starts with a soft dough stretched super thin, then filled with seasoned ground lamb and cooked till crispy and golden. Start a day ahead to allow time for the dough to rest overnight in the fridge.

This month’s Bread Bakers theme is Indian flatbreads, one of my favorite things to make and eat. If you’ve been reading here a while, you might have seen my spicy onion parathas, keema naan and spicy loli - a breakfast flatbread! - just three that I have shared over the years.

For this post I wanted to challenge myself to a flatbread I ate often in my teenage years in southeast Asia. According to Wikipedia, murtabak was first created by Overseas Indians, primarily Muslims from Tamil Nadu. It’s common street food in Singapore, where I first enjoyed it, as well as Malaysia and Indonesia. The name comes from the word mutabbaq , which means "folded" in Arabic. That will make perfect sense when you see how they are made.

Spicy Lamb Murtabak

If lamb isn’t your thing, substitute another ground protein. Although it’s not traditional, you can even use firm, pressed tofu that has been crumbled, to make these vegetarian friendly. Also vegetarian friendly, and more traditional, murtabak can be cooked with the egg alone. In that case, add a little chopped onion, green onion, cilantro and chili pepper to the egg. To clarify the ingredients list below: To measure the water needed, put your egg white in a measuring vessel. Add water to the 3/4 cup or 180ml mark.

Ingredients to make 4 spicy lamb murtabak
For the dough:
2 1/3 cups or 300g bread flour
1 egg white, at room temperature
Room temperature water to make 3/4 cup or 180ml when measured with the egg white
5 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons canola or other light oil - for resting time

For the filling:
Small bunch green onions
Small bunch fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon canola or other light oil
1 1/2 teaspoons hot curry powder (I use Malaysian brand Baba but any will work)
12 oz or 340g ground lamb
1 small purple onion, chopped finely
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

To assemble:
4 eggs
extra oil

Method
In a standing mixer bowl, add in flour, egg, melted butter, salt, sugar and water. Use the bread hook to mix together and then knead for 10 minutes. Leave the dough to rest in the bowl for 10 minutes and then knead for another 5 minutes.

On a greased cutting board, divide the dough into 4 pieces. Form into balls.

Pour the 2 tablespoon of oil into a lidded container and coat each ball generously with the oil and place them in the container. Cover the container tightly and keep in the fridge overnight. If you think about it, turn the dough balls every once in a while to keep them well coated in oil.

Meanwhile, make your filling.

Cut the tough parts of the stems off of the cilantro and discard. Roughly chop the rest. Remove the white parts of the green onions and chop the green parts in circles.

(Tip: If your white parts have little roots, you can put them in a glass with a couple of inches of water and put the glass on a sunny windowsill. The roots will grow longer and the green parts will grow up again, ready to snip off and use again.)

Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium high heat. Put in the curry powder and give it a quick stir. Immediately add the lamb and onion and cook till the lamb is browned, breaking it up into bits as it cooks.

Sprinkle on the cayenne, salt and sugar, along with the chopped cilantro and green onion tops.

Stir well and remove the filling from the heat. Divide into four little piles and leave to cool.

When you are ready to panfry the murtabak, spread some of the oil that the dough balls rested in on your clean work surface. Take one ball and lightly flatten it. Press and push the dough with the heel of your palm to make it bigger. Stretch it quite thin, until it’s about 16 x 16 inches or 40 x 40cm, occasionally spreading some more oil on it to help the stretching. You can also lift up each edge of the dough and gently pull to stretch it even more. I thought this would be hard but it was actually quite easy!

Here’s a video I found extremely useful that shows what I mean: Murtabak by El Mundo Eats

You can see my marble through the dough. That’s how thin you want it!

Add 1/4 of the cooled lamb filling to the middle of your stretched dough, along with one lightly beaten egg.

Fold in edges of dough into center, making a package about 5 x 5 inches or 13 x 13cm.

Use an oiled spatula to very carefully transfer the murtabak to your greased frying pan.

Cook the murtabak over low heat for about 6-7 minutes on each side, pressing it down gently with the spatula. A low heat is essential to make sure the layers of dough are cooked before the outer layer gets too dark.

The dough should be cooked through with lovely brown and golden bits all over. Repeat with remaining eggs, lamb mixture and dough.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to this month’s Bread Bakers host, Renu of Cook with Renu for the fun theme and all of her behind the scenes work.

• Aloo Paratha from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Bedmi Paratha from Ambrosia
• Gobi Paratha by Nam's Corner
• Hyderabadi Parathas from Sneha's Recipe
• Masala Paratha from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Roti from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Pathiri - Gluten Free Rice Bread from The Schizo Chef
• Puran Poli from A Messy Kitchen
• Spicy Lamb Murtabak from Food Lust People Love
• Stuffed Bajra Paratha from Cook with Renu

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here.  Links are also updated after each event on the BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Spicy Lamb Murtabak! 

 .