Saturday, June 09, 2018

a good time was had by all

No photos, alas, of tonight's dinner, but trust me: it was pretty damn good. Charles came over with flatbread dough, which he rolled out and cooked off on my stove. The bread was both perfect in and of itself and a good match for my Middle Eastern chicken. The galbi (primarily for Tom, who refuses to eat veggies) was also good; we all ate a few strips of it. Funny how time passes quickly when you're among friends: in the blink of an eye, it was 10PM and time for my guests to head home. I've got a bit of leftover bread (Charles didn't want to take anything home) as well as leftover chicken and galbi. I'll need to cook the short ribs up and take them into the office on Monday; gotta get rid of this food somehow.



3 comments:

Charles said...

Yes, it was a great time! I wish I had had a little more energy, but I think I made it through OK.

Kevin Kim said...

I still marvel at the texture of the bread. When done badly, flatbread is no good for wrap sandwiches because it splits when you fold it. Perfect flatbread has a bit of resistance when you bite into it, but it's flexible enough to do the taco fold without ripping. Your bread definitely passed muster on that score, and it didn't hurt that it also tasted purty dang good.

I need to pay you to make a mess of flatbread for one of my office parties if ever I do gyros again.

Charles said...

Well, I can't say that I am not pleased to get such high praise!

I've experimented a lot with various recipes for flatbreads, wraps, etc., and I eventually arrived at the conclusion that what a good flatbread needs is sufficient fat, which I achieve with a generous dose of butter. As you noted in your photo post, the yogurt also contributes to the silky smoothness. In order to give the bread that little bit of resistance, I use all-purpose flour rather than bread flour.

The right ingredients can get you most of the way there, but the long cold ferment is what gets you over the finish line, in my opinion. I've experimented with other breads, comparing a short room-temp ferment and a long cold ferment, and the difference in taste and texture is significant. I made up the dough in advance this time out of necessity, but I think even if I had had the time to do it earlier in the day I would have wanted to do it a day earlier just to get that long ferment.

If you ever do gyros for your office again, let me know.