Lotsa sun and a clear blue sky. It was the perfect day to break in the Big Green Egg and take photos while I was at it. Bread! The ultimate oven test. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve been toying with the grill for several days now. Seriously, how could I not play with it immediately upon possession? It’s me, Kay, the gadget freak!

 

I’m impressed with my new green baby. Love it to bits. Controlling the temperature is child’s play and whatever you cook in it comes out so moist and juicy, literally cooked to perfection. It roasts vegetables like no one’s business. I even recreated my recent pasta casserole and used grilled vegetables off the BGE this time. Wow. Just wow. The charcoal added a wonderful smokiness to it. 

Anyways, the kiddo was craving pizza (isn’t he always?), so I figured I’d give the baking stone a try and whip up my tomato, onion and cheese bread. Only a handful of ingredients but absolutely delicious. It cooked them just as perfect as it did the Bifteki we had for dinner the other night. I’m putting this thing in my will, I swear.  

Ingredients:  

1 large onion
2 garlic cloves
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp salt
5 tbsp grated parmesan
1 tbsp dried basil
1 1/2 tbsp honey
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 1/4 tsp dry yeast or .6 oz fresh yeast (15gr)
2 big juicy tomatoes
lots of cheese for topping
pepper
salt
oil  

Optional: spring onions  



Directions:  

Finely mince the onion and grate the garlic.
  

I ran out of instant yeast so had to work with fresh yeast. No biggie. The only thing that bugs me is that I have to let it rise twice. Crumble up the fresh yeast and put it in a bowl, or use 2 1/4 tsp active or instant dry yeast in stead.
  

Add 1 1/2 tbsp honey and 2 tbsp oil. Alternately you can use a tbsp sugar instead of the honey. 
  

The water, 1 1/2 cups. Too hot and it will kill your yeast, too cold and the dough won’t rise. Warm water but not so warm you can’t touch it. If it feels comfortably warm, you’re safe.  
  

Give it a good stir and let it sit there for 10 minutes. It should get all creamy at the end.  
  

In stead of putting the onions on top of the bread, I put ‘em in the dough. But I want to slightly caramelize them first. Heat 2 tbsp oil and cook the onions until brown and sweet, season them with salt and pepper. Add the garlic and give it a minute extra.  
  

I’m using my mixer for this, if you’re kneading all this by hand put it all in a big bowl.  

Combine the onions and garlic, 2/3 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp dried basil and the yeast water. I let the machine mix it up for a minute or two.  
  

Stir in 1 cup of flour, add 5 tbsp grated Parmesan. As soon as the flour is incorporated it’s time to add the next cup, after that one is in you add the third. I gave my machine an 8 minute kneading cycle until it was a supple yet slightly sticky dough.  
  

Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, rub a bit of oil on top and cover with a cloth or plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for an hour to an hour and a half. Until doubled in size.  
  

Once the dough has risen, punch it down, cover the bowl and let it rise a second time.  
  

When the dough is nearing the end stage of the second rise, it’s time for me to light the egg. I’ve never seen a grill that holds his temperature as long as this one does. It’ll be fantastic for slow cooking during autumn and winter. Kept the temperature at 400F (200C) for this job.
  

I realize not everyone has a Big Green Egg, no really, I do! So feel free to bake these beauties at 400F (200C) in your oven.

There we go. All ready.  
  

Flour your hands and the cutting board. Divide the dough in 6 pieces.  
  

Shape them to a round and flatten them with your hand.  
  

Slice up 2 really big or 4 smaller tomatoes. I’m using an apple corer to take out the hard-core. Put a few slices on top of each dough round. 
  

Brush (or spray) them with some EVOO.  
  

I have a back yard on the south. Fun during early spring, but hellish during summer. To lessen the direct sunlight I use a humongous translucent reflector to filter the light a bit.  
  

I put the plate setter and baking stone in there at the last moment, put them in sooner and the bread might get too crispy. Good for pizza but not for these. Sprinkle some flour on top of the baking stone. I love both the heat and flour shot. How neat is it that you can actually photograph heat?  
  

Put the dough bites in there and bake them for 15 minutes. I could have put a gazillion things on top of these babies, but I wanted to keep it simple and go for pure flavors.
  

Those 15 minutes gave me enough time to grate some cheese. Use any kind of cheese you like, from cheddar to Gouda, Gorgonzola and everything in-between.
  

The bread should be almost done after 15 minutes. This smelled so good! Top with the cheese, close the lid and bake for another 3 to 5 minutes.  
  

Sprinkle some chopped scallions on top for zing and crunch. This was fabulous! Me and my egg are so happy together. I’ll never let him go. Seriously, check out how perfect the bread came out. This is crazy, that you can make all this in a BBQ!