In good taste…Cheesy Curried-mince Flat Bread

I got the inspiration for this recipe over the August holidays while dining out with friends. One of them ordered a pizza with minced meat topping. The pizza arrived – perfectly round, covered in melting cheese that looked shiny and velvety smooth. Little mounds of cooked minced meat dotted the sphere. There was a yellow-reddish colour from the meat that seeped into the melted cheese making it look rather appetizing.

It was one of those meals where everyone was sharing a slice, piece or portion of whatever was ordered. I ate a slice of the pizza, and as I bit into the meat I realized that the meat was cooked with some sort of curry mixture; the hint of curry-spices, though subtle, was very much present.

I am not really a pizza lover and when I do have pizza, I prefer Neapolitan (thin crust with a puffy lip/crust), Neapolitan-American, or the New York – style pizza – all thin crust. By the way, before the pizza fanatics descend on me, there is a reason why this recipe is described as a flat bread and not pizza.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the flavour of the curried minced meat on the pizza and decided to make a flat bread and top it with generous mounds of the curried meat. I choose 3 cheeses to go along with the flavour of the curry – fresh and smoked mozzarella, Havarti and sharp cheddar. All these are good melting cheeses. No tomato sauce was used. For the curried meat you can use beef, pork, chicken, turkey, lamb or a combination of meats. I used all ground beef. My friends devoured the flat bread in to time. It’s a good thing I had made other things for them to eat.

Here’s what you need and how to make it.

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

1 (13 x 18-inch) sheet pan

INGREDIENTS

For flat bread:

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon fine table salt
• 2 tablespoons oil plus extra
• Warm water (110 – 115 degrees F)

For topping:

• ½ cup shredded or cubed fresh mozzarella
• ½ cup shredded or cubed smoked mozzarella
• ½ cup sharp cheddar cheese
• ½ cup cubed Havarti cheese
• 8 – 10 oz. curried minced meat

DIRECTIONS

For flat bread:

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder, yeast,

sugar and salt in a bowl.

2. Add oil and enough warm water to make a dough. When the dough comes together, knead for 3 minutes them rub dough and bowl with oil. Cover and put in a warm place to rise for 45 minutes or until a little more than doubled in size.

For assembly:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Drizzle some oil in the pan and rub it all over the surface.

3. Transfer the dough to the pan and using your hands, stretch and spread the dough to cover the surface of the pan, making it as thin as possible.

4. Toss the cheeses together and sprinkle all over the dough. Transfer to the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and add heaping tablespoons of the curried mince atop the melted cheese and return pan to the oven. Bake for 5 minutes.

5. Remove pan from the oven, rest for a couple of minutes then cut and serve hot.

NOTES

• If you only have 1 type of cheese, that works

fine; you’ll need 2 cups of shredded or cubed cheese.

• Do not over oil the pan, if you do, the dough will keep shrinking and sliding back in place.