Caprese Flatbread Sandwich is something we've been wanting to make for quite some time. We saw the picture in a Food Network magazine and right away we knew that it was our kind of dish. We made a copy of that recipe and then tucked it away in our All Our Way Bread Recipe Binder for safe keeping.
The inspiration for the sandwich came from a restaurant called Cosi. The story goes that in 1994, two American brothers stopped by a cafe in Paris named Cosi. The brothers became obsessed with the salty, chewy flatbread that they served there. They begged and pleaded the owner to teach them how to make it, but the owner did them one better-- he helped them set up shop in New York. They put the T.B.M. (short for tomato, basil, and mozzarella) on their original menu and it was an instant hit. The restaurant is now a chain and the T.B.M. is still their top-selling sandwich.
We've made the flatbread recipe that the chef's at Food Network Kitchen created but we didn't go the rest of the way, that is, we didn't make the caprese flatbread sandwich.
This sandwich has been in the plans for several years. But it seemed like the time was never right . . . or we didn't have all of the ingredients. We either had the flatbread made and no mozzarella or we had the mozzarella and not flatbread.
This time we were determined that the Caprese Flatbread Sandwich was going to be made . . . time was getting short and the basil/tomato season was about to be over.
We were ready to make the entire recipe, but the more we thought about it, the more we thought we should make a caprese flatbread sandwich with a twist.
Yes, we do like to shake things up a bit because our twist was going to be . . . .
. . . . fried green tomatoes. 🙂
First of all, we made the flatbread -- we'd made it before and this time instead of just forming it on a baking sheet -- we put it in our Italian bread form. We found that when we formed it on the baking sheet, it had a tendency to spread out more than we liked.
So we followed the recipe exactly as directed except that we put the parchment paper on the bread form and then placed the dough on the forms.
During the rising time, the dough stayed contained and a crust formed on the top . . . we pressed our fingertips through the dry crust and dimpled the dough.
We then stretched it a little more by gently pulling on either end. We then brushed the tops with olive oil and sprinkled with salt.
We then baked the flatbread according to the directions and midway through the baking cycle, we slid the flatbread from the forms to bake directly on top of the baking stone. When they were done we removed them from the oven and again brushed the tops with olive oil and sprinkled with salt.
As the flatbread cooled we made the All Our Way Fried Green Tomatoes and once we were finished with that all we needed to complete the sandwich was fresh basil and mozzarella cheese.
Now here is where we had to implement Plan B. The fresh basil was easy to come by-- it was growing everywhere in our garden.
The mozzarella cheese we had already used up the week before. 🙁
In the fridge, we had a cheese we'd never tried before -- halloumi cheese. We'd never tried this Cypriot firm, brined cheese before and we were anxious to try it out. David Lebovitz says he's addicted to it and loves it for frying or grilling since it holds its shape beautifully He describes it as slightly rubbery and "squidgy".
Ecco! We'd grill the halloumi cheese and use it instead of mozzarella.
We fired up the grill and put the halloumi on the grates and grilled both sides. Once the halloumi was grilled we assembled the Caprese Flatbread Sandwich with a Twist by first slicing the flatbread in half horizontally and brushing the tops with our basil pesto. We then topped the bread bottoms with the fried tomatoes, basil leaves, and grilled halloumi. We were more than ready to enjoy our long-time-awaited sandwich. 🙂
It had been a worthwhile wait!
Tutti a tavola è pronto!
Un caro saluto e alla prossima.
📖 Recipe
Caprese Flatbread Sandwich with a Twist
Ingredients
FOR THE FLATBREAD
- 1 ¼- ounce packet active dry yeast or 2 ½ teaspoons
- Pinch of sugar
- 3 cups bread flour plus more for dusting
- Kosher salt
- 2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus more for brushing.
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
FOR THE DRESSING
- 3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon dried basil
- Pinch of sugar
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
FOR THE SANDWICHES
- Fried Green Tomatoes - two slices per sandwich 4 green tomatoes
- 1 ½ pounds fresh mozzarella or halloumi sliced
- 16 to 20 fresh basil leaves
Instructions
- Make the flatbread: In a large mixing bowl stir the yeast, sugar and 1 ½ cups warm water (about 110 F). Let it sit until foamy, about 5 minutes, if using instant yeast you don't have to wait. Whisk the flour and 1 ½ teaspoons salt in another bowl. Add the olive oil to the liquid and then all the dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients. Mix the dough with your stand mixer until it is smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap; set aside in a warm place until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until slightly elastic, dusting with more flour if the dough is too sticky to handle, about 5 minutes. Return the dough to the bowl, cover and set aside again until double in size, about 1 hour.
- Brush 2 baking sheets with olive oil { we use oil spray on 1 baking sheet size pieces of parchment paper because we will use the Italian Bread Form to contain the dough}. Turn the dough out onto a light floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, dusting with more flour if needed. Cut the dough in half and form into 2 balls. Roll out each ball into a 12-by-3 inch rectangle, about ½ inch thick. Transfer each dough rectangle to one of the prepared baking sheets and let rest, uncovered until a dry crust forms on top, 1 hour, 30 minutes to 2 hours.
- Put an inverted baking sheet on the bottom rack and preheat oven to 475 F for at least 40 minutes.
- Press your fingertips through the dry crust on top of the dough to create a spotted pattern. Gently stretch each piece of dough into a 14-by-4-inch rectangle, then brush the tops with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Put 1 baking sheet of dough on the lower rack of the oven and bake until the bottom of the bread is golden brown, about 7 minutes. Transfer to the middle rack and continue baking until golden all over, about 5 more minutes. { We put the entire bread form in the lower portion of the oven for the 7 minutes then we remove the bread and put it directly onto our baking stone in the middle of the oven for the 5 minutes more.} Remove from the oven and immediately brush the top of the bread with olive oil and sprinkle with salt; let cool on the baking sheet on a rack. Repeat wih the remaining dough -- if you don't use our method with the bread form.
- Make the dressing: Whisk the vinegar, mustard and dried basil in a bowl. Add the sugar and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in the olive oil.
- Make the Fried Green Tomatoes according to the All Our Way Fried Green Tomtoes
- Grill the halloumi if you don't use mozzarella.
- Assemble the Caprese Flatbread Sandwiches with a Twist: Slice each flatbread in half horizontally and brush with the dressing or you can use basil pesto instead.
- Top the bread bottoms with the fried green tomatoes, basil and then mozzarella or halloumi.
- BUON APPETITO!!!
Notes
Nutrition
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