I tried a new grocery store on my way home from work and found that they had
skirt steak, so I got a couple family packs. Now I've got to figure out
what to do with them. I'm thinking fajitas, but I'm not in a tortilla kind
of mood. Maybe I'll try this wrap-bread recipe, gotten from somewhere on
the Internet. (It currently resides at a King Arthur Baking subsidiary site,
www.toptastes.com/features/kingarthur/soft.htm, but I probably got it from
some other now-defunct web site. I've had the recipe for a couple years, but
I still haven't tried it.)
============================================================================
Soft Wrap Bread
Let's start with the sandwich basic: bread. There's sandwich bread -- a
rectangular loaf, baked in a pan and sliced -- and then there's "new age"
sandwich bread, any of a variety of tortillas, wraps or flatbreads designed
to enfold, roll around, or cradle their fillings. We've become really
enamored of these wraps; they're easy to make, quick to bake, and sturdy
enough to take wherever your meal ends up -- indoors, outdoors, or in the
car.
We use a rather unusual method to make this bread: boiling water is added to
the flour, "cooking" the starch and making the resultant dough soft and easy
to roll out. In addition, pre-cooking the starch this way eliminates any
possibility of a "starchy" taste in the final bread; all in all, we find
these wrap-like rounds better tasting than conventional flour tortillas or
other wraps. Texture-wise, they're more like a Taco Bell Gordita or a pita
bread than a tortilla, so if you like the bread in your sandwich to be a
substantial part of the whole, this is a good recipe for your files.
3 to 3 1/4 cups (12 3/4 to 13 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) boiling water
1/4 cup (1 1/2 ounces) potato flour OR 1/2 cup (5/8 ounces) potato buds or
flakes
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons (7/8 ounce) vegetable oil
1 teaspoon instant yeast*
*This recipe works best with instant yeast because it dissolves during the
kneading process, so you don't have to knead liquid into the dough. If you
really prefer to use active dry yeast, use only 1 cup boiling water for the
initial dough, dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup warm water, and add this
mixture to the dough along with the potato flour mixture. It'll be somewhat
"slippery" at first, but will knead in and eventually become smooth.
Making the Dough: Place 2 cups of the flour into a bowl or the bucket of a
bread machine. Pour the boiling water over the flour, and stir till smooth.
Cover the bowl or bucket and set the mixture aside for 30 minutes.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the potato flour (or flakes or buds) and
1 cup of the remaining flour with the salt, oil and yeast. Add this to the
cooled flour/water mixture, stir, then knead for several minutes (by hand,
mixer or bread machine) to form a soft dough. Note: You can allow the dough
to go through the entire kneading cycle(s) in the bread machine, but it's
not necessary; about a 5-minute knead in the machine, once it gets up to
full kneading speed, is fine. The dough should form a ball, but will remain
somewhat sticky. Add additional flour only if necessary; if kneading by
hand, keep your hands and work surface lightly oiled. Let the dough rise,
covered, for 1 hour.
Shaping: Divide the dough into 8 pieces (each about the size of a handball,
around 3 ounces), cover, and let rest for 15 to 30 minutes. Roll each piece
into a 7- to 8-inch circle, and dry-fry them (fry without oil) over medium
heat for about 1 minute per side, until they're puffed and flecked with
brown spots. Adjust the heat if they seem to be cooking either too quickly,
or too slowly; cooking too quickly means they may be raw in the center,
while too slowly will dry them out. Transfer the cooked breads to a wire
rack, stacking them to keep them soft. Serve immediately, or cool slightly
before storing in a plastic bag. Yield: 8 breads.
============================================================================
For those who have never tried a Taco Bell gordita, the bread bears a
superficial resemblance to pita bread, but is much softer. In fact, it's
downright floppy. I'm hoping that this bread lives up to its billing,
because I think that's what I'm in the mood for. I'll marinate the steak in
a mixture of lime juice, California chile powder, and Maggi sauce, then I'll
grill it along with oil-brushed scallions, zucchini, yellow squash, and red
bell pepper. I got some decent-looking tomatoes and one of those monster
papayas, too; I'll probably make a simple salsa from the tomatoes and a
jicama-papaya salad/relish-type thing, especially if I make some simple
beans and rice to go along with it.
Bob