Three Cheese French Onion Flatbread Recipe

Flatbread is not a standard pizza. Generally lighter in filling and oval in shape, flatbreads are like pizza’s refined cousins. As the name suggests, since most flatbread recipes don’t require yeast, the crust is completely flat. Without yeast, the crust cracks like a cookie, leaving just a hint of the doughy, chewy quality we know from pizza. The plan from there is generally the same: a little sauce, some cheese, a collection of toppings and maybe a dash of seasoning. We expect some standard toppings for pizza, but flatbread is less constrained by expectations, so you can experiment with different flavor combinations.

And there’s no better way to emphasize that than with the sophisticated flavors of French onion soup. Sweet, deeply caramelized onions sit atop melted mozzarella, Gruyère and Parmesan, replicating the flavors of the iconic French dish. A perfect balance of crunchy and gooey, this 3 Cheese Flatbread created with recipe developer Michelle McGlinn is the perfect excuse to bring a little elegance to pizza night.

Read more: The 20 Best Olive Oils for Cooking

Gather Ingredients for Three-Cheese French Onion Flatbread

To caramelize the onions, you will just need a few large yellow onions, olive oil, and salt. Keep the olive oil and salt on hand to make the flatbread base, for which you will also need flour and water. The remaining ingredients are just cheese, herbs, and seasonings: take some gruyere, parmesan, and mozzarella and grate them fresh for best, meltier results. Next, grab a few sprigs of fresh thyme and some cracked black pepper to top off the flatbread.

Step 1: Heat a pan

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

Step 2: soften the onions

Add the sliced ​​onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

Step 3: Caramelize the onions

Reduce the heat and add ½ teaspoon of salt. Cook until caramelized, adding oil if necessary, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Step 4: Heat the oven

Meanwhile, prepare your flatbread crust. Preheat the oven to 475 F.

Step 5: Combine Dry Ingredients

Add the flour and ½ teaspoon salt to a food processor and pulse to combine.

Step 6: Add Wet Ingredients to Dough

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and the hot water and mix until a ball of dough forms.

Step 7: Knead the Dough

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until soft and smooth.

Step 8: roll out the dough

Roll out the dough into an oval about ⅛ inch thick.

Step 9: Prepare the Crust for Baking

Transfer the crust to a baking sheet, prick it with a fork, then brush it with a thin layer of olive oil.

Step 10: Bake the Crust Until Crispy

Bake the crust until crisp and golden, about 15 minutes.

Step 11: Add Toppings

Top the crust with the cheeses, caramelized onions, thyme and black pepper.

Step 12: Cook until soft

Bake the flatbread until soft, about 10 minutes, then slice and serve.

What is the secret to caramelizing onions?

Caramelized onions are a culinary treasure, and for good reason. Truly caramelized onions are delicately sweet, retaining the characteristic onion flavor without any bite. They differ from sweated, softened, and even browned onions, which have a much stronger flavor and different appearance. Because they’re slow-cooked for nearly an hour to extract the sugars from the onion, the result is deeply browned, ultra-thin, extremely soft onion rings: but getting there takes a few tricks.

First, slice your onions as finely as possible so they cook faster in the pan. A well-caramelized onion will release its own moisture, requiring not much more than the first few tablespoons of fat. Adding salt at the beginning helps release moisture and browns the onions more quickly. But it’s important to be patient. Reduce the heat – or at most to medium-low – and stir occasionally. Don’t be tempted to add more oil unless the onions begin to burn, in which case your heat is too high and should be lowered immediately. There’s no quick way to cook good caramelized onions: if you cook them over a higher heat, you won’t trigger the Maillard reaction and will instead end up with a golden and possibly bitter onion. Who knew a vegetable could be so complicated?

How do I customize French Onion Flatbread?

This recipe is simple but precise, meant to replicate the familiar flavors of a warming French onion soup. Because of its simplicity, it is highly customizable and it is easy to add, change or omit toppings to make this flatbread your own. Cheese, for example, can be replaced with other varieties, but we recommend sticking to soft white cheeses. Fontina is a great option to replace Gruyère. For a similar taste, you can also replace the Gruyère with Swiss. For a more peppery flavor, replace the Parmesan with Romano.

To add meat to this vegetarian pizza, try adding cooked and crumbled Italian sausage, prosciutto, or slices of speck. You can also keep it vegetarian and add a variety of sautéed vegetables depending on the season, like broccolini, spinach, mushrooms, or even summer squash. To make this rich and creamy flatbread a little spicy, consider adding a pinch of red pepper flakes, Aleppo pepper, or even a spoonful of crispy chili pepper after baking.

Three Cheese French Onion Flatbread Recipe

Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 45 minutes Yield: 4 servingsIngredients

• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus a little more for brushing

• 3 large yellow onions, sliced ​​with a mandolin

• 1 teaspoon salt, divided

• 1 ½ cups flour, plus extra for dusting

• ½ cup hot water

• 1 cup grated Gruyère

• 1 cup fresh mozzarella, sliced

• ½ cup grated parmesan

• 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme leaves

• ¼ teaspoon crushed black pepper

Directions

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

2. Add the sliced ​​onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

3. Reduce the heat and add ½ teaspoon of salt. Cook until caramelized, adding oil if necessary, about 30 to 40 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, prepare your flatbread crust. Preheat the oven to 475 F.

5. Add the flour and ½ teaspoon salt to a food processor and pulse to combine.

6. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and the hot water and mix until a ball of dough forms.

7. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until soft and smooth.

8. Roll out the dough into an oval about ⅛ inch thick.

9. Transfer the crust to a baking sheet, prick it with a fork, then brush it with a thin layer of olive oil.

10. Bake the crust until crisp and golden, about 15 minutes.

11. Top the crust with the cheeses, caramelized onions, thyme and black pepper.

12. Bake the flatbread until soft, about 10 minutes, then slice and serve.

Read the original article on the tasting table