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Flatbread With Dates, Manchego & Prosciutto

By: Author Austin Carter

Posted on

Okay, so last week was all about the Golden Milk Ice Cream With Cardamon Spiced Meringue, this week, a savory flatbread with sliced dates, Manchego cheese, balsamic onions, and crispy prosciutto

Yes, crispy prosciutto! Which I must say is pretty addictive. The fatty pork and even more concentrated saltiness was the perfect pairing for the sweet dates and tangy-sweet balsamic onions. This is a recipe you don’t want to miss.

For the flatbread recipe, I decided to go with a focaccia dough. It is different from the one I posted a while back, which you can find here. I’m all about trying new recipes and love to tweak them! This recipe comes from Chef Suzanne Goin who owns a slew of restaurants out in Los Angeles. I own her cookbook Sunday Suppers At Lucques and love her approach to seasonal cooking.

This dough recipe called for barley malt syrup, which I did not have, but subbed it with some cane syrup. Honey or maple syrup can be used as well.

This recipe came to light when I was contemplating on what to enter for Food52’s recipe contest for your best savory recipe with dates. Their contest has been MIA but finally came back! Yay! I love the challenge and wanted to do something, not in the norm, such as stuffing or wrapping them with salty porky goodness.

Dates are extremely sweet, especially if roasted, and the sugars get even more concentrated, so I really wanted items that would balance and jell well. That is when I decided to crisp up the prosciutto fry it up a bit and add the tangy sweet balsamic onions. For the manchego, I picked a 3 month aged, so that it would melt quicker. A piece of this flatbread is the perfect bit, creamy cheese, tangy balsamic onions, crispy salty prosciutto, sweet dates and to top it off, fresh earthy rosemary!

I hope y’all enjoy it as much as I did!

Recipe: Flatbread With Dates, Manchego & Prosciutto

Prep Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours 55 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup warm water around 105 degrees
  • 1 packet of active yeast
  • 3 cups bread flour all-purpose flour can be substituted
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon cane syrup or maple syrup
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup onions, julienned
  • 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • freshly cracked black pepper, a few cracks
  • 6 Medjool dates, slivered
  • 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped
  • 4 oz prosciutto, thinly sliced
  • 8 oz shredded manchego cheese I used a 3 month age, for better melting

Instructions:

  1. Mix the flours together and place aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the water, salt, syrup, olive oil, and yeast. Whisk ingredients and let sit for 2-3 minutes. Add the flour mixture and with the paddle attachment attached, mix the ingredients until they come together into a ball. Swap out the paddle attachment for the dough hook and continue to mix on low speed until the dough comes together about 7 minutes. If the dough is dry, add up to 4 tablespoons of water.
  2. Increase the speed to medium-low and continue to mix until the dough is smooth and clears the sides of the bowl. If the dough is too tacky, sprinkle it with a little more flour.
  3. Grease a large bowl with some olive oil. Remove dough from mixer bowl and shape into a round, then place into the oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for about 1 1/2 hours.
  4. Remove plastic wrap and punch down the dough. Place dough onto a cutting board and with a knife or bench knife divide into 2 equal pieces. Shape into a ball set onto a rimmed baking sheet and cover with a damp towel. Let dough rise at room temperature until it doubles, around 1 1/2 hours.
  5. While the dough is rising, cook prosciutto in a lightly oiled skillet over medium heat until lightly browned and crispy. Place aside.
  6. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll each of the dough balls out to about 1/8th inch thick circle or rectangle. Place on a sheet pan or pizza stone, drizzle with olive oil,, and par bake until golden, 10 to 15 minutes.
  7. After the bread has been par-baked, remove it from the oven and divide the toppings between the two. Add the manchego cheese, dates, balsamic onions, pepper flakes, rosemary, and prosciutto, and sprinkle a little more cheese on top. Return to oven and bake until cheese has melted. Sprinkle a pinch of kosher salt, a few cracks of fresh black pepper, and fresh rosemary at the end.