Zucchini Blossom Flatbread
When zucchini blossoms are available at the farmers’ market, take advantage of their brief season to make these beautiful flatbreads. If you can’t find crescenza, a soft, creamy cow’s milk cheese that originated in northern Italy, burrata makes a good substitute. If you are lucky enough to have a pizza oven, you can bake the flatbreads at around 600° to 700°F (315° to 370°C) for 3 to 5 minutes instead of cooking them as instructed below.
Ingredients:
- Rice flour for dusting
- 1 garlic clove, smashed
- 2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 batch Scopa's Flatbread
- 3/4 cup (3 oz./90 g) shredded mozzarella cheese
- 12 zucchini blossoms, stems and stamens removed and
blossoms opened flat - 9 Tbs. crescenza cheese, preferably Bellwether Farms
- 1 bunch fresh chives, chopped
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered (optional)
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 450°F (230°C). Dust 3 baking sheets with rice flour.
In a ramekin or very small bowl, combine the garlic and olive oil. Set aside while you prepare the flatbreads.
On a floured work surface, use a rolling pin to roll 1 of the dough balls into a circle about 12 inches (30 cm) in diameter. (You may need to finish shaping the dough by stretching it with your hands.) Transfer the dough round to 1 of the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle evenly with 1/4 cup (1 oz./30 g) of the mozzarella. Arrange 4 of the zucchini blossoms on the flatbread, then dot with 3 Tbs. of the crescenza. Repeat with the remaining 2 dough balls, mozzarella, zucchini blossoms and crescenza.
Bake, in batches if necessary, until the cheese is lightly browned and the flatbreads are crunchy and golden, 11 to 12 minutes. Transfer the flatbreads to a cutting board.
Remove the garlic clove from the olive oil and discard. Drizzle each flatbread lightly with the flavored oil (you will not need all of it) and top each with an equal quantity of the chives and tomatoes. Cut each flatbread into 8 pieces and serve immediately. Makes three 12-inch (30-cm) flatbreads.
Ari Rosen, Co-Owner and Chef, Scopa, Healdsburg, CA.
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$29.95
