Spiced Pear Flatbreads with Goat Cheese & Mustard Cream

The thing about travel, whether it be short or long or for fun or work, you can't help but feel out of it. I've been out of town a lot lately so to readjust, I decided to cook dinner for some friends last night. Plus it had the added benefit of seeing and holding two of the newest little ladies to the club! I swear any dinner party with the girls, is instantly more fun when the babies get to come along for some quality bonding time!

Seeing that I didn't have much time to plan the dinner, I quickly glanced through my Bon Appetit emails the day before for recipes that were vegetarian, different and easy. My first choice: spiced pear flatbreads with goat cheese and mustard cream. (The original recipe can be found here.) The picture looked delicious, the directions appeared to be easy and who doesn't love flatbread? Plus, the recipe comes from a local restaurant that has been named one of top ten new restaurants in America. Translation....I knew it would be a winner!

The result was a satisfying and light starter. The flatbread was crisp and thin. The arugula and pears complimented each other well and essentially provided a salad for us before the main meal. And the mustard cream sauce was beyond words delicious, in fact a few of us wanted to drink it straight from the bowl!



Ingredients:

flatbread

• bread flour (2 1/4 cups)
• warm water (1 cup plus 7 tablespoons)
• all purpose flour (3/4 cup)
• whole wheat flour (1/3 cup)
• olive oil (2 tablespoons)
• kosher salt (2 teaspoons)
• honey (1/2 teaspoon)
• quick-rising dry active yeast (1/4 teaspoon)

mustard cream

• heavy whipping cream (6 tablespoons)
• whole grain Dijon mustard (3 tablespoons)
• tablespoons Dijon mustard (1.5 tablespoons)
• fresh lemon juice (1 tablespoon) 
• honey (1/2 teaspoon) 

topping

• arugula (4 ounces)
• pears (2, cored and halved)
• blue goat cheese or blue cheese and mozzarella cheese (8 ounces) 
• olive oil
• pepper and salt

Directions:

For the mustard cream, whisk all ingredients in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before using.

For the flatbread, combine all ingredients in bowl of heavy-duty mixer fitted with dough hook. Beat at low speed until dough forms and comes away from sides of bowl, about 2 minutes. Scrape dough off hook. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rest for 30 minutes.

Reattach dough hook. Beat dough at medium speed 3 minutes. Scrape dough on hook into bowl. Cover bowl with plastic and towel. Let dough rise until light and slightly puffed, about 1 hour.

Gently knead dough to deflate. Using floured hands, divide sticky dough into 4 equal pieces. Shape each into ball; place on plastic-lined baking sheet. Cover and chill at least 45 minutes.

 If using pizza stone, place in oven. (Alternatively, place heavy large baking sheet, upside down, in oven.) Preheat oven to 500°F for at least 45 minutes.

For the toppings, cut pear halves vertically into thin slices. Brush both sides with oil, then sprinkle with pepper. 

Stretch and roll each dough ball on lightly floured work surface.

Place 1 dough round on pizza stone. Brush dough with oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Scatter 1/4 of arugula over. Drizzle lightly with oil. Top with pear slices and 1/4 of cheese.

 

Bake until crust is golden brown and crisp and cheese is melted, rotating occasionally, 10 to 11 minutes. Repeat with remaining flatbreads. Transfer flatbreads to plates. Drizzle with mustard cream and serve.

The original recipe can be found here: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2009/09/spiced_pear_flatbreads_with_goat_cheese_and_mustard_cream#ixzz11sWfFZy0