Smoked Salmon & Goat Cheese Flatbread

Beautiful smoked salmon and creamy goat cheese atop an easy homemade flatbread.  Perfect! ❤️

THIS IS THE MAGIC EVERYDAY DOUGH. IT'S FAILPROOF AND I USE IT FOR EVERYTHING

My KitchenAid stand mixer with it's dough hook attachment enables me to make the nbest pizza dough in short order.
I've had it for well over 10 years & it continues to be a workhorse.

BAKED, PUFFED AND GOLDEN, AND READY FOR MY TOPPINGS

I don’t frequently make bread or pizza dough from scratch, at least not until now.  This dough turned out so well, and made such great rolls the day before, that I decided to use the remaining dough for a thin crust pizza with some items I had hanging out in my fridge.  The result was this fantastic, crispy crusted pizza topped with warm, melting goat cheese, a zippy and brightly dressed field greens salad and luxurious smoked salmon.  Interested?  This was a full meal on a perfectly crispy crust and the best part is that the crust bakes in about 15 minutes in your oven.


As soon as the golden crust is out of the oven, you crumble the goat cheese over.  It will quickly start to melt from the heat of the crust, allowing you to slather it over the crust more evenly.  Top with the beautifully dressed field greens then artfully arrange your salmon pieces.  Heaven.  Makes for an elegant brunch (think easter or Mother’s Day).


You can also use store bought pizza dough or crust of your choice, but making this dough from scratch makes the pizza extra special and is honestly not difficult to do.  I used the dough hook on my stand mixer to make this dough foolproof and much to my delight this perfect dough didn’t fail me.

Flatbread Crust (MY EVERYDAY DOUGH)

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 c Luke warm water
1 teaspoon rapid rise yeast
3 Tablespoon Olive oil + additional for drizzling over crust.
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon sea salt


Place flour in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Place yeast in the warm water and let it dissolve a couple of minutes.


Start the mixer and add the olive oil, then the yeast filled water and honey.  Lastly add the salt.  The dough should come together in just a minute or so and as soon as you see it all form a singular ball and leave the side of the bowl, stop the mixer and remove the dough to your counter,.  At this point the dough shouldn’t stick and you can kneed it about 10 times on the counter.  Place in an oiled bowl, making sure the entire dough ball is covered with oil as well.  Cover and let rise 1 hour.  At this point you can punch it down and use it immediately or place it in a large zip lock bag in the fridge for future use.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.


Roll our dough on a lightly floured surface very thinly to make the best, crispy crust.  I actually roll mine on parchment paper which makes it easy to transfer to a baking sheet.  Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Spread oil evenly over crust.  Bake for 15 minutes, until crust is golden.


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Topping
4 ounces goat cheese (at room temperature)
4 ounces smoked salmon (pastrami style from Trader Joe’s works wonderfully here)
2-3 large handfuls of field greens or arugula
Drizzle of lemon olive oil (or plain olive oil)
Drizzle White balsamic vinegar (or champagne or white wine vinegar)
Salt and pepper to taste
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Immediately crumble over goat cheese.  Goat cheese will start to slightly melt, which makes it easy to spread a bit over the crust.  Toss greens gently with lemon oil and vinegar and place on top of your crust.  Artfully place bits of the salmon over the greens and finish with a bit of salt & pepper to taste.  Slice and serve.  This is such an elegant looking pizza.  Perfect for special occasions as an appetizer or entree.

My Kitchenaid stand mixer is my kitchen buddy & makes quick work of whipping up homemade pizza dough thanks to the dough hook.

Don't pass up a stoneware sheet pan to get a great crisp crust on your flatbread.