Mmmm, flatbreads.

I love most things bread.  Bagels, english muffins, tortillas, whole wheat, italian… you name it, I dig it.  The most versatile bread, in my opinion is flatbread.  Puffy pitas, naan, roti, tortillas, and fancy dancy ‘wraps’ are are great to have on hand to easy homemade meals.  Most of them freeze really well too (except maybe tortillas), so you don’t have to worry about having them go moldy on you.  The reason I like them so much is that you can make them into sandwiches, eat them plain dipped into soup or a dip, made into garlic bread, as a crust for mini pizzas, the list goes on.

Probably my favorite way to use them for dinner purposes is as a shell for some type of baked flatbread.  My own personal definition of pizza is that it must contain red sauce on the bottom.  White pizza makes no sense to me, but when you call it a “garlic and cheese flatbread” I’m all about it (but will still probably attempt to dip it in marinara).  Weird, I know, but love me anyway.    What were we talking about again?

Oh, this stuff:

Pizza topped with zucchini, red bell peppers, kalamata olives, and red onions

This guy is made on a “pizza parlor” flatbread that I pick up at Wegmans near the pita breads.  They are tasty and can stand up to the millions of toppings I like on my pizzas.  Pizzas can also be made on tortillas, but you have to be a little less generous with the toppings or it won’t get crispy.

This is NOT a pizza, but a baked flatbread.  And it’s damn tasty!  Naan style flatbread, topped with homemade cilantro-almond pesto, kalamata olives, quartered grape tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella.  This guy was tasty as heck.  I highly recommend this combo.  I used this recipe for the pesto and froze most of it in an ice cube tray and then put it in a plastic bag to store.  I actually broke out a cube today to use as a sauce for my gnocchi and it still tasted fresh and delicious.

This one was pretty similar but the base is a laughing cow cheese wedge mixed with some Gorgonzola and cilantro pesto, then topped with tomatoes, olives, and fresh basil.  This one wasn’t as good as the one above, but still pretty dern good.

Did I mention that I make these in my toaster oven so they don’t even require heating up your regular oven?

Go eat some crispy topped bread!