This recipe cannot be found in any cookbook. In fact, I coined the name of this bread myself. It’s the bread I enjoyed eating bologna sandwiches during my first school days in New Jersey.
I first came across this strange bread during school lunch. Across from my school, in the middle of Newark, New Jersey was my favorite deli. There was always a line of students waiting for their freshly baked bread with their favorite meat and cheese.
Then during my high school years, I came across this bread again. My palate was beginning to develop and had gone from mortadella sandwiches to Italian hot dogs. This is a fantastic hot dog sandwich stuffed on a flying saucer bread cut half topped with mustard, bell peppers, onions, and French fries.
Later, I found out that this bread has been made for centuries in the Middle East. There are many different versions similar to pita bread or Armenian bread. My version is unique and was derived from my pizza dough recipe. Here is my recipe and I hope you enjoy it!
Poolish:
A poolish is a bakery term used to make Italian and French breads. Enhances the flavor of the bread.
1 cup of flour
1 – cup of water or buttermilk
1 – pinch of yeast
Mix together the flour water and yeast until it looks like pancake batter. Store the poolish in a plastic container and let it sit overnight in a warm place. The next day, the mixture should be bubbly and ready to make the dough. Try the poolish with water and buttermilk and see which one you like best.
Ingredients of the dough:
3 cups of flour
1 cup of lukewarm water
1 teaspoon salt
1 – teaspoon yeast
1 – tablespoon olive oil (optional)
Add the poolish to the previous ingredients and knead the dough until smooth. Add a little more flour if necessary. Then place your dough in a covered container and let it rest at room temperature for 1 hour. After that, let your dough rise slowly in the refrigerator overnight.
First upload:
The next day take your dough out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature, this takes about 2 hours. When you have almost doubled in size, you are ready to form rounds.
Second ascent:
Use a large, flat skillet for cooking and drizzle with olive oil. Using the dough, form 4 round buns in the shape of a flying saucer and place them on the baking sheet. Each saucer should be about 6 to 7 inches in diameter. Cover them with light plastic wrap that has been sprayed with olive oil. Let them grow back for about an hour or more. They should swell a bit.
Baking:
Set the oven temperature to about 400 degrees and cook for about 15-18 minutes. They should be light brown when done. Let them cool before cutting.
When cool, cut it in half and open the center so you can fill your steak sandwich or hot dog. This recipe makes 8 half rounds of flying saucer bread. Enjoy!
