Honey & Thyme Flatbread

My new favorite appetizer.  Or side dish.  Or snack. I found it when I needed a side dish to go with our dinner of steak with chimichurri sauce and watermelon feta salad.  I figured this flatbread would be good - what's not to like about honey and bread?  But I didn't realize just how good it would be.

I served them almost straight from the oven for dinner, but we kept snacking on them after dinner and they were still good for lunch the next day.  In fact, the entire batch may have disappeared within 24 hours.  As a warning, they were a little sticky since the honey runs a bit when drizzled on top of hot bread but they were worth it, stickiness and all.

This recipe was also incredibly simple to put together. The bread doesn't have to rise so you just throw the first half of the ingredients together, roll it out and put it in the oven.  Halfway through baking, sprinkle the flatbreads with cheese and then top with honey, thyme and salt when they're out of the oven.  It only took about 7 minutes to cook, but my pizza stone only fit 2 flatbreads at a time so I just had to do 2 rounds.

Now all I need is another excuse to make an appetizer! Or a side dish...or a snack...

Honey & Thyme Flatbread
Taken from: Smitten Kitchen
Makes 16 flatbreads (you could cut them smaller if you'd like)

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2/3 to 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• Kosher or sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 450°F with a heavy baking sheet or pizza stone on a middle rack.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in center, then add water and oil and gradually stir into flour with a wooden spoon until a dough forms. Knead dough gently on a work surface 4 or 5 times. It will feel quite oily.
3. Divide dough into 4 pieces and roll out 1 piece at on a sheet of parchment paper into a longish irregular shape (about 12″x6″). The dough should be rolled thin and it'll feel oily.
4. Slide rolled out dough and parchment paper together onto the preheated baking sheet or stone, and bake about 5 minutes, until lightly golden. Leaving the oven on, quickly sprinkle with 1/4 of grated cheese. Bake an additional 3 to 4 minutes, until browned at edges and in thinner spots. Remove flatbreads from oven, quickly drizzle each with honey (1 used about a tablespoon per flatbread but you could use more), sprinkle with sea salt and garnish with thyme. Cut each cracker width-wise into 4 sections (about 3″x6″ each) with a sharp knife. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough. Serve warm.
5. Do ahead option: Should you want to prepare these ahead of time for a party, you could bake them including the cheese about 1 minute less than needed. Shortly before you’re ready to serve them, re-toast them in the oven and then drizzle on the honey/thyme/sea salt.