Flat breads with chilli and fennel sausage, burrata and herbs

Flat breads with chilli and fennel sausage, burrata and herbs

Autumn

Here is everything I want to eat, in one place, day or night. You can cook the flatbreads in a heavy pan, but if I’m outside, I always prefer to lay them straight on the grill to bubble and blister. They’re smokier if you do them like this. It’s easy to make a veggie variation on this, using courgettes instead of sausage. Slice them thinly and fry them in the same way, with the fennel seeds, chilli and garlic.

Makes 2

Ingredients

  • 250g (9oz) strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt, plus extra for sprinkling
  • ½ teaspoon quick yeast
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for trickling

For the topping

  • 6 pork sausages (about 500g / 1lb 2oz)
  • 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1–2 teaspoons fennel seeds, crushed
  • 1–2 teaspoons chilli flakes, plus extra for sprinkling
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 burrata
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • a handful fennel tops or young basil leaves, chopped, to serve

Method

To make the flatbreads, place the flour, salt and yeast in a bowl and add 150ml (5 fl oz) of water and the extra-virgin olive oil. Mix everything thoroughly until it forms a dough. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for about 10 minutes, until soft and smooth. Shape the dough into a rough round and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a clean cloth and leave the dough to rise in a warm place. You can make the dough the day before and keep it in the fridge.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface, then cut it into 2 equal pieces. Form each piece into a neat round and leave them to rest for about 20 minutes. When you’re ready to cook, shape each piece of dough into a thin round – by hand or with a rolling pin, if you like. Don’t worry if they’re not perfectly round – that doesn’t matter.

To make the topping, split the sausage skins and crumble the meat into a bowl. Add the garlic, fennel seeds, chilli flakes and a little extra salt and black pepper. Mix thoroughly. Place a large, heavy pan over a hot fire and add the extra-virgin olive oil. Crumble in the spiced sausage meat and fry it for 5–10 minutes. Let it crisp up and caramelize in places, scraping up all the sticky bits as you go. Keep the spiced sausage warm.

Set a grill over the hot embers, then lay the shaped flatbreads down on the grill. They should cook quickly. You’ll know they’re ready to turn when they begin to bubble on the surface and smoke lightly. Flip them and cook the other side – they shouldn’t take more than a minute. Place the flatbreads on a board and trickle them with extra-virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Tear over the burrata, letting it fall naturally. Scrape the hot, crumbly sausage over the cheese along with all the spicy, fennel-scented fat from the pan. Finish with a few extra chilli flakes, if you like, a scattering of chopped fennel tops or basil leaves, and a final healthy trickle of extra-virgin olive oil.

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