Crispy Herb Flat-bread with White Bean and Garlic Dip

As December 1^st hit, we saw fair weather moustaches suddenly disappear from under the noses of countless Australian males (not to mention a collective sigh of relief from countless Australian women) and it was all for a very good cause. However, all this trimming, shaving and smooth upper-lips made me take a good look at the state of my potted herb garden.

Overgrown, tangled and threatening to go to seed, my herbs were in a sorry state of affairs. I like to think that I regularly dip in and out of my herb garden of an evening to sprinkle some fresh oregano into a tomato sauce, or add a few sprigs of rosemary to my lamb as much as the next home cook…but in reality this has not always been the case. 

During the working week in winter when it was dark and cold when I got in from work I would more often than not forget about my little garden sitting outside waiting for a haircut and instead flavour my meals via purchases from the grocery shop that I walk past on my way home. Even as I write this now I feel the prickly heat creeping up my neck to my ears that I get when I am feeling incredibly guilty about something.

I wish I had taken a photo of it before I cut it all away but I was so horrified that I had let them get into that state that the camera was forgotten. Let’s just say that if my herbs were a person, this is who they would look like .

To make matters slightly worse (but it gets better soon, I promise) during my moment of channelling this guy, I just tossed all the herbs together into the one basket: never to untangle again thanks to my intertwining lemon and regular thyme. Within the herby mass were purple sage, the aforementioned thyme brothers, oregano, mint, and some rosemary.

This event happened to coincide with a work afternoon tea that The Moustachioed Bearded Gamer was having at his work to celebrate the end of Movember and so I began to think; I had wanted to make some white bean dip for the holiday/party season for a little while now and adding some of my herbs to it would certainly be an idea.. but that still left a whole mound to contend with after that was done. So I began to research crispy flat–bread online with the hope of squirrelling some of my herbal goodness into there as well.

I found a very good recipe on Food.com that uses beer as a rising agent, which is something that we always have in the fridge.

What I loved about this recipe (apart from its simplicity) was the fact that it is so easily adaptable. I used thyme, sage, rosemary and oregano for this recipe, but next time I might have a go at using a stout beer (maybe with spelt or wholemeal flour) or sweeten it a little with some maple syrup.  Use whatever herb you fancy here (or don’t); that is what is so good about this. All you need to do is make sure you have a very hot oven with a very hot pan and have your ratio of dry to wet ingredients accurate.

I was worried that having herbs in both the dip and the crackers might be a little bit of overkill, but after we (TBG and I) tasted it, it was lovely - especially with the faint beer taste in the background and the garlic in the dip. The crew at TBG’s work seemed to like it too as there were no leftovers and I was pleased to have not let anything from my herb garden go to waste. Since the great herb garden haircut of 2011, I have been diligent in making sure that I try to add something from my garden to my dinner each night - I didn’t know what I was thinking before!

Crispy Herb Flat-bread with White Bean and Garlic Dip

Herb bread adapted from this recipe at www.food.com

For the crispy herb bread:

2 Cups of plain flour

Approx 2 tbs of finely chopped herbs - I used fresh thyme, sage, rosemary and oregano but dried herbs will work just as well here

2 Garlic clove

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup of beer

Olive oil to brush

Good quality sea salt to sprinkle on top

1. Pre-heat the oven with the baking sheet at 250C
2. Sift the flour and salt, then add the beer, garlic and herbs
3. With your hands, mix until you have a firm ball of dough
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and kneed for about 5 minutes
5. Roll the dough out as thinly as you can -the thinner the dough, the crispier the3 flat-bread
6. Carefully remove the baking sheet from the oven and place some baking paper on top
7. Again carefully place the flattened dough on the baking sheet- I fitted 2 rounds to the sheet
8. Brush with a little olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt flakes.
9. Bake for around 10 minutes but keep a close eye on it, you will see bubbles form.
10. When it is golden brown on top, remove from the oven and cool the flat-bread on a rack.
11. Repeat until all the dough is used.
12. Once cooled, crack the rounds into smaller shards, perfect for dipping.

For the dip:

2 cans of cannellini beans, rinsed under cold water and drained

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp finely chopped parsley

1 tsp finely chopped thyme

extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. Add the beans, minced garlic, parsley and thyme along with a drizzle of olive oil to a food processor, or use a stick blender and blend
2. Season with salt and pepper
3. check the consistency of the dip, carefully drizzle olive oil and blend until you have the consistency you like.

Transfer the dip into a bowl and arrange the flat bread around it. Serve and enjoy!