Olive Oil Matzo

I saw this Mark Bittman article in the New York Times about his attempt to recreate a Sardinian-style flatbread he had at Grandaisy Bakery (which is one of my absolute favorite places). The recipe only has 4 ingredients, one of which is water, so I thought I should give it a try.



2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup water
Sea salt, optional.

Heat oven to 500 degrees. Put flour, salt and olive oil in a food processor. Once machine is on, add 1/2 cup water. Continue to run machine until dough forms a firm ball, rides around on blade and is not at all sticky. (If you prefer, whisk together the water and oil and add this to machine all at once.)

Cut dough into 12 small balls — this is easiest if you cut the ball in half, then half again, then into thirds — and flatten each into a 3- to 4-inch patty. On a well-floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll each patty into a 6- to 8-inch circle. The shapes can be irregular, but dough should be so thin you can almost see through it.

Put dough on ungreased cookie sheets, sprinkle with sea salt if you like, and bake for about 2 to 3 minutes, keeping a very close eye on breads — they can burn very quickly. Once they begin to puff up and brown, flip and cook for another minute or so on second side. Repeat with all the dough and let cool completely.

So that's the recipe, and here's how it went for me. I whisked the olive oil and water together and then added it to the machine. It creates an almost milky yellow color:



The dough did not ride around on the blade, but rather was crumbly and stuck against the wall of the food processor. But once i got it all out it was very easy to form into a ball.




And here they are on the baking sheet, and the finished product.




I made them last Friday for pre-dinner snacks with my mom and dad. Peter's review: "They're gross and biscuity. We can be honest with each other, right? I better run out and get some crackers." My mom said that yes they are biscuit-like, but she liked them. I liked them too, but I do agree they weren't exactly matzo-like. And as the article says, Mark Bittman isn't sure if they technically qualify as matzo. I will have to try them again and roll them out even thinner...I already felt like I was rolling them very thin, I could see the pattern on my cutting board through the dough. But next time I'll go even thinner, and add a little more kosher salt than I did this time. If you want to watch Mark make them, check out this short video.

North Market

One of my favorite places to go when I'm home is the North Market. I'm jealous my mom and dad get to go all the time. It's a big warehouse-type building that's bustling with food vendors of all sorts - bakeries, seafood and butcher shops, ice cream, a wine and beer shop, sushi, Indian food, Mediterranean food...I could go on. I'll just talk about a couple of my favorite places

I mentioned Jeni's in my post yesterday. It's an artisanal ice cream company that has a few locations in Columbus, including the North Market. Their philosophy which they write about on the website is "Ohio Love You" - they use local Ohio ingredients, dairy from grass-fed cows, and focus on what's in season to make their seasonal flavors.




You can see some of the flavors on their menu board - Belgian milk chocolate, black coffee, lemon yo, blackstrap praline, wildberry lavender...mmm. Salty caramel is kind of their flagship flavor, and it's delicious. Their ice creams are very high quality and the flavors are so innovative. They also use a few of their flavors in ice cream sandwiches which are made with macaron cookies. At our wedding last September instead of wedding cake we served 2 kinds of their ice cream sandwiches - salty caramel, which are rolled in chopped almonds (pictured below), and strawberry buttermilk (a summer flavor).




I highly recommend ordering some Jeni's ice cream online if you're not in Columbus - you can order 4 or 6 pints and choose your own flavors, and they also have a couple pre-set flavor packages available. It would make a great gift for someone...or yourself. :)


Omega Bakery is another great spot in the market, they make artisanal breads and other goodies. Sometimes they have pretzel bread or rolls which are amazing. They also have some sweet things in a refrigerated case, but this bakery is mostly about the bread.




And lastly, there's Taste of Belgium. They have these little Belgian waffles that are really more dessert than breakfast, you can buy a bag of four of them and they recommend toasting them. They have a light sugary sticky coating on them. I bet they would be really good with a scoop of Jeni's ice cream on top... And recently they started making crepes too. If i hadn't just eaten an ice cream sandwich I would have tried one. Next time.

The French Market

I ventured out to a new market today, not super convenient to my apartment, but not that far away - the Chicago French Market, within the MetraMarket in the West Loop. It's an indoor farmers market of sorts, or if you're from Columbus it's like a mini North Market. I am having my friend Jacquilyn over for dinner tonight so I went to pick up some ingredients, and just to explore. There are a few produce booths, several bakeries/patisseries, meat and seafood, cheese, sandwiches, flowers, gelato, coffee...lots of good stuff.

Produce from CityFresh Market


Purple, green, and orange cauliflower! I bought a purple one, can't wait to try it.


Cheese from Pastoral


Amazing bread from Necessity Baking


Treats from Delightful Pastries