Make "Thyme" For The Virtual Supper Club with Crisp Flat Breads with Honey, Thyme and Sea Salt

Crisp Flat Breads with Honey, Thyme and Sea Salt

Welcome back to this months Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club where we continue our celebration of delicious food on the "lighter" side. We always appreciate you joining us for this event where we get together on the first Wednesday of every month to create a delicious meal from appetizers to dessert with a theme in mind. Ultimately our love of food, blogging and our commitment to a health conscious lifestyle is what has brought us all together.

Coming up on its 6th year this is a team effort where we continue to share a love for healthy eating and living. The faces may have changed since our groups birth in 2009 but we have always had a love for Cooking Light magazine with its emphasis on healthy eating and living. We look forward each month to strengthening our bonds, and enjoying each others company virtually. The party goes on for days!! This months theme was "Thyme for Turkey" chosen by our very own Sandi of Whistlestop Cafe Cooking . Let's see what we brought to the table cooking with thyme!! 

To nibble before dinner  I offered  Crisp Flat Breads with Honey, Thyme and Sea Salt from Smitten Kitchen. These flaky crackers are so simple to make it seems like barely a recipe. Make sure to roll them as thinly as possible. As recommended serve them straight from the oven drizzled with honey. The combination will have you heading back into the kitchen. Serve them with a cheese platter with a glass of wine to start your meal off right. As Deb says, "The flaky crackers play off the nutty cheese which combined with the slick of honey and faint crunch of sea salt with bits of thyme throughout create something greater than the sum of its parts." And they take no time to make. When researching a recipe I originally thought this to be a Cooking Light recipe, which it is not, but it was so good I still had to share it with everyone.

Jerry of A Life Lived rounds it all out with  Pear Chutney Bruschetta with Pecans and Blue Cheese. 

Susan of The Spice Garden tantalizes us with a Golden Winter Soup with Turkey Croquettes.

Sandi of Whistlestop Cafe Cooking brings us the piece de resistance with a main dish of  Salt-and-Pepper Roast Turkey (Tacchino Arrosto con Sale e Pepe)

Sarah of All Our Fingers in the Pie  pairs a seasonal side dish of  Roasted Chanterelle Mushrooms with Thyme perfectly.

Shelby of The Lives and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch  tempts us with a dessert of Texas Sheetcake Cupcakes. 

I have taken a few classes lately, what I will call the beginning of my photography journey. I have a tripod and really must look into finding something I can easily take travelling. Of course I never set up my tripod for food photography. I do know that with my camera on a tripod and a remote for my shutter button the photo above would have been clearer, but I would also not have been able to eat these delicious crackers straight out of the oven and drizzled with honey as was recommended. I was however very pleased with the colour and overall appearance of the photo taken on the patio at 6 AM. We have to prioritize!!! 

**Crisp Flat Breads with Honey, Thyme and Sea Salt**

Flat bread base adapted from Gourmet; recipe inspired by Smitten Kitchen

1 3/4 cups (7 3/4 ounces or 220 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup (118 ml) water
1/3 cup (79 ml) olive oil
2/3 to 3/4 cup (about 3 ounces or 85 grams) grated Mahon cheese (I used aged Havarti)
1/3 to 1/2 cup (79 to 118 ml) honey
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
Flaky sea salt such as Maldon

Preheat oven to 450°F with a heavy baking sheet or pizza stone on a middle rack.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in the centre. To this add  the water and oil. With a fork, and working from the outside in,  gradually stir the liquid into the flour mixture until a dough forms. In the bowl knead the dough gently 4 or 5 times. It will feel quite oily (but just think of how great your hands will look later!).

Divide dough into 4 pieces and roll out 1 piece at on a sheet of parchment paper into a longish irregular rustic shape; mine were about 12″x6″. The dough should be rolled thinly and it will seem quite oily but persevere. They do not bake up oily. 

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, remove baking sheet from the oven and quickly sprinkle with 1/4 of grated cheese. Bake an additional 3 to 4 minutes, until browned around the  edges and in thinner spots. Remove flat breads from oven and quickly drizzle each with 1 tablespoon of honey, sprinkle with sea salt and garnish with thyme leaves. Cut each cracker width-wise into 4 sections (about 3″x6″ each) with a sharp knife. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough. Serve warm.

Do ahead: Should you want to prepare these ahead of time for a party, I’d 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.

Makes about 16 flat breads

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