One of my favourite boulangeries/bakeries in Calgary is COBS Bread. They sell fresh bread daily, and the quality is always impeccable. But, the biggest reason why I always buy bread from them is that they don’t add any other chemicals or preservatives to their bread—and as a health-conscious eater, this is important to me.
Discover Turkish
On May 18th, COBS started their “Discover Turkish” campaign to promote their new Turkish bread. They reached out to me so they could provide some of their Turkish bread, and I would share on this blog how I would use it. I’ve had Turkish bread before in Germany and I loved it, so I was very excited for this collaboration.
The COBS Turkish bread looks like a focaccia flatbread speckled with some herbs, but it is more spongy to the touch than a focaccia. The friendly staff of COBS Bread Country Hills gave provided me with a full Turkish bread and a demi (half) Turkish bread.
I will say that this Turkish bread was EXTREMELY delicious! They are brushed with olive oil on top, and sprinkled with some herbs & salt to finish the bread.
The texture is amazing—sort of a mix between the chewiness of a baguette and the softness of focaccia & pita. But unlike baguettes, this Turkish bread maintains its chewiness until the next couple days. I will definitely be back to buy this again!
Mediterranean flatbread
When I heard of Turkish bread, I immediately thought of making a Mediterranean-/Middle Eastern-inspired flatbread. Turkey is traditionally the bridge between Europe and the Middle East. As such, its cuisine has heavy influences from both its Middle Eastern neighbours and Mediterranean counterparts.
Olive oil, in particular, is a staple for Turkish cuisine. Ironically, I didn’t have olive oil in my house, but I had avocado oil, which also has a nutty flavour like extra virgin olive oil.
For this flatbread, I made homemade hummus as a spread on top. Even just hummus with the Turkish bread is an amazing appetizer! You can use store-bought hummus instead, but I think homemade hummus is simply better.
This Mediterranean flatbread recipe is vegan, vegetarian, inexpensive, simple, very easy to make and extremely flavourful!
While I used zucchini in mine, feel free to use any veggies you have in the house. Or omit the veggies entirely and go with meat (I don’t condone it though :P). It’s a great dinner or lunch, and perfect for entertaining guests!
Mediterranean Flatbread with COBS Turkish Bread
Ingredients
Hummus
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and washed
- 1/4 cup avocado oil (or extra virgin olive oil)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (juice from 1/2 lemon, to taste)
- 3 tbsp tahini (aka sesame paste)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
- 1 tsp black pepper (or to taste)
- water (optional)
Mediterranean flatbread
- 1 medium zucchini, sliced
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half (or use 1 large tomato, chopped)
- 3 tbsp oil (avocado or extra virgin olive oil)
- 1 bulb garlic, sliced in half horizontally
- 1 tbsp oil (avocado or extra virgin olive oil)
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 1 tbsp oil (avocado or extra virgin olive oil)
- 1 tbsp sugar (brown sugar, white sugar, agave syrup, honey)
- 7-8 pieces pitted olives, chopped (optional but recommended)
- 1 COBS Turkish bread
- 1 half avocado (as garnish, optional)
- salt (to taste)
- black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
Hummus
- In a food processor or blender, add the drained chickpeas, avocado oil (or extra virgin olive oil), lemon juice, tahini, garlic cloves, salt and pepper.
- Blend together until smooth, and taste for salt and pepper. If you're using a blender, you may need to use a tablespoon of water at a time to help it blend better. I added ~3 tbsp of water to mine to make it smooth.
Roasting the veggies
- Preheat oven to 400°C (or set to roast at 400°C).
- In a bowl, add the zucchini and tomatoes. Toss the veggies with 3 tbsp of oil, salt and pepper.
- On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or non-stick mat, spread the veggies evenly and don't stack on top of each other.
- Make an aluminium foil packet, place the bulb of garlic in it, and close. Place the foil packet on to the baking sheet.
- Roast the veggies for 20 minutes, until slightly charred. Caramelize the onions (below) while roasting the veggies.
- The garlic should be soft when it comes out, but it may need more time to roast. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- In a small bowl, carefully press out the garlic from the peel and mash with a bit of oil to make a paste. Set the garlic paste aside.
Caramelizing the onions
- In a large pan under medium heat, add 1 tbsp of oil and the sliced onions.
- When the pan starts to sizzle and the onion start to wilt, turn down to medium-low heat and add 1 tbsp of sugar to help it caramelize. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Allow to caramelize under medium-low heat until caramelized to your liking.
Assembling the Mediterranean flatbread
- You now have all your ingredients together.
- Slice the Turkish bread, if desired. I kept mine unsliced because I like the chewiness of the bread inside.
- Spread the hummus.
- Add on the caramelized onions.
- Add the roasted zucchini.
- Add the roasted tomatoes.
- Dollop on the roasted garlic paste and chopped olives.
- If you want the bread to be a bit crunchy, bake the flatbread for 10 minutes in 350°C.
- Garnish with however you like. I added some parsley and an avocado rose on mine. Enjoy! 🙂
Notes
Substitutions:
- For the hummus, I used avocado oil because that's all I had in the house. However, the typical hummus recipe uses extra virgin olive oil.
- While I used zucchini for this flatbread, feel free to use whatever veggies you may have, including sliced mushrooms, bell peppers, sliced eggplants, potatoes, etc.
Enjoy this very delicious Mediterranean flatbread! And be sure to check out the very tasty Turkish bread at your nearest COBS Bread branch!
