![Grilled Zucchini](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/08/08/dining/aw-grilled-zucchini/merlin_210788841_2268a008-bd57-4188-99f0-7c7f531a4b23-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Grilled Zucchini
Alexa Weibel
359 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
359
15 minutes, plus grill heating
Advertisement
In a small bowl, whisk together 2 cups warm water and the honey. Sprinkle yeast over warm water. Stir to dissolve. Gradually stir in whole-wheat flour. Stir about 1 minute. Let mixture rest, uncovered, 15 minutes.
Sprinkle salt over mixture. Stir in yogurt and 1 tablespoon oil. Stir in 2 cups all-purpose flour, then add more a little at a time, until dough is too stiff to comfortably stir. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle in additional flour as needed to yield a smooth and only very slightly sticky dough.
Let dough rise at room temperature in a lightly oiled bowl, loosely covered with a dish towel, until doubled in bulk, about 2 to 3 hours. Alternatively, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
In a blender or food processor, purée basil leaves, ½ cup oil, a large pinch of salt and the garlic. Scrape mixture into a bowl.
Divide dough into 8 equal portions. If you let your dough rise at room temperature, chill dough balls for at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours. (If you refrigerated the dough overnight, you can skip this second chilling if the dough still feels cool.)
On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 dough ball to a 6-inch circle (keep remaining balls on a baking sheet loosely covered with a dish towel). Brush top of circle with basil oil and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon oregano and 2 tablespoons feta. Fold edges of dough over the center of the filling and press together to seal, so filling is no longer visible. Use hands or a rolling pin to reroll dough to a 6-inch circle. Repeat with remaining dough balls.
Brush both sides of dough rounds with olive oil and grill for 5 to 6 minutes, flipping halfway through, or until each side has grill marks. The bread is ready to be flipped when it begins to puff and bubble. Sprinkle with salt while hot and serve with remaining basil oil for dipping. Note: Measurements for dry ingredients are given by metric weight for greater accuracy. The equivalent measurements by volume are approximate.
I cook these on my gas grill. In the winter, the grill is set to high on all burners to heat. Then I turn all the burners to low and cook 3-4 dough rounds at a time. For summer time grilling, I heat up the grill the same way but turn one burner completely off and leave the others on low. The dough rounds are placed over the burner that's turned off. Both methods ensure the bread is cooked through and has a wonderful char from the grill.
Cooked this last year for a Labor Day picnic and was requested by most attendees to cook it again this year. I added sliced black olives to a couple of pieces, green olives to others and anchovies to others. Fantastic !!
All in all a yummy recipe. I don't have access to a regular grill, but my cast iron stove top grill gave a nice char. As others have said, it's tricky to get them cooked through. I found it helpful to roll thin (16 pieces, 4 inch rounds) and to to put them into a 300 oven for a few minutes to finish cooking when they come off the grill. I was not careful with stuffing measurements, and ended up with more dough than cheese. I used it to make a large unstuffed bread topped with zaatar.
Made this with half a cup of sourdough starter in place of the instant yeast and gave it an extra hour to rise. Came out wonderfully and had a great amount of rise on he grill.
This lovely recipe inspired me to approximation. Lacking time (mothering an 11 month old), I purchased pizza dough & pesto, thinning the pesto with olive oil; splurged on good sheep feta. When the baby's older, I'll make a real run at this. Tonight's version was tasty, if not as beautifully puffy as the photos.
Really tasty, and always a hit! They are pretty filling, so I'd recommend halving the recipe if you're feeding fewer than 8. I've had good luck on both our gas grill and stovetop grill. As others have said, it can be tricky to get them cooked through without burning on the outside -- my solution has been to be careful about letting the grill get too hot, and to really try to roll them out thin.
Made these the other night and they were fantastic. Followed the volume measurements and everything turned out just fine, despite the warning to use metric weight for improved accuracy. I found the filling to be a bit on the garlicky side; I'll use less next time.
I discovered this recipe as my caraway/rye bread dough was rising and couldn't resist. Using my caraway rye dough, I followed the process and added ground black pepper to the olive oil for brushing and filled the flats with Jarlsberg cheese- then grilled. Yup-pretty good! My crowd loved them.
Made these tonight - the entire family loved them! Super easy to make and mine cooked through just fine on a gas grill at medium heat. I made 4 with feta, basil oil and oregano; 3 with basil oil and mozzarella for the kids; and one with artichoke tapenade, capers, sundried tomatoes and feta. The gooey mozzarella ones were a big hit so I’ll add some mozzarella to the feta mix next time. The best by far was the more assertive tapenade so I’ll add more robust flavors next time.
This was well received by the family for dinner. I rolled the dough very thin, so they weren’t as pretty, but they cooked through and tasted great. I did both roa’s and the basil oil for toppings. Added olives. I froze some leftover dough… Will let you know how it comes out when I try it in a couple weeks.
Could one use an alternative flour in this recipe? If so, what would be the correct measurements?
Can use pizza dough, pesto and feta
This is now a staple! The dough is so easy to work with, after a night in the fridge I didn’t need any flour or even a rolling pin. We shaped it by hand inside a cut ziploc bag, which made it so easy to transfer to the grill. The soft dough sunk into the grates a bit, so I needed tongs to assist the spatula in flipping them. Maybe that’s another reason for cold dough. Great taste, soft but chewy texture, and weeknight fast. Will this dough freeze well? Any tips?
This is a great dough, especially for beginner bread bakers who are nervous about kneading. Easy to cut in half as well. The one thing missing from the recipe is the approximate heat for the grill! It seems like high and fast is the way to go but will keep experimenting.
These are a revelation! Thank you Melissa!!! I made the dough with my stand mixer, added rosemary and thyme to herb oil just because. Will try with anchovies next time.
Did anyone else have to use WAY more flour than the three cups called for? My dough was so sticky no amount of kneading was going to help.
Is that with the 3 cups whole wheat flour plus the 2 - 3 cups all purpose flour listed half-way down the recipe? I'm wondering if that part of the recipe was missed, it would be so easy to overlook the way the recipe was written
Much better with sauce, mozzarella, etc.
I was a little skeptical trying these but they turned out wonderful. We love to grill all summer, but want to eat more vegetarian meals, so gave it a go. I stuffed ours with much more filling than in the video and made a “pizza” one for my son. Our charcoal grill was at about 500 when I stuck them on - 3 minutes on side 1 and 2 minutes on side 2. I did roll them quite thin so they would be done in the middle. Made 8 HUGE pitas.
Have used this as a basis for all different flatbreads, using different cheeses, herbs, bacon, roasted vegetables, etc as I have available and / or feel like eating — so good and super versatile. Most delicious was probably with ricotta cheese and roasted eggplant which was amazing....sort of calzone-like, but somehow not. Also fantastic was filled with roasted butternut squash, bacon and feta.
Check out youtube videos of Armenians making jingalov hats for a good technique to fold the dough over the fillings.
Soooo tasty and not as hard as I thought it would be. Tried with mozzarella too as many folks suggested but it was a little too cheesy for us. Preferred the feta filling. Also sautéed some zucchini and added that as a filling. Tasted just as good the next day after popping in oven for 5-7 minutes.
Could the flatbreads be cooked in the oven?
Made these tonight - the entire family loved them! Super easy to make and mine cooked through just fine on a gas grill at medium heat. I made 4 with feta, basil oil and oregano; 3 with basil oil and mozzarella for the kids; and one with artichoke tapenade, capers, sundried tomatoes and feta. The gooey mozzarella ones were a big hit so I’ll add some mozzarella to the feta mix next time. The best by far was the more assertive tapenade so I’ll add more robust flavors next time.
I don't know what I did wrong but I wasn't super thrilled about this, probably because I have to use dairy free feta (can't help it, I'm intolerant) so the texture was a bit weird. Also the dough didn't get cooked all the way through so it was very thick and mushy inside. Next time I might stuff with something that doesn't require a soy base, they were fun to make regardless!
Advertisement