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Piquitos De Enrique Dacosta—Enrique's Bread Bites

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Piquitos De Enrique Dacosta—Enrique's Bread BitesCookbook cover image courtesy of Random House

These small flatbreads serve the same purpose as bread sticks. They are crisp and flaky, and because of the olive oil (use your finest) and salty edge can easily be addictive. Based on centuries-old tortas de aceite, they are the specialty of young chef Enrique Dacosta, whose restaurant Poblet in Denia, Alicante, is the best regarded in the region. They are great with tapas. Instead of making bread dough for this recipe, I simplify by buying pizza dough from my local pizzeria, and the results are excellent.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    makes about 15 bites

Ingredients

1/4 pound pizza dough, at room temperature
Kosher or sea salt
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil plus more for brushing
About 8 tablespoons flour

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place the dough in a bowl and knead in 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil and 2 tablespoons of the flour and work with your hands to fully incorporate. Repeat three more times for the remaining oil and flour, adding 1 tablespoon oil and 2 tablespoons flour at a time. Turn out on a floured work surface and knead lightly until smooth, adding more flour if the dough is too sticky.

    Step 2

    Preheat the oven to 375°F. Roll the dough on a floured surface to ⅛ inch thick and cut with a cookie cutter into crescents or other shapes. Place on a greased cookie sheet, brush with olive oil, and sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake for 15 to 16 minutes, until lightly golden. Turn off the oven and leave in the oven for another 10 minutes to fully crisp.

La Cocina de Mamá by Penelope Casas © 2005 by Penelope Casas. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved. PENELOPE CASAS is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Fine Cooking, and Condé Nast Traveler. Casas is also a consultant and lecturer on Spain, a guest speaker at the Smithsonian and the National Geographic Society, and an adjunct professor at New York University. In recognition of her efforts on behalf of Spain, the Spanish government awarded her the National Prize of Gastronomy, the Medal of Touristic Merit, and named her Dame of the Order of Civil Merit. She and her husband have led gastronomic tours of Spain for more than twenty years. They live in New York City.
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