ONION POPPYSEED BREAD

Onion Poppyseed Bread

Makes 2, 18 x 11 inch flatbreads

Onion bread Ingredients

• 5 1/2 cups flour
• 2 packages dry yeast
• 16 oz milk, scalded and cooled until warm (not hot)
• 7 tsp sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 heaping teaspoon of malt extract–Briess Golden Light DME (1lb)is fine, available from the Brew Campstore)
• 2 Tbsp melted butter
• 1 1/2 lbs onion, peeled, quartered and each quarter finely sliced/slivered with a mandoline slicer
• 2 to 4 Tbsp poppy seeds (to your taste)
• sprinkling of sea salt or kosher salt  (I used Maldon sea salt flakes from The Spice House in Evanston)

Instructions

1. Dissolve yeast in warm milk with 2 tsp of the sugar. Whisk in the rest of the sugar, the malt, the egg, the salt and the melted butter. Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon. Turn out to a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic.
2. Place dough in an oiled bowl and let rise until doubled in bulk. About 1 hour. Punch down.
3. Divide dough into two balls. Roll each out and place in oiled 18 x 11-inch pans. Cut two large sheets of plastic wrap or waxed paper; spray each of these with a little spray vegetable oil. Place the oiled side of the wrap gently over the bread pans. Cover all with a clean cotton dish towel. Let rise in a warm place until 3/4 inch high.
4. Peel onion; cut onion into quarters. Sliver each quarter of onion across the grain with a mandoline slicer, creating very thin slices/slivers of onion.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk egg with a 1/4 cup water and a pinch of salt. Brush egg wash over the surface of both pans of bread. Cover the surface of the bread with the thinly-shaved onion. Sprinkle seasalt flakes and poppy seed over all.
6. Place bread on racks at the center of the oven. Bake 25 to 35 minutes at 400 degrees.