Experimenting with the Electric Skillet

The Summer I lived in Milwaukee it took the gas company longer than expected to connect the stove. One of my housemate's parents were due for dinner, and we had no stove. I cooked tomato sauce from scratch in an electric skillet, and my other housemate cooked the pasta in a hot pot. I don't know how she did it, but she did.

For years I've had a brand new electric skillet that got passed on to me when Mom and Bill consolidated households. Now that the kitchen is unpacked and semi-organized, and I have plenty of counter space, I figured I should see what I could cook with it. A little digging around on the Internet resulted in many recipes, and I even read that some people bake with their electric skillets. That led me to thinking about flat breads, which are often cooked in skillets. Okay, I said to myself, it's worth a try.

I selected a recipe for Piadini, an Italian version. One-and-a-half cups of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 half cup of water, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. It called for unbleached all-purpose flour, but I used whole wheat instead. It was an experiment after all. I don't have a food processor or a rolling pin, so I mixed by hand and pressed them out by hand. They were probably a little thick, but it seemed to work out when I cooked them on the skillet. A little margarine and I had a nice bread for my meal this evening. I have a couple of pieces to try tomorrow to see what it's like the day after.

I already have some ideas for variations.