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Talo
Griddled corn flatbread
Talo: Basque griddled corn flatbread, served with cheese or rolled around fillings
At Bilbao's and San Sebastián's Santo Tomás fair each 21 December, queues form at stalls where cooks pat out talos and slap them onto hot iron plates. The dough is nothing more than finely ground maize flour, warm water and salt, and the flatbreads were once the everyday bread of Basque farms. This vegetarian version is folded around melting cheese; Idiazabal, the classic choice, is made with animal rennet, so pick a vegetarian sheep's cheese if you need to. A common mistake is a dough that is too dry, which cracks at the edges when you press it out. Chef's tip: keep your hands wet while shaping, and the discs will come out smooth and round.
- Total time
- 30 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
For the talos
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup warm waterabout 40 °C
To fill
- 5 ½ oz semi-cured sheep's cheesethinly sliced; vegetarian rennet if needed
- 6 fried green peppers (optional)
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Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Mix 9 oz finely ground maize meal (harina de maíz, not cornflour or polenta) and ½ tsp salt in a bowl. Pour in the 1 cup warm water gradually, mixing with your hand, until you have a soft dough that holds together like modelling clay; add a spoon more water if it crumbles. Rest for 5 minutes.
8 minStep 2: Heat a heavy frying pan or griddle over a medium-high heat with no oil.
3 minStep 3: Wet your hands, take a ball of dough the size of an egg and press it out between two sheets of baking paper to a thin disc about 15 cm across and 2–3 mm thick. Peel off the top sheet.
5 minStep 4: Flip the talo onto the hot pan, peel off the paper and cook for 1–2 minutes a side, until it puffs in places and has toasted brown spots.
3 minStep 5: Lay a few slices of 5 ½ oz semi-cured sheep's cheese on half the hot talo, fold it over and cook for 30 seconds more until the cheese starts to melt. Keep warm under a cloth while you make the rest, and serve straight away.
10 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 230 kcal
- Protein
- 9 g
- Carbs
- 30 g
- Fat
- 8 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does talo take?
- About 30 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
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