In Block Island during the summer, there's plenty of sun and surf and long walks on the beach but aside from a decent bagel bakery not much in the way of fresh bread. So I usually take a small bit of sourdough starter and instant yeast on vacation to satisfy my bread-making itch. Then I make a big bin of dough and slice off pieces I can use during the next couple of days.

Although I usually weigh my ingredients, I leave my scale at home, because it's one more thing to lug along on vacation. I figure I'll just wing it once I arrive. I did this time, measuring out around 4 cups of flour (3 cups white and 1 cup whole wheat), a 1/2 cup or so of refreshed sourdough starter, 1/2 teaspoon yeast and then enough water to make a dough that looked familiar in consistency. I'd love to tell you how much water I used but I didn't measure it, just working by feel. (But you can try this grilled bread technique with any decent dough recipe you have, even bypassing sourdough. If I make the dough again, I'll measure it and update this post).  

The tricky part though was salt, since I didn't even have measuring spoons on hand. So I added what looked around 2 teaspoons. As I periodically folded the dough, I tasted it and adjusted the salt by adding a bit more. When I made the bread later that day, they seemed light on seasoning, but when I baked another batch from the same dough a day later, after 24 hours fermentation in the refrigerator, they were fine. The increasing acidity in the dough balanced the slightly lower level of salt. No one who ate the bread even mentioned the salt level.

I made sure to slice off a piece of the dough from the final batch and added it with more sourdough to another batch of dough a day later. It rose for a day (again in the fridge) and I made breakfast rolls and then flat bread for dinner (pictured above).

Flat bread is especially fun to make because it takes about 15 minutes. I remove the dough, make baseball size balls, flatten them out on a well-floured counter and let them rest for about 5 minutes. Then I begin to stretch them out, letting them rest again as soon as the gluten tightens, adding flour as I go. I find the oblong shape easier to work with because you can continue to stretch out the dough easily.

To grill these loaves, just make sure the pre-heated grill surface is clean, at a medium heat. Stretch the loaves out once more and then place them directly on the grill. Cover the grill if you can. If not, don't worry about it. Wait a few minutes (careful to watch them so they don't burn), then with tongs, flip them over. They should bake in 5-8 minutes total. 

These loaves turned out like pita, with an airy pocket inside.  We just ripped off pieces and ate them with fish, sopping up the sauce on the plate.