5/26/10
Whole Wheat Bread Dough...or Pizza Crust!
I recently tried out this recipe I found on Kitchen Stewardship for artisan bread. It fits all my criteria I am working to meet for recipes I am trying out - uses mostly whole wheat flour, not too much sweetener, and can be used in a variety of different ways.
Here is the original recipe:
1 1/2 c hot water
1 1/2 c cold milk
1 1/2 T yeast (about two packets)
1T + 1 tsp salt
1/2 c honey
5T neutral flavored oil
6 2/3 c whole wheat flour
1) Mix the water, milk, yeast and salt until they are combined and not lumpy.
2) Add in the remaining ingredients until they are uniform, being careful not to overwork it.
3) Cover and let rise for 2-3 hours.
5) Let it rest and rise 1 1/2 hours,
6) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place metal pan in the bottom of the oven with 1-2 cups of water to allow moisture for the bread. Bake bread for 40-50 minutes.
So that's what the original recipe said, but of course you know I took that and went my own direction. I used less than 1/2 c of honey - not because I am opposed to honey, but I ran out midway so I ended up using a little more than 1/4c. I also used a mixture of whole wheat and white flour for a slightly lighter texture and density. Lastly, I have not actually made bread with this recipe, but rather pizza crust (and boooy it is delicious!) My dough didn't exactly rise the way I expected it to, so rather than making flat bread, I figured I would utilize it in a way that we love around here - pizza!
I made three decent shaped balls of dough, and wrapped them in plastic wrap before putting them in a freezer bag to store in the freezer. This way, when I'm ready to make pizza, I can take one ball out at a time and not have to worry about thawing out a huge ball of dough when I only need half of it for a crust.
Patience is not really a virtue I possess, so I was eager to try out my pizza dough. I decided to make personal pan sized pizzas, since it was just me eating it for lunch. I actually thawed the dough in the microwave, which probably isn't ideal, but worked just fine for my pizza! I rolled it out, and placed it on a GREASED cookie sheet (very important, otherwise it will stick like crazy!)
I baked it at 350 for about 8 minutes, just long enough to get it a little bit firm.
I took it out, put some spaghetti sauce and cheese on it, and voila! I baked it for about 5 more minutes at 350, and then turned it to broil and broiled it for a few minutes to get the cheese nice and bubbly. It may not be the prettiest pizza in the world, but it is fantastic! A great treat for me for lunch, and I'm definitely going to try it out on the hubby too!
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Awesome! Love that the ingredients are all natural!!
ReplyDeleteThis looks really good- I am adding it to my bookmarks- and thanks for having a recipe I can use my mixer with and not a bread machine!
ReplyDeleteHere's a q for you- we love the convenience but not the price of the pre-baked... do you think we can pre-bake the crusts then just make the pizzas on those? That would work don't you think?
I would think so. I was actually thinking about doing that too and trying it out. I haven't tried it yet, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. Just to let you know, with the frozen dough I usually thaw it in the microwave for about a minute, and then I roll it out into the circle and bake it for about 8 minutes before topping it with the toppings and cooking it for about 8 more minutes, so even if the precooked crusts didn't work, it still isn't all the much cooking time from start to finish. If you try this out though, let me know how it works. I would love to hear your results. Thanks for commenting!
ReplyDeletethat looks easy enough & good too!
ReplyDeleteHelen