Sun Dried Tomato and Rye Pizza Dough

I made a meatball pizza with one of the balls of dough! It was very yummy!!

Makes 2 dough balls, enough for 2 medium pizzas

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees)
1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant or rapid-rise yeast
2-2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups rye flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup *sun dried tomatoes (ground into flakes or powder)

Directions:
Place 2 cups of the bread flour, the rye flour, the yeast and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix briefly on low speed.

Add the olive oil to the water, and then, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour the water mixture into the flour mixture. Once the ingredients are well combined, turn off the mixer and switch to the dough hook attachment. Knead the dough on low speed until it is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. If the dough seems overly sticky, you can add the remaining 1/4 cup of bread flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, during the kneading process. (At this point, you can freeze half or all of the dough. Freezing directions are below.)

Form the dough into a ball and transfer it to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until nearly doubled in size, about 1-1 1/2 hours.

To assemble pizzas, roll each half of the dough out into a 14-inch circle. (I use a combination of rolling with a rolling pin and stretching the dough with my hands.) Place dough on a piece of parchment paper that has been sprinkled with cornmeal, and place the parchment paper on a baking sheet. Top pizza as desired.

To bake pizza, preheat a pizza stone in a 500 degree oven for at least 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 425 degrees and slide the pizza and parchment paper onto the stone, using the baking sheet to help with the transfer. Bake until the cheese begins to brown and the crust edges are golden, about 8 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand a few minutes before slicing.

To freeze pizza dough: After kneading, divide the dough in half and form each half into a smooth, round ball. Dust each dough ball with flour and place in a zip-top plastic bag; place dough in freezer. Pizza dough can be frozen for up to one month. To use, thaw dough in refrigerator overnight, and then let it warm up on the counter for about 2 hours before using.

Recipe adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook.

*I used the sun dried tomatoes that I dried this last fall. I did not pack them in oil, I figured they would last longer if I use kept them dried out.

Homemade Granola Bars - Sugar Free

Dry Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup Splenda
1/4 cup milled flax seed
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup all-bran cereal

Wet Ingredients:
1 cup natural peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 15oz can white beans
1/2 cup artificial honey

Additions:
1 1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used cashews and walnuts)


Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F . Lightly grease one cookie sheet. In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients. In the blender combine all the wet ingredients and purée (adding a little water until it forms the consistency of a thick smoothie).

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix well (i used my hands). Once mixed, add the nuts and stir (I again, used my hands)

Lightly press mixture into the prepared pan. Once the mixture is mostly pressed down, I covered it with wax paper and used a rolling pin to flatten it out even further. This makes it more like a granola bar. Bake at 325 degrees F for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing or serving.

*You can use any combination of nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, etc. Plus you can even leave out the cocoa if you want just peanut butter flavor.

Processing Wheat into Flour

Nutrimill (borrowed from my friend), 2 bags of
recently cleaned whole wheat kernels, and my container to
put the flour in once it is finished processing.

Pouring the kernels into the hopper.

Finishing the last batch of kernels.

Look at those BEAUTIFUL grains! Love that color!
Who needs bleached white flour when you can
have straight-from-the-grain whole wheat flour

2 batches, almost fills the container! So for next time I will do 3 batches
and see where that gets me. But for now, I am excited to use it in my
breads this weekend.

Pumpkin Pie Brioche

Looking in my fridge this morning - wondering what to do with all of this wonderful fresh pureed pumpkin. Also the need for making bread, led me to this recipe on the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes site. Oh I can't wait to try this! I don't have a brioche pan so I decided to use a loaf pan.

Here is the recipe:


Pumpkin Pie Brioche:
3 cups white whole wheat
4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons Vital Wheat Gluten
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
4 large eggs
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup neutral flavored oil or unsalted butter, melted
1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree (freshly roasted or canned)
Egg wash for brushing on top
Raw sugar for sprinkling on top

These directions are abridged from the book, for more detailed instructions go to page 284 in Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

Mixing and storing the dough: whisk together all of the dry ingredients in a 5-quart Food Storage Container, fitted with a non-airtight lid. Combine the liquid ingredients and add them to the dry with a wooden spoon. Mix thoroughly, until there are no more dry bits of flour. The dough will be quite loose when you are done.

Cover the container and allow the dough to rest on the counter for 2 hours. Once it has risen refrigerate for at least 2 hours before baking or it is too difficult to handle. It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

On baking day: Grease a Non-Stick Brioche Mold. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 2-pound (cantaloupe size) piece of dough. Dust with more flour and quickly shape into a ball.

Place the ball of dough into the prepared pan with the smooth side up.  Allow the dough to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap for 1 hour 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 with the oven rack in the middle of the oven.

As you can see it didn’t rise that much during the rest. That is normal for our dough. Brush the top of the dough with egg wash using a pastry brush and sprinkle it with the raw sugar.

Bake for about 50 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes then turn it out and form a thick ring with a clean kitchen towel and invert the brioche onto the towel so that the dome of the brioche is supported by the towel. This will prevent the top or bottom of the loaf from getting crushed as it cools. Let the dough come to room temperature before cutting and serving.

Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Pancakes & Bananas

Oh how I love bananas! They are good for you, usually inexpensive, and when they "go bad" you can make them into Banana Bread and all sorts of fun baked goods! Well this morning I put them on top of my Whole Wheat Pancakes! I used the recipe I had for my Blender Whole Wheat Pancakes and made a couple of changes. I used 2 tbsp of whole flax seed (blended in with the kernels) instead of the oil and I added 1 tsp of almond extract (in addition to the 1 1/2 tbsp of vanilla extract). They turned out SO yummy! I also got to use my new pan that my mother-in-law sent me. She had an extra All-Clad Square Grill pan and since she knew how much I liked to cook - she sent her extra one to me! (Thanks mom!) It has ridges in it for grilling - but I couldn't wait to try it out so I made my pancakes on it this morning! I am in LOVE! Didn't even need oil for the pan. Plus my pancakes came out with fun little ridges in them!