Wheat Pizza Dough

Back at school, when nothing else looked good in the dining room your last resort was the make your own pizza line.  Freshman year, making your own pizza was all the rage.  But by Junior year we all came to realize that it was clearly only a fall back option, never the way you would make it yourself and that if you choose the wheat crust in a vain attempt to be healthy, you dinner was basically tomatoes and cardboard.  It wasn't good.

After 4 years of cardboard wheat pizza, I am so happy to report that this wheat pizza dough does not taste anything at all like cardboard.  It kinda taste like, well, normal pizza dough.  And even better, I'm in my own kitchen and allowed to actually touch the food and making my own pizza is no longer a last resort.  It's actually exciting.

With such low expectations of wheat pizza dough, this really blew my mine.  I made half a batch (the recipe makes enough dough for two pizzas), but as soon as I have officially moved and have a brand new freezer to stock up, I plan on making pizza for dinner again and freezing the extra dough ball.  And then, I can have make my own pizza any time.  And it'll be good and healthy.

Ben and I topped ours with a homemade tomato sauce (fire roasted diced tomatoes whirled together with some garlic, oregano, basil and thyme), crumbled Italian sausage, green peppers and red onions.  And then pigged out with the whole thing, ending the night with beers and chocolate turtle cake.  It was a damn good dinner while we watched The Social Network.  Except, I didn't really like the movie and am apparently in the minority there.  At least the pizza dough is a keeper.

Wheat Pizza Dough
Adapted from The Haeger NaturalStone Pizza Cookbook

Haeger calls this whole wheat pizza dough.  However, seeing as the majority of the flour used is plain all-purpose, I'm sticking to wheat pizza dough.  I'm one of those let's call a duck a duck kind of people...  This will make enough dough for 2 pizzas.  Halve recipe for one pizza or make the whole thing and have an extra in your freezer!

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/3 c. whole wheat flour
1 package (2 1/2 tsp) rapid rise yeast
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 1/4 c. warm water (110 deg. F)
2 tsp. olive oil (+ more for oiling bowl)

Grease large bowl lightly with olive oil.  In bowl of food processor, combine flours, yeast, salt and sugar.  Pulse until well combined.  In cup with pour spout, combine water and oil.  With motor running, slowly stream in water/oil mixture.  Pulse food processor until dough comes together in a rough ball.  If dough does not come together, add up to 2 teaspoons more of water until it does.  Pulse food processor often for 25-30 seconds, or turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand.  With floured hands, form dough into a smooth ball and set in prepared bowl, turning it once or twice to coat with oil.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm area 1 1/2- 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Prepare pizza sheet, baking stone, whatever you are using by sprinkling lightly with cornmeal.  Set aside.  Turn risen dough out onto lightly floured surface.  Punch down, knead lightly and form into a long cylinder.  Divide into two equal balls and let rest for 5-10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 F.  Roll out dough to fit your prepared pan and transfer to pan.  Top with sauce, cheese and whatever pizza goodies you want.  Bake in oven 20-25 minutes until crust is golden and cheese is melted and delicious.

If freezing one or both balls, wrap well in plastic wrap and freeze in zipper-lock bag.  Dough will last in freezer for 2 months; to use thaw, at roomer temperature for 3-4 hours.

Crusty French Bread

There is something about baking bread that makes me feel so accomplished.  It's the smell of my apartment all afternoon as the dough rises and then bakes and in the technique of shaping the dough.  Part of it is also in the time commitment.  Sure, the majority of the time the dough is left alone to rise in a dark, draft free hiding place, but hey, I spent the whole afternoon baking and I, I made bread.  You know, the sustenance of life.

At least that is how it all plays out in my head, my getting praise and domestic goddess awards for no other reason really besides the fact that chemistry was awesome enough to work, just like it always works.  But if you're going to insist, I really have no issue taking all the credit.  I did find the perfect dough rising place, and that's worth something, right?

According to be November issue of Cooking Light, these round loaves of crunchy goodness are coined Crunchy French Boules.  I've been calling it crusty bread, until just minutes ago when I decided to be fancy and throw a French in there too.  For the most part, I followed the instructions as given in the magazine, including making a few days beforehand the "pâte fermentée".  This pre-fermenting step was easy enough to throw together on a Wednesday night and I am told added great complexity to my bread.  I can not vouch for this one way or another, but general consensus is that pâte fermentée is a good thing and makes homemade bread all the better, so I would suggest you follow suit as well.

Now, to the heart of the matter, cookbook worthiness.  I am not sure that this is the crusty bread to reign forever in my Big Green Cookbook.  It was good and tasty and all the things crusty bread is supposed to be, it just wasn't the crusty bread. It tasted yummy with cheese and soup and dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar with toasted garlic bits, it just wasn't the crusty bread.  So, it's on the bench for now.  It could very well be called in to play an inning or two, but it is second string at heart.  And the search is not over for my star crusty bread recipe.



Crusty French Bread
From November 2011's Issue of Cooking Light

pâte fermentée:
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. warm water (100-110 deg. F)

bread dough:
3/4 c. warm water (100-110 deg. F)
1 tsp. active dry yeast
2 2/3 c. all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. vital wheat gluten (photo above)
1 tsp. salt
Cornmeal, to sprinkle

To make pâte fermentée, lightly spoon 1 c. of flour into measuring cup and level off.  Combine with yeast and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  With mixer on low, slowly add warm water to flour mixture, beating until thoroughly combined.  Add additional flour, tablespoon by tablespoon until dough begins to pull away from the bowl.  Increase mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes.  Turn dough into small bowl coated with cooking spray.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap that has been lightly spritzed with cooking spray.  Place in fridge for 24-72 hours, the longer it can sit the better.

Before baking bread, remove pâte fermentée from fridge and allow to come to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

To make dough, add warm water to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and sprinkle with yeast.  Let stand 5 minutes or so until water begins to bubble and foam.  Add room temperature pâte fermentée and let stand 10 minutes.  Add flour, vital wheat gluten and salt.  Beat on low speed until flour is just incorporated.  Increase mixer speed to medium and knead dough about 6 or 7 minutes, until dough forms a ball.  Turn out into a large bowl coated with cooking spray, lightly cover with plastic wrap lightly coated with cooking spray.  Let rise in a dry, warm, draft free hiding space about 1.5 hours, or until doubled in size.  (To check:  "gently press two fingers into dough.  If indentation remains, dough has risen enough")

Punch dough down and divide in half.  Knead each half for about 1 minute, slowly shaping it into a round bu pulling sides down, around and pinching under neath.  Dough should form a smooth, taunt surface.  Place dough on baking stone sprinkled with cornmeal.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap, sprayed lightly with cooking spray.  Return to warm, dry place and let rise  about 1 hour, 15 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Place oven-proof dish with 3 inches of water on the lowest rack in the oven.

Once dough has risen, take a sharp nice and cut a tic-tac-toe pattern into the top of each loaf with 4 cuts, 1/4 inch deep.  Spritz tops lightly with water.  Move to oven and bake at 450 for 10 minutes.  Remove water pan from oven.  Bake for 15 minutes more or until crust is golden brown and crusty deliciousness.  When tapped on the bottom, the bread should sound hollow.  Cool on wire rack.

Sun Dried Tomato Focaccia

I have mentioned previously me and Ben's purchasing prowess when it comes to focaccia.  Consequently, trying my hand at making my own round has been on my kitchen bucket list for awhile.  And really, there is no reason for me to have put it off for as long as I have.  I possess no less than three cookbooks, two dog-earred magazine and at least one newspaper clipping that contains a recipe for focaccia. 

So what did it finally take to push my lazy bum into gear?  I went a bought myself a fancy dancy pizza stone!  Nothing will get me into the kitchen faster than a new addition to play with.  And this new addition came with it's own cookbook.  Foregoing the obvious first use of a new pizza stone, I saw a focaccia recipe inside and realized I would christen my new kitchen toy with my first attempt at focaccia making.  I just had to decide which recipe to use, a task easier said than done.

So there I was, sitting cross-legged in my living room in front of the TV with my various focaccia recipes surrounding the floor around me, trying to decide which to go with.  I'm not going to lie, I was a tad overwhelmed initially, especially considering one included a cup of mashed potatoes.  I just wasn't sure what to do with that.  After much internal debating and whatnot, I decided to use the recipe that came with my pizza stone simply because they were made to be together, right?

Ok, maybe that wasn't the only reason.  It looked pretty simple and I figured I deserved that because I was doing this on a weeknight.  And you know what?  That's how it tasted.  Simple.  The dough itself, even though it came together very easily in my food processor was boring and lacked seasoning.  The sun dried tomatoes I covered the dough with got much more charred than I expected in the oven.  The suggested sprinkling of herbs over top was not enough.  I admit, the bay leaves were mostly for aesthetics, but I really did think they would at least give something.  And, nada.

I suppose I brought this on myself.  I thought the toppings would be enough.  I really did.  And they weren't.  But at least now I know, the flavor has to come within the bread, not just from the top.  That being said, Ben and I did eat the whole loaf in one weekend, and it was quite a huge loaf.  We dipped some in oil and vinegar on Friday night, made sandwiches from it on Saturday, and finished off the rest as toast on Sunday morning, cut in half, topped with shredded cheese and broiled quickly.   I guess I'm trying to say, it wasn't bad.  It just wasn't spectacular.  It was a good, boring, background note for each of our weekend meals. 

But never fear, I have at least five other focaccia recipes to try.  I will find the one that stands alone and makes me knees go weak.  And after I eat it all, I promise to share the recipe at least.

Sun Dried Tomato Focaccia
Adapted from The Haeger NaturalStone Pizza Cookbook

I halved this recipe for you, because it isn't fantastic enough to make the giant round that I did.  I included the toppings that I did, but I wouldn't throw them on at the beginning of cooking, rather in the last 5 minutes.  The addition of some grated Parmesan cheese may really help out here until I find the focaccia recipe.

2 1/4 - 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 package (2.5 tsp) active dry yeast
1 tsp. fine sea salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
7/8 c. warm water (110 deg. F)
1/4 c. olive oil, plus more for brushing
1/2 tsp. coarse see salt
small handful of roughly chopped sun dried tomatoes
2 bay leaves
2 tsp. Italian seasoning (or basil, or oregano)

Combine first 4 ingredients in food processor, starting with only 2 1/4 c. flour.   Pulse food processor to thoroughly blend together.  With food processor running, slowly drizzle in warm water and olive oil.  Pulse dough until it just comes together.  Dough should be "tacky to the touch but not sticky".  If it feels too sticky, slowly add up to 1/4 c. more flour until it feels right.  Turn out into large oiled bowl, turning several times so dough is covered in oil.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm, draft-free area until dough has doubled in size, about 1 1/4 hours.  (Timing for double batch, so keep an eye on your dough)

Flour work surface and turn out dough onto it, sprinkle light with flour.  Punch dough down, then pat and stretch dough into a round about 3/4 in. thick.  Transfer dough onto pizza stone and cover with a clean kitchen towel.  Let rise for 1 hour. 

Preheat over to 400 deg. F, with rack in the middle. 

After dough has risen, dimple dough with fingertips all over.  Generous brush dough all over with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt, Italian seasoning and place 2 bay leaves in middle of round.  Put pizza stone in oven and bake until golden brown, 15-25 minutes (again, estimate for smaller batch.  Watch like a HAWK).  5 minutes before focaccia is finished, sprinkle with sun dried tomatoes.

Remove focaccia from pizza stone as early as possible (and safe) and let cool.