Healthy Homemade Wheat Bread

 Have you ever looked at the ingredients on packaged bread? It's ridiculous the number of excess preservatives and additives that are thrown in to make it shelf stable. 

Bread is simple -- this recipe only has eight ingredients. It does take a little time, mostly just letting bread rise a few times, but if you're at home doing other things, it's pretty easy to mix up and let sit while you go about your weekend.

This is the first time I've ever made homemade wheat bread, and it turned out great. Beginners or pros, this recipe is for you!

4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup honey
4 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoons butter
2 1/4 cups warm water (110-120 degrees)
1 tablespoon salt
6 cups whole wheat flour, plus another possible 1/2 cup
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 whole egg, lightly beaten

1) In a microwave safe medium bowl combine 4 tablespoons butter and the honey. Microwave until the butter is melted. Add melted butter and honey to a large bowl.

  

2) Add warm water to the bowl.

 

3) Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water honey mixture and mix to combine. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.

 

4) In a different large bowl combine the salt and 3 cups whole wheat flour.  

5) Add the yeast mixture to the wheat flour mixture. Stir together until the liquid is absorbed (about 2 minutes). Be sure to scrape down the sides periodically.

6) Add the egg and one cup of whole wheat flour.  Blend together until the egg is incorporated, then stir for another 2 minutes.

7) Add the oats and 2 cups whole wheat flour.  Mix until it's smooth and elastic. Use your hands toward the end. Use up to one more cup of flour if needed to prevent the dough from being sticky.  I used an additional 1/2 cup flour.  

 

8) Place 1 tablespoon of butter in a large bowl and microwave for 30 seconds.  Add the dough to the warm bowl.  

 

9) Cover and let the dough rise in a warm location for about 1 hour or until double in size.  Punch the dough down and turn onto a floured surface.  

 

10) Cut the dough in half and shape each into a loaf.  Place the loaves in two  greased 9x5 inch loaf pans covered with a towel and let rise in a warm place for another hour.

 

11) Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool on rack for 5 minutes before removing from pan. Allow to completely cool on cooling rack.

Wheat Pizza Crust

Mozzarella, Turkey Pepperoni and Jalapenos - MMMmmm

My husband and I decided to look at the ingredients on the popular brand of Boboli pizza crusts at Target during our weekly store run. Check this out:

Ingredients: Whole wheat flour, water, palm oil, polydextrose, yeast, wheat gluten, molasses, milk casein, salt, mozzarella cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt and enzymes), sugar, preservatives (calcium propionate, sorbic acid), fumaric acid, modified food starch, sodium phosphate, whey, monoglycerides, lactic acid, natural flavor, garlic, artificial color. 

Twenty-two ingredients!!!!! It costs around $3.50 and really doesn't taste that great. It also includes all of those above preservatives and other unnecessary additives.  That was enough for us to come up with our own healthy recipe.

 

The below recipe has wheat flour and very few ingredients, all which are healthy and natural. And it's very easy. We made it tonight and could barely stop ourselves from eating the entire pizza (three pieces left!). It's just as good, if not better, than delivery pizza, with health benefits to boot. Be sure to stretch the crust nice and thin if you want it to be a little crispy. 

Oh yeah, and it takes 10 minutes. Worth it!

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups wheat flour
• 1/4 cup wheat germ 
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar 
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ cup water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions: 
 

Preheat your oven to 400'F.

 

1) Add flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a big bowl. 

2) Make a well in the center and add the water and oil. Combine by stirring with a spoon. Add more water if necessary (I added water a couple times) 

3)Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead it for 2 minutes.

4)  After kneading, use a floured rolling pin to flatten the dough to desired thickness.

5) Spray your pizza pan with olive oil (or put some on a paper towel and use it to coat the pan). Place dough on pan.

6) Place your pizza sauce on the dough and then cover with your favorite toppings.

5) Put it into the preheated oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

 

 

Cinnamon This

Homemade Tastiness

I haven't done much baking in my life. In fact, I can probably count on one hand how many homemade cakes or breads I've made. I wholly blame this on the discovery of magic refrigerated tubes full of biscuits, rolls and cookies. I got used to the speed and ease of unwrapping the goods, jumping from the "pop" (I know it's coming, but it gets me every time) and being done with the whole thing in twenty minutes flat. Easy schmeasy.

I decided to rebel against my addiction to convenience foods this weekend, and pulled out one of my fancy, hardcover cookbooks to work on my skills. After flipping through recipe after recipe trying to find a good starter recipe, I found the below recipe for cinnamon rolls. With only a few ingredients and not too difficult instructions, it looked like something I could handle. I was off to buy some yeast. 

After my quick trip to the store, I was ready to start cooking. The first few steps of the process weren't too difficult: mix, mix, mix. Check. Measure some milk into a measuring cup. Check. Mop up milk leaking out of said measuring cup, which apparently had no less than six holes in it. Check. Nothing hard earned is ever easy. I pressed on. 

The next step was to knead the dough. There's a first for everything! I plopped the dough onto the counter and began to push, then fold, then punch, then smash, then fold, until my husband sauntered up to the counter next to me.

He watched for a few seconds, then said, "Um, I'm not so sure you're doing that right."

"Yeah. I know." I've never been a perfectionist, and I don't intend to start now. Knead schmead.

After a few more minutes of assaulting the dough, I put it in a bowl. The book said to put it in a warm place in the house to rise, so where did I put it? In the bathroom. But don't worry, I made sure to tell the hubby that the bathroom was off limits due to bread baking. He fully understood.

An hour and a half later, I grabbed the bowl of dough out of the bathroom, and continued on with the rest of the recipe. Not being one to want to read too far ahead, I was just about ready to put it in the oven, when I realized it had to rise again. Sheesh!! This takes forever!! That's when I began to make threats. "This better be good!! This takes all freakin' day!!"

Finally, it was done rising for the second time, and I popped it in the oven. Thirty more minutes later, and I was pouring vanilla glaze all over the rolls while simultaneously batting my husband's fingers away from the pan. 

I took one big stab into a warm cinnamon roll with my fork and understood why it took me so long to make them. Pure perfection: gooey, sweet but not too sweet, and made from scratch. 

And I'll be sure to keep that in mind if I ever have time to devote a full day to making baked goods again. Takes. For-ev-er.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour plus more for kneading and dusting

1/3 cup of sugar

2 packets of active dry yeast

1 tsp of salt

1 cup of milk

1/2 stick of butter, partially melted

1 egg

baking spray

For the filling:

2 tbs soft butter

1/2 cup of sugar

2 tsps of cinnamon

For the glaze:

2 cups of powdered sugar

2-4 tbs hot water

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup butter

Mix the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in a bowl. Heat the milk to very warm (120-130 degrees Fahrenheit). Add the milk, butter and egg and mix in the dry ingredients. Beat with a handheld mixer on low for a minute, scrape the sides and beat for another minute on medium speed. 

Place the dough on a floured surface and knead by hand for 5 minutes. Grease a large bowl with baking spray, add the dough and roll the dough around to cover all sides, then cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1-1/2 hours.

In a small bowl, mix the 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon.

Take the dough and add it to a floured surface. Roll out the dough into a 15" x 10" rectangle. Spread the softened butter over the top, then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over it evenly.

Roll the dough sideways into one long tube. Using a floured serrated knife, cut into 15 slices about 1 inch each.

Place the rolls into a 13 x 9 inch baking dish, leaving a little space between each. Then let it rise for another 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. Bake cinnamon rolls for 30-35 minutes.

To make the glaze, melt the butter in a saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Slowly add the hot water one tablespoon at a time until the frosting resembles thick syrup (2 tablespoons worked perfectly for me). Drizzle the glaze over the top.