Baking Lessons

The only thing better than baking bread is baking bread with a friend! 

Molly came over for some homemade pizza and bread - I don't know what motivated her more, getting to eat it or the desire to learn - but I don't blame her either way! I really enjoyed getting to bake bread with a friend.

We decided to make a simple Honey Whole Wheat recipe found in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Such a great book for easy, delicious breads!


For this recipe for 4 loaves you will need:  


3 cups warm water 
1½ tablespoons yeast 
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup honey
¼ cup unsalted, melted butter  
¼ cup rye flour
¼ cup vital wheat gluten flour
2¾ cups whole wheat flour
2¾ cups unbleached, white flour 

First, mix yeast, salt, honey, butter and water together in a large bowl. Measure out and the mix the flours in a separate bowl.

Then add all the flour at once and stir with a wooden or other sturdy spoon until even.

Way to go Molly! Another bread baker has been born. =)

That's it - let it rise for two hours in a warm spot in your kitchen (we ended up using the top of the fridge because we needed all the counter space for making pizza, and it is surprisingly warm up there!). We had to leave it for the night, and I baked it the next morning.


When you are ready to bake, pull out a chunk of the dough and shape into a loaf, adding some additional flour. Place it in your greased bread pan and let it rest and warm up for about 40 minutes. Slash the dough a 2 or 3 times across the top and then bake it at 450°F for 30 minutes.



Since Molly and I are both students at Western, I just brought the loaf to class with me and she was able to pick it up right after her class. Imagine that - fresh bread delivered!

Hands down, these two loaves right here are the best I (we) have made so far. Molly must have a magic touch when it comes to mixing. They were soft, moist, and simply divine.

And I have to say were even though I baked them only 8 hours ago because one went to Molly - and Ross ate most of the other one by the time I got home! I am very flattered.

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I made the pizza dough earlier in the day so it would ready for when she came over; I totally felt like I was on a cooking show! We finished mixing the Honey Whole Wheat, left it to rise, and there was pizza dough ready to go!

Olive Oil Dough for Pizza from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day 

For 2 pizzas, you need:

1½ cups warm water

2½ teaspoons yeast

2½ teaspoons salt

2½ teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil

3½ cups flour (I did half whole wheat, half white)

Mix the yeast, sugar, salt and olive oil first, the add the warm water.

Add the flour and mix with a spoon until all the flour has been evenly mixed into the dough.

Leave it to rise for 2 hours, then either use right away or you can refrigerate it for up to 10 days. This is a great dough to make the night before, or at the beginning of a busy week!

I have recently acquired a few goodies, so pizza making has become even more fun! Must haves for pizza and bread making:

A pizza stone and a pizza peel!

The pizza stone is great for free-form loaves, loaves in general, and it makes your pizza crusts nice and crispy.

So, after the dough has risen, or been stored, get out some extra flour and work it into the dough until you can roll it out nicely - I use a pin roller. You may find that the dough is pretty sticky since it is so wet, so just keep working in a bit more flour until it is ready.

Then, use cornmeal or a generous amount of flour to dust the pizza peel and lay your dough on it. Make sure that it can slide easily on the peel - if it cannot, add more flour to the peel under the dough. If it sticks you will not be able to slide it onto the pizza stone, which will be preheating in the oven.

Confession: this is Molly's pizza dough all the way, and looked much better than mine did. Mine turned out to be pretty lopsided and not very circular at all...

Preheat the stone at 500°F, then when it is time to bake the pizza decrease the temperature to between 425°F and 450°F.

In the meantime, top your pizza! We made another Caprese with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and a classic red sauce.

It's not pictured (it's dark in the oven after all) but when you are ready to bake the pizza double check that the pizza is still slippery enough on the peel, and open the oven and carefully slide the pizza onto the stone. For tips on how to use a pizza peel watch this video.

Bake for 8-12 minutes, depending on your oven and desired level of crispiness. When it is done, remove the pizza from the oven by sliding it back on the peel and then onto a safe surface in your kitchen. DO NOT cut the pizza on the pizza peel. 

We also made Ross' favorite (well, not just Ross' favorite, but he started it): a BBQ Chicken Pizza.

Arts and Crafts... and Artisan Bread

Ross and I had a very homemade Valentine's Day.

Homemade heart-shaped pizza from this recipe.

Homemade Valentine from Ross (with help from the kids at the Y) and awesome pipe-cleaner and tissue paper tulip. Featured: Beautiful new vase for "spontaneous" flowers only. 

My homemade Valentines. 

And, Artisan Bread 

From this recipe, pull out grapefruit sized chunks and shape into balls, using additional flour to coat. 

Leave to rise for 40-60 minutes on a pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal to prevent sticking. Make sure that you can easily slide the balls on and off the pizza peel. Don't worry if they do not grow much in size - they will in the oven. Preheat the oven to 450ºF when there are 20 minutes left in the rise time. 

After 40 minutes, use a very sharp knife to slash in designs: your choice, no rules.

Mountains. 

 A cross

Claw?

Then, slide the dough balls onto a pizza stone, bake for 30 minutes with a pie-tin or other oven safe dish placed on a lower rack filled with some hot water; this maintains moisture in your bread. 

One slash of the claw grew much more than the others.

I have never tried this before, yet it seems that there is a delicate balance between the depth of the slashes and how much that part of the loaf expands. The cross doesn't look too much like a cross anymore.

However, I still think they are beautiful. 

Any tips on slashes and free-form loaves? 

One thing for sure, they fill the house with the scent of fresh-baked bread, and the taste is uncompromising - and that's what counts.

Bread isn't just for Loaves

Everything is better made from scratch - and homemade pizza is no exception! I mean - think about it - where can you have whatever toppings you want, and as many as you want, without being charged extra? At home!

My favorite... Caprese pizza! 

Pizza dough is simple and easy - you can even make it the night before and let it rise slowly in the fridge!

For whole wheat pizza dough you need: 

2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tsp yeast
2 1/2 Tbs sugar (or another sweetener)
1 Tbs salt
6 cups flour (I did half white and half whole wheat)
Olive oil to brush the crust

I read about a different way to mix dough from Bread Matters, so I decided to give it a go. Rather than adding a cup or so of flour at a time, I measured out all the flour (with salt) and put that in one bowl. Then I mixed the water, yeast and sugar in another.

After the yeast and sugar are dissolved in the water, pour it over the flour and dig in with your hands! It worked very well!!! I think I am going to continue using this method.
As usual, set it in a warm place to rise for about an hour.

Once it has risen, cut the dough into 2 or 3 chunks. Two if you desire a thicker crust, 3 for a thinner crust (or more pizzas!)

Roll the chunks into a ball, then form your pizza! I typically use a combination of roller pin (lightly floured) and tossing.

Once you have formed your pie - place it on an oiled pizza pan. Then - top to your hearts desire!

Another you can do at home that you can't necessarily control at restaurants is the ingredients - it is natural or Organic? Fresh or frozen? While organic is not necessarily to the perfect solution to any health or environmental concerns relating to food, it does tell you a lot about what the food isn't - and organic food isn't genetically modified or processed using synthetic chemicals or added artificial components. Typically, we use all organic ingredients. If not organic, I painstakingly read the labels and every ingredient and purchase only if I know what all the ingredients are (and can pronounce them!). 

We did a variation on a BBQ chicken pizza - with Annie's Organic BBQ Sauce, red onions, green peppers, turkey bacon, and cheese! Topping the pizza is the most fun - my husband really gets into this part. (I need to take pictures of us in addition to the food!!)

Brush the crust with Olive Oil, then bake for 10-15 minutes at 400 F. (For thinner, crispier crusts, put it at 450-500 F for 8-10 minutes, but keep an eye on it!) 

 The Caprese pizza - spread a garlic Alfredo sauce over the dough (or some olive oil, or nothing at all!), then topped with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.

After the pizza is done baking, I add on the fresh basil. Otherwise - the basil just gets too crispy.

Question of the week: What are your favorite pizza toppings?