Sorry I haven't posted much this week. It's Easter vacation, school is out and the house is hopping! We have three birthdays within a week and had the first party (with over 30 teenagers here) on Tuesday. Very fun, but doesn't leave much time for thought and writing! I figured I could focus enough to post a few good recipes. I hope I can anyway (music playing loudly in the background, children jumping around, etc. :))
A few years ago when I got into raw foods, I wanted to take some steps at getting food for my family healthier too. I decided to stop buying white flour and refined sugars. I know some people have wheat allergies and are cutting out wheat, but I find if I grind it up myself, I don't have problems with it like I do with refined wheat. My youngest son tested highly allergic to wheat a few years ago (was getting eczema from head to toe) and we found with a few mishaps that he actually doesn't have any problems with fresh whole wheat -- just with refined wheat products (especially white flour!) So we are grateful to know that. He's happy to be able to have toast and pancakes again. And I'm happy to not have to experiment with all the other grains that don't behave quite as nicely as wheat does.
I have many, many 5 gallon buckets full of hard red wheat and spring white wheat. Both grind up wonderfully for baking. I crack the red wheat for hot cereal and sprout the white wheat (mainly because it's newer -- the red wheat is 10-30 years old and stores well & tastes fresh for cooking, but won't sprout when it's that old). The hard red wheat is heavy and hearty. It's good for dense bread, sweet bread (like pumpkin, banana or apple), cookies that you don't mind gritty (like peanut butter, oatmeal, or chocolate chip), even brownies. The spring white wheat is lighter and better for lighter loaves such as homemade french bread, muffins, or anything that you don't want weighed down quite as much. Either works well for pancakes or waffles.
I've decided that if I do have pizza, it's with homemade crust, sauce, and veggies. I've tried raw pizza and it was about the biggest disappointment I've ever had in my raw food ventures. It took so much effort to make and didn't have any redeeming quality -- not a single one. So if I go for pizza, it will be one of my cooked creations. I have 2 crusts that work well -- one (Pizza Crust I) is just my homemade bread recipe. It's heavy, but good. I use it when I'm already making bread and just double the recipe to make pizza too. The other (Pizza Crust II) is actually a pizza crust recipe a friend gave me that I morphed a bit to make healthier.
Pizza Crust I (bread dough recipe)
Combine and let rise until foamy:
2 1/2 c. warm water
1/2 c. honey
1 1/2 T. yeast
Stir into a big bowl:
1/3. c. oil
1 t. salt
2-3 c. wheat flour
Add yeast mixture to wheat mixture; Stir in additional
5-6 c. wheat flour
Cover with damp towel and let rise until double (can let rise in oven at 170 degrees)
Knead a bit, shape into pizza rounds, let rise again for about 10-15 minutes)
Bake pizza at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Pizza Crust II
1 pkg. or T. yeast
1 c. warm water
1 T. unrefined sugar or honey
1 c. ice cold water
1 T. salt (less if you're restricting salt)
2 T. olive oil
5 - 5 1/2 c. wheat flour
In small bowl, stir yeast, warm water, and sugar -- let sit for 5 minutes until yeast becomes frothy.
In a bigger bowl, stir cold water, salt and oil. If you have a dough hook for your mixer, you can mix in half the flour. Otherwise, just stir by hand. Once mixed well, add in yeast mixture, then other half of flour until the dough is not sticky (but not too dry).
The actual recipe says to divide the dough into 2 balls and put each ball into a gallon ziploc bag in the refrigerator for 10 hours to 2 days. I've never done that, but you can try it if you'd like. I just let it rise at room temperature for about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes -- until it's risen, then punch it down and form into 2 big pizzas (can stretch with hands or roll out with rolling pin). Sometimes I make personal mini-pizzas instead. I let it sit until it looks like it's raising a little bit (maybe 10-15 minutes while I make the sauce), then I add the sauce and toppings. Bake at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes.
Quick Pizza Sauce
You can use any pasta sauce, but this homemade sauce tastes like it came from a pizzeria.
1 can (14 oz. or 1 3/4 c.) chopped or diced tomatoes
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
2 T. chopped fresh basil leaves (or 2 t. dried basil)
1 1/2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 t. dried oregano
1 1/2 t. unrefined sugar
1/2 t. chopped garlic
add salt to taste
I use the hand blender, but you could blend it in a regular blender too.
Pizza Toppings
I don't put cheese on my pizza anymore, but I do for a few of my kids and my husband. For the rest of us, I add a mixture of mushrooms, tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions -- sometimes spinach too.
As for homemade bread -- the recipe I wrote for the pizza crust is my basic bread recipe -- only I form it into loaves at the end. I use Pampered Chef stones for baking 90% of the time. I like to bake bread in their mini-loaf stone that has 4 loaves in one pan. This is the perfect size for slices of homemade bread because it isn't so big that it falls apart. We use it mostly for dinner and toasting (in the mornings and for snacks).
All Wheat Bread
Combine and let rise until foamy:
2 1/2 c. warm water
1/2 c. honey
1 1/2 T. yeast
Stir into a big bowl:
1/3. c. oil
1 t. salt
2-3 c. wheat flour
Add yeast mixture to wheat mixture; Stir in additional
5-6 c. wheat flour
Cover with damp towel and let rise until double (can let rise in oven at 170 degrees)
Knead a bit, shape into loaves and let rise again for about 20-30 minutes (less time in oven).
Once it's risen the second time, bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes if large loaves, 15-20 minutes for mini-loaves. When it's finished baking, put a damp cloth on top of the bread while it cools and the crust will be much softer and more moist. Also, I like to put a little butter (I use the non-dairy Earth Balance, but any will do) on top of the crust as it comes out of the oven. It gives the crust a moister taste).
Tomorrow I'll post my wheat recipes for waffles, pancakes, and sweet breads. I'll eventually get to the cookies and brownies.
Next week, I'll talk more about sprouting and will post my favorite cracker recipes. Super yummy!
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