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I have a lot of food-related weaknesses. I think bread is my weakest weakness. Is there such a thing as a Breadetarian? 'Cause I could be one. I am the Baker of the family. Even my mama sometimes defers to me on baked goods. In the past I would bake breads all the time. Of course, bread is not 'good for you', strictly speaking. So I always feel guilty when I eat it. Unless it is whole grain, then I don't feel so bad. I hadn't had much success with home-made whole grain breads. They just weren't as wonderful as their warm white counterparts fresh from the oven. Until I found this recipe in a diabetes cookbook. (Diabetic Living, Holiday Cooking, Meridith ) It is not 100% whole wheat, but I still feel good about eating it. And this recipe has no added fat. Most of my favorite doughs call for oil, milk, or eggs. This one is just flour, water, salt, and yeast. It is a versatile dough, can be used for rolls, loaves, herbed focaccia, sweet breads, etc. I recently used it as a pizza crust, and it was delicious.The following recipe yielded enough dough to make 2 thin-crust pizzas about 9 x 13 each.
Basic Dough
2-2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour*
1/3 cup warm water
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp salt
1. Combine 1/3 cup all purpose flour, 1/3 cup warm water, and yeast. Stir until smooth. Loosely cover and let stand at room temp at least 8 hours, or overnight.
2. Gradually stir 3/4 cup warm water into the yeast mixture. Add whole wheat flour and salt, stir to combine. Stir in as much of the all purpose flour as you can. I only used a little over a cup. At this point I loosely covered the bowl and stored in the fridge overnight. Set out at room temp 20 min-1 hour before continuing. Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough all purpose flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and stretchy. After it's stay in the fridge I needed very little flour, and very little kneading to achieve this consistency. Shape dough into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to coat. Cover, let rise in a warm place until double, about 1 hour.
3. Shape and bake as desired.
* I always use unbleached all purpose flour. It gets a much better rise.
Great techniques tips and recipes for all kinds of quick breads here: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day I love their books!
