Whole Wheat Bread Machine Croissants

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One of my big baking goals for years was to create homemade croissants.  When I finally tackled that project, the results were fantastic, but I just couldn't see going through all that work and all those bajillion hours of cooling and folding on a regular basis, especially when I'm so often just using them as an ingredient in another recipe.

So when I wanted to make a dish that called for cut-up croissants as an ingredient, I decided to see how well I could create those buttery rolls in my bread machine.

The results were just what I was looking for.  Croissant-enough for a recipe (the results are honestly not comparable to the real deal, if you're looking for stand-alone rolls), but also incredibly easy and tasty and these can definitely do the trick with just about any "crescent rolls" recipe you might have. 

What You Need:

1 cup warmed milk (I used almond & heated it just 10 seconds in the microwave)

1/2 cup cold cubed butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup honey

4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon yeast

What You Do:

1.  Dump everything into your bread machine (this is my awesome new one!)  and set it to the dough cycle.  Hit "start" and walk away (I love that part!)

2.   When the dough cycle has finished, take the dough out.  Do NOT leave the croissant dough sitting in your bread machine until later.  It will continue to rise and expand and fill every single crevice of your machine's innards, making it nearly impossible to clean and probably break it and thus cause you to get a new one.

Ask me how I know.

3.  Pull the dough into 3 sections, then roll each section out onto a well-floured surface.  (I had to add quite a bit of flour and mush it all in before I started rolling the dough out.  Not a big deal, just good to know that it's okay if this happens to you.)

4.  Cut the dough section in half lengthwise & crosswise (a pizza cutter works well for this - check out the crazy-good deal on this one! ) and then divide each rectangle into two triangles.

5.  Roll each triangle, starting with the base and ending with the point to make your croissant.

6.  Place on baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  You can flip them over halfway if you want, but I'm lazy and just let them be.

Have you ever made croissants the real way from scratch?  Do you like the idea of having a version you can make that's just about as easy as popping open a tube of crescent rolls from the grocery store, but without all the junk inside?  Then you should try this bread machine recipe!  Let me know what you think - leave a comment or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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Pizza Fridays: A Homemade Version That's Cheaper & Healthier Than Your Neighborhood Chain

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This past year, we started a tradition of Pizza Fridays.  It's the perfect thing to wind down the week with - a mini-celebration featuring a yummy special dish.

I've been making homemade pizza for a couple of decades, but never really had an established pizza night.  G and I decided it would be a fun addition to our weekly schedule and give us a special treat to look forward to throughout the week.

I've played with the dough recipe a bit over the years, but it hasn't changed much.  Depending on my mood, I sometimes make minor adjustments.  Tonight I've substituted 1 cup of home-ground spelt flour for a cup of the wheat, just to mix things up a little.  G and I are happy with a 100% whole wheat crust, but often if we have company, we'll substitute some regular bread flour to make the crust a little fluffier.

Feel free to tinker with the flour amounts yourself, although I suggest using a minimum of 1 cup of whole wheat flour because with that much, you can't even really tell a difference.

I'll also add in spices to my crust from time to time and I've even been known to roll cheese into the edge to create our own stuffed-crust pizza.

You are only limited by your imagination, but be sure to check out these 15 ideas if you're in the mood for something a little bit different!

 As far as toppings go, the possibilities are endless.  I'm not even sure we've ever had the same pizza twice, because I usually just take whatever we have on hand (often whatever vegetables are in season, on sale, and that we have a lot of) and then create the pie from that.  If we have a bunch of eggplants, they'll go on top.  If we don't have anything fresh, I'll thrown on frozen broccoli or spinach.  Sometimes I use sauce, sometimes I don't.  We usually cover it with shredded mozzarella, but if we're out of it, I'll use whatever cheese we have laying around.

And of course I make my dough in the bread machine, because I can just dump everything in and an hour and a half later be ready to roll out my crusts.  You don't have to have a bread machine to make dough, though, just a bit more elbow grease and baby-dough-sitting.

Incidentally, I use this same dough recipe to make calzoni and stromboli.  What's the difference, you ask?  A calzone is a pizza pocket filled with ricotta (and sometimes ham) with the sauce served on the side.  A stromboli is a pizza pocket filled with whatever you'd normally put on your pizza.

What You Need (Makes 2 pizza-stone-sized crusts):

1 1/4 cups water (or whey!)

1 1/2 Tablespoons oil (I usually use olive)

1 teaspoon salt

3 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

What You Do:

1.  Dump everything into your bread machine.   Set it for the dough cycle, hit start (very important to remember this step!) and walk away.

2.  Remove the dough and divide it in half.  Stretch or roll each portion of dough out to fit your desired baking pan or pizza stone.  We only have one pizza stone, so one pizza gets made on that and the other on a large cookie sheet.  I usually sprinkle a little cornmeal down first (especially if I'm rolling it) so that it doesn't stick, but that's up to you.  Poke holes all over the top with a fork.

3.  Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes (depends on how crispy you want the crust).

4.  Remove crusts and top with whatever your little heart desires (tonight ours was mushrooms, fresh garlic, and of course, cheese).

5.  Return pizzas to oven and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until it's as done as you want it.  Let it cool for just a little bit before you cut it with your pizza wheel, otherwise the cheese will just ooze off in a big glob.

Mmmm...an added benefit to this recipe for us is that we usually don't eat both pizzas that night (although I could!), so that means we have leftovers for the next day!

Have you ever made your own pizza?  Do you have a regular pizza night?  If so, think about how much money you could save by making your own!  It's really easy to do, and only gets easier the more often you make it!  I'd love to hear - leave a comment or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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Like this recipe?  Find it and other delicious kid-friendly treats in the book Yum! Deliciously Healthy Recipes for Kids that I co-authored!

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Good All-Around Whole Wheat Bread

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You may remember from this post that I said I haven't purchased store bread for years.  I have many interesting bread recipes that I enjoy and I make a variety of them pretty often, but I also make this standard loaf to have on-hand all the time, especially for sandwiches.


As I've said before, you don't need a bread maker to make bread, but it's just so easy to dump your ingredients in, walk away, and a few hours later come back to a fresh-baked loaf of bread that I highly recommend getting one.  (This one looks like a good one to try!)

What You Need (makes a large loaf):

1/2 cup water

1 cup milk (I've used a variety of milks & all are fine. Sometimes I just use water for this, too)

4 Tablespoons coconut oil

4 Tablespoons honey

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (although sometimes I mix this up with spelt or other flours)

1 Tablespoon yeast

What You Do:

1.  Dump everything into your bread maker (usually you want it all to be room temperature and to add the wet ingredients before the dry, but check your manual for specifics)

2.  Select whole-wheat or basic cycle and normal or medium crust.

3.  Hit start and walk away.  A few hours later you'll have some fresh bread to enjoy!

Do you eat much bread at your house?  Are you a sandwich person?  Do you ever make your own bread?  I'd love to hear - leave a comment or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com. 

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Chewy Country Seed Bread, or The Best Bread {No, Really, It Is!}

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I haven't purchased any type of bread product in years, maybe even a couple of decades.  I think I'm on my fourth bread maker, and we actually have a new one that I'm anxious to start using, but it's from Germany and we're still trying to work out the power-conversion issues...

I pretty much know that I'm going to use the appliance at least twice a week - for pizza dough on Fridays as well as our weekly loaf of bread.

When I'm lazy super-busy with other important stuff, I make our standard 100% whole wheat bread, but at least once a month, I take the time to plop in a few other ingredients and make what I consider the best bread ever.

Besides being healthy, this chewy loaf is bursting with seeds and flavor, making it difficult for me to do anything with it other than to just sit and chow down on the whole thing right when I take it and its fresh-baked goodness out of the pan.

You don't need a bread maker to make bread, obviously, but it really is so much easier to dump all your ingredients in, walk away, and a few hours later you've got a house filled with that delicious bakery scent and a piping hot loaf ready to eat.  (this one looks like a good one to try!)

What You Need (makes a large loaf):

1 1/2 cups water

2 Tablespoons oil (I use olive or coconut or butter)

4 teaspoons honey

2 teaspoons salt

1/3 cup sesame seeds (you can toast these for a more developed flavor, but I'm usually too lazy for that step)

3 Tablespoons poppy seeds

1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds

2/3 cup rye flour

2 2/3 cup whole wheat flour

2/3 cup bread flour

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

optional:  garlic powder, amount according to your tastes - because garlic makes everything better!

What You Do:

1.  Dump everything into your bread maker (usually you want it all to be room temperature and to add the wet ingredients before the dry, but check your manual for specifics)

2.  Select basic or French cycle and normal or medium crust.

3.  Walk away (after hitting "start," of course - seems obvious, but it's easy to forget) and 3-4 hours later, have a towel ready to wipe the drool from your mouth as you begin to smell the wonderful aroma now permeating your house!

Go try this bread for yourself.  You won't be disappointed!

What do you think?  Are you able to show more restraint than I?  Will you use the bread for sandwiches, or will you just sit and gorge yourself on the chewy goodness like I seem to do each time I bake up a loaf?  I'd love to hear - leave a comment or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com. 

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Healthy Homemade (Hard & Soft) Pretzel Primer

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Pretzels.  Soft and chewy or hard and crunchy, these doughy delights are simple to make and yummy to eat.

There are so many ways you can play with this recipe, depending on your mood.

I like my pretzels soft and chewy, served up with some snappish homemade mustard.

G likes to crunch and munch his pretzels - often they're the only lunch he manages to get down during his busy day in the classroom.

I wanted to see if I could come up with a basic dough that would work for either option, plus one that would be tinker-friendly, since I knew I'd want to throw in all sorts of extras, depending on our ever-changing taste buds.  I also knew I wanted to create a healthier version than what you can find in the store.

So, here it is, my basic pretzel dough recipe:

What You Need

1 1/2 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon honey

4 cups whole wheat flour (can substitute 1 cup of flour with flax meal and 1/2 cup of flour with wheat germ)

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

1/2 cup baking soda (for boiling of soft pretzels)

What You Do

1.  Dump all the ingredients into your bread maker (this one looks great!) set it for "dough cycle" and then go do something else for about an hour and a half.

If you want to make these by hand, first dissolve the yeast in the water, add the honey, add the flour and salt, then knead.  Let the dough rise once in the bowl (an hour), then again after you separate the dough into sections (30 minutes).

The dough will come out stickier than you think it should be, but once you begin rolling it out on your floured surface, it will be perfect!

2.  Separate the dough in half, then in half again, then continue to repeat with each piece until you have 16 equal pieces (if you want soft pretzels that are larger than mine, just don't divide the dough as much).

3.  Sprinkle some flour onto your work surface and roll the dough by hand into snakes of desired thickness.

4.  Boil a large pot containing water and 1/2 cup of baking soda.  (for soft pretzels only)

5.  Reduce pot heat to simmer, add the pretzels, a few at a time, for 2-3 minutes.  Remove from water (I use a spider strainer) and place on a wire rack over a baking sheet.  Allow to dry for about 10 minutes, then move pretzels to baking sheet. (for soft pretzels only)

6.  For soft pretzels - bake at 475 degrees for 10 minutes.  For hard pretzels - bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.

Options

Shapes
1.  Traditional pretzel shape (roll, twist, and fold over)

2.  Rods

3.  Pieces

Consistency
1.  Soft (bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes)
2.  Hard (bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes)

Storage
1.  Soft (in a paper bag, then in a Ziploc in the fridge - don't seal the Ziploc all the way)
2.  Hard (in a covered plastic container or bag in the fridge or on the counter)

Add-ins
1.  Flax meal (I add 1 cup in place of 1 cup of wheat flour)
2.  Wheat germ (I add 1/2 cup in place of 1/2 cup of wheat flour)
3.  Sunflower & pumpkin seeds (I just add whatever I'm in the mood for - usually about 1/4 cup each and I often pulse them in the Ninja (get yours here) to break them up a bit)


Toppings
1.  Egg wash (I hardly ever do this - it definitely makes for a "prettier" pretzel, but we're not so into pretty (for pretzels, at least) around here and don't want to waste the egg.  Plus, I'm lazy.)

2.  Melted butter (I occasionally do this, depending on what I want to top them with or if I want them to taste especially fatty.)

3.  Cinnamon & sugar (if you're in the mood for a sweet pretzel)

4.  Garlic, poppy seeds, onion flakes, sesame seeds, other spices (think of your pretzel as a blank canvas, and have fun with the flavor combinations)

5.  Kosher salt (this is the way I make pretzels most often and I don't put anything else on them, but just roll the unbaked dough in the salt and it stays on fine)

6.  Mustard (this goes on after baking, or just dip your pretzel into it while eating - make your own here)

How do you prefer your pretzels?  Can you think of any other toppings you might enjoy?  Do you prefer to make dough in your bread maker, or manually?  Leave a comment or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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Winning Wheat Snack Pockets

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So I got these:

Dough Press Set

I just couldn't pass them up.  (Get yours here) They were a birthday present to myself using a coupon and free Discover money and totally an impulse buy (which I never do), but I saw them and I just couldn't resist.

"Maybe this will make it easier to make all sorts of yummy snack pockets," I excitedly told G, as I unwrapped the package.

"I think it was a great purchase," he responded eagerly, knowing that I was sure to cook up some tasty vittles with them right away.

However, it did not take long before I began to doubt my wisdom in the purchase.

"What was I thinking," I brooded as I washed them before their first use, "I don't need more stuff for the kitchen, especially when a glass and fork could do the same thing for free."

Oh, but I was wrong, dear friends.  I was so wrong.

These things really did make a world of difference, and I'm so excited to have an easier way to make our own healthier snack pocket treats.  (Get yours here) I've made snack pockets before, using the aforementioned glass and fork method, but I could never find a glass large enough, or I'd put too much filling in, or I'd just make a mess of the whole process while trying to crimp the edges with a fork.  Not to mention how long it would take to fold and crimp all around the darned pocket edge.

Using these dough presses makes the process easy-peasy.  You just roll out your dough, use the back of the press to cut out your dough circle, dump a spoonful of filling in the middle once you've got it on the press, and close the thing up.  The press squishes the filling into all the right places and crimps all the edges nice and tight.  Throw the pockets on a baking sheet and then into the oven and you're done!

You can fill them with whatever your little heart desires and even stick them in the freezer after you've baked them to pull out in the future and reheat for a quick snack (if you don't gobble them all up straight out of the oven, that is).

I'm sure I'll be creating new snacks with these presses on a weekly basis, but I'll share my first creation now.  I needed to start out with a good dough recipe, then come up with my filling...

Good Whole-Wheat Pastry Dough Recipe Using a Bread Maker (Get one here)

What You Need

1/4 cup water

1 extra-large egg

3/4 cup plain yogurt (helps the gluten to relax, since you're using whole wheat)

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 cup bread flour

2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast

 

What You Do

 

1.  Dump everything into your bread maker, select "dough cycle," and walk away.

2.  Punch down the dough when it's finished and let rest for 5 minutes while you mix up the filling.

 

Broccoli, Onion, Garlic & Cheese Filling (such an original title, right?)

 

What You Need

1-2 cups broccoli

1/2-1 onion

2-10 garlic cloves (we really like garlic) 

1/4 cup cheddar cheese (I was so tempted to add more cheese, but was really trying to be good)
  

What You Do

1.  Stick everything in your food processor (get yours here) and pulse until finely chopped.

2.  Roll out your dough, then use the back of the press to cut out the circles.

3.  Place a dough circle on the press.

4.  Add a spoonful of filling to the center.

5.  Close the press and voilà - a perfectly sealed snack pocket.

6.  Set your pockets on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Note:  The amount of filling ingredients will depend partially on what size pockets you make, so you might have to make a few adjustments.  I was also extremely lazy and just dumped frozen broccoli pieces, a frozen chunked-up onion, and 10 frozen whole garlic cloves in the food processor and didn't even thaw anything first.  I was worried that the extra moisture would affect the end results, but it all still turned out great!

Also, I found that if I stretched the circles a bit before placing them on the press, the whole process worked better, since the dough begins to shrink a little after you cut it.  Not a big deal to do this extra step - and way easier than the glass-and-fork method!

So, are you up for trying these out yourself?  What different fillings can you think of?  I'd love to hear them!  Leave a comment or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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