Authors: Zoe Francois,Jeff Hertzberg MD
Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients (24 page)
Whole Wheat Mixed Berry Bread (or Muffins)
Inspired by a muffin, but even better! We bake them as a loaf, but they make fantastic buns baked in muffin tins as well (see the
variation
). The key is lots of berries—frozen are preferred for the juice they give off and they’re available all year. The result is a purple-tinted bread with the incredible taste of summer berries. Here’s another loaf that’s okay to eat just slightly warm, with honey butter.
Makes enough dough for at least two 2-pound loaves. The recipe is easily doubled or halved. Use leftover dough for muffins.
4 cups white whole wheat flour
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1½ tablespoons granulated yeast, or 2 packets (
decrease to taste
)
1 tablespoon kosher salt (
increase or decrease to taste
)
¼ cup vital wheat gluten
2¼ cups lukewarm water
¼ cup honey
3 cups mixed frozen berries and their juices, defrosted
Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water) for brushing on top crust
Raw sugar for sprinkling on top
BERRIES ARE CHOCK-FULL OF ANTIOXIDANTS:
Berries, and in particular blueberries, are rich in antioxidants. Blueberry skin contains the pigment anthocyanin, accounting for the vibrant color and also awarding the happy eater with an anti-inflammatory effect in the blood vessels, which may prevent heart attack and stroke.
The Honey Butter (optional)
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, or zero trans fat, zero hydrogenated oil margarine, at room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1. Mixing and storing the dough:
Whisk together the flours, yeast, salt, and vital wheat gluten in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.
2.
Combine the water, honey, and berries and mix with the dry ingredients without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with paddle). You might need to use wet hands to get the last bit of flour to incorporate if you’re not using a machine.
3.
Cover (not airtight), and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
4.
The dough can be used immediately after its initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate it in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 5 days.
5. On baking day,
grease an 8 ½ × 4½-inch nonstick loaf pan. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 2-pound (cantaloupe-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.
6.
Elongate the ball into an oval and place it into the loaf pan; your goal is to fill the pan about three-quarters full. Allow the loaf to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 1 hour 45 minutes (60 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).
7. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 375°F
, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. The baking stone is not essential for loaf-pan breads; if you omit it, the preheat can be as short as 5 minutes.
8.
Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the top crust with egg wash, then sprinkle the top with raw sugar.
9.
Place the pan on the stone or on a rack near the center of the oven. Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes, until richly browned and firm.
10.
Remove the bread from the pan, allow it to cool slightly on a rack before slicing and eating. Slice and serve with honey butter.
11. To make honey butter, if desired:
Cream together the butter, honey, and vanilla in a small bowl.
VARIATION: Muffins—a great way to use up any extra dough.
1. On baking day,
grease a muffin pan. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1½-pound (small cantaloupe-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a loose ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.
2. To form the muffins:
Divide the ball into 12 roughly equal portions (each about the size of a golf ball). Shape each one into a smooth ball as in the recipe above. Place the balls in the prepared muffin tin. Allow them to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 40 minutes (20 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).
3. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 375°F
, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. The baking stone is not essential; if you omit it, the preheat can be as short as 5 minutes.
4.
Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the tops with egg wash, then sprinkle with raw sugar. Slide the muffin tin directly on the stone or on a rack near the middle of the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes, until richly browned and firm.
5.
Remove the muffins from the tin and allow them to cool slightly on a rack before eating.
Whole Wheat Banana Bread
Banana bread without the guilt! Let’s face it: Despite the healthy attributes of this wonderful fruit, traditional banana bread is packed with sugar and fat. We love it, but it doesn’t exactly deserve its healthy reputation. This version has the fabulous taste with a fraction of the oil and just a touch of honey. Kids will devour it toasted with chunky peanut butter in the morning and it also makes a killer French toast. This is a great way to use up all of those over-ripe bananas on your counter and get some extra potassium in your diet—bananas are one of the best sources of this essential mineral.
Makes enough dough for at least two 2-pound loaves. The recipe is easily doubled or halved. Use leftover dough to make muffins.
4 cups white whole wheat flour
2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1½ tablespoons granulated yeast, or 2 packets (
decrease to taste
)
1 tablespoon kosher salt (
increase or decrease to taste
)
¼ cup vital wheat gluten
1½ cups lukewarm water
½ cup neutral-flavored oil
½ cup honey
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups very ripe banana puree
2 cups walnut pieces (optional)
Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water) for brushing on top crust
Raw sugar for sprinkling on the top of the loaf
1. Mixing and storing the dough:
Whisk together the flours, cinnamon, yeast, salt, and vital wheat gluten in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.
2.
Combine the liquid ingredients with the banana and optional walnuts and mix with the dry ingredients without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with paddle). You might need to use wet hands to get the last bit of flour to incorporate if you’re not using a machine.
3.
Cover (not airtight), and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
4.
The dough can be used immediately after its initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate it in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 7 days.
5. On baking day,
lightly grease an 8 ½ × 4½-inch nonstick loaf pan. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 2-pound (cantaloupe-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.
6.
Elongate the ball into an oval and place the loaf into the loaf pan; your goal is to fill the pan about three-quarters full. Allow the loaf to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 1 hour 45 minutes (60 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).
7. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350°F
, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. The baking stone is not essential for loaf pan breads; if you omit it, the preheat can be as short as 5 minutes.
8.
Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the top crust with egg wash, then sprinkle it with raw sugar. Place the pan on the stone or on a rack in the center of the oven. Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes, until richly browned and firm.
9.
Remove the bread from the pan and allow it to cool on a rack before slicing and eating.
FLATBREADS AND PIZZA
When we teach
bread classes, busy people tell us that our flatbreads and pizza recipes are the ones they come back to the most often. That’s because dough turns into flatbread in record time. Whether whole grain or not, thin breads need little or no resting time, and take short baking times. And people keep telling us that speed is the name of the game. But it’s not the only game—it turns out that
pizza is the easiest hiding place for whole grains.
Because of the toppings, even the most finicky kids don’t seem to notice whole grains in pizza dough. The stronger the topping flavors, the easier it will be to pass off super-healthy pizza as the same old stuff. Eventually they’ll think this pizza is superior to any chain restaurant’s.
We bake pizza three ways:
- Old-fashioned high-temperature oven baking:
This will be the most familiar to you. No steam is needed; just bake it without steam in the bottom third of the oven.- Directly over the grates on an outdoor gas grill:
This gives the crunchiest, most rustic result, adding some smoky notes to the pizza.- On top of a baking stone on the outdoor gas grill:
The pizza will be pretty close to what you get inside an oven. You can even bake loaf breads outside using this technique if you cover them with a roomy aluminum foil roasting pan to trap steam and heat. No added steam is needed.
With any pizza method, have all your toppings prepared and measured in advance so that the dough doesn’t sit on the board waiting once it’s rolled out (that would give it time to stick). And you can bake any of these pizzas with any of the methods you choose. The same three techniques work with any other flatbread you like.
Seed-Encrusted Pita Bread
,
Turkish-Style Pita Bread with Black Sesame Seeds
, Southwestern Focaccia with
Roasted Corn and Goat Cheesey
,
Cherry Black Pepper Focaccia
…our outdoor methods are a great way to keep you baking all summer long.
And of course, vary the toppings however you like. You can’t go wrong once you learn the methods.
In 2007, University of Maryland researchers showed that
pizza has more antioxidants when the crust is whole grain baked at high temperature.
How do we get on that research team? Pizza’s antioxidant activity was highest when the crust was whole grain, and the baking temperature was high, resulting in rich browning. Works for us—we’ve always favored high-heat pizza, in the Neapolitan style. The research fits well with other studies that showed that there are more antioxidants in the browned crust of white bread than in the white crumb. Maybe that’s why Mom always told us to finish our crusts.
Oven-Baked Whole Grain Pizza with Roasted Red Peppers and Fontina
This is the traditional indoor method for baking pizza; you can do any of our other pizzas inside as well. For this recipe, we decided to pair traditional baking with somewhat nontraditional toppings. Of course, you can put whatever you like on this pizza. Leaving out tomatoes really lets you savor the unique smoky flavor of roasted red peppers. Chop them into a coarse dice and make sure to use the juices that run out of the peppers to infuse the whole pie with the flavor of the roasted pepper. It’s a perfect blend with lovely fontina cheese.
Makes one medium-size pizza (12 to 14 inches) to serve 2 to 4
Use any of these refrigerated pre-mixed doughs:
Master Recipe
,
Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
,
100% Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil
, or other non-enriched dough
1 pound (grapefruit-size portion) of any pre-mixed dough listed above
1 red bell pepper
¼ pound coarsely grated fontina cheese
Olive oil for drizzling
Extra flour for dusting the pizza peel
1. Roasting the pepper:
Grill the pepper on a gas or charcoal grill, with the skin side closest to the heat source, or place it under the broiler. Check often and remove the pepper when the skin is blackened, about 10 minutes or more, depending on the heat source.
2.
Drop the roasted pepper into a bowl or pot and cover. The skin will loosen by steaming in its own heat and moisture for 10 minutes.
3.
Gently hand-peel the pepper and discard the blackened skin. Some dark bits will adhere to the pepper’s flesh—this is fine.
4.
Cut the pepper into a coarse dice, reserving any liquid.
5. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 550°F (or 500°F if that’s your oven’s maximum)
with a baking stone placed near the bottom third of the oven. You won’t be using steam, so you can omit the broiler tray.
6.
Prepare and measure all the toppings in advance. The key to a pizza that slides right off the peel is to work quickly—don’t let the dough sit on the peel any longer than necessary.
7.
Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. You don’t need to be careful about shaping a perfect ball because it won’t be your final shape anyway.
8.
Directly on a wooden pizza peel, flatten the dough with your hands and a rolling pin to produce a 1/8-inch-thick round. Dust with flour to keep the dough from adhering to the board. A little sticking to the board can be helpful in overcoming the dough’s resistance to stretch. Use a dough scraper to unstick the dough as needed. When you’re done, the dough round should have enough flour under it to move easily when you shake the peel.
9.
Scatter the fontina cheese over the surface of the dough, then distribute the diced peppers and their liquid. No further resting is needed prior to baking. Drizzle with olive oil.
TURN ON YOUR EXHAUST FAN IF YOU HAVE ONE:
This recipe calls for an exhaust fan because there’ll be a lot of smoke from stray flour on such a hot stone. Make sure the stone is scraped clean before preheating. If you don’t have an exhaust fan, choose a lower oven temperature (450°F), and bake about 15 to 20 percent longer.
10.
If you have an exhaust fan, turn it on now, because some of the flour on the pizza peel will smoke at this temperature (see
sidebar
). Slide the pizza directly onto the stone (it may take a number of back-and-forth shakes to dislodge). Check for doneness in 8 to 10 minutes; at this time, turn the pizza around in the oven if one side is browning faster than the other. It may take up to 5 minutes more in the oven.
11.
Allow the pizza to cool slightly on a cooling rack before serving, to allow the cheese to set.
Zucchini Flatbread
Zucchini Flatbread
Seems that everyone who
doesn’t
have a green thumb grows zucchini—they grow like weeds. The problem is that you end up with bushels of zucchini and no one could possibly eat it all. If you have stored dough, some Parmigiano-Reggiano or other grating cheese, and parsley, you can create this very fast zucchini flatbread—it’s absolutely scrumptious (see
photo above
).
Makes one medium-size flatbread (12 to 14 inches) to serve 2 to 4
Use any of these refrigerated pre-mixed doughs:
Master Recipe
,
100% Whole Wheat Bread
,
100% Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil
, other non-enriched dough, or
Gluten-Free Olive Oil Bread
1 pound (grapefruit-size portion) of any pre-mixed dough listed above
¼ cup olive oil
2 scallions, sliced thinly into rounds
½ bunch parsley, tough stems removed, chopped (about ¾ loosely packed cup)
2 small or 1 large zucchini, coarsely grated
½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus additional for sprinkling
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2–4 tablespoons raw pine nuts
Extra flour for dusting the pizza peel
1. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450°F,
with a baking stone placed in the bottom third of the oven. You won’t be using steam, so you can omit the broiler tray.
2. Prepare the topping:
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add the scallions and sauté until softened and fragrant, then add the parsley, zucchini, salt, and pepper, continuing to sauté until the vegetables are wilted and the liquid has mostly evaporated, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat for 10 minutes, and then stir in the grated cheese.
3.
Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a rough ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. You don’t need to be as careful about shaping a perfect ball because it won’t be your final shape anyway.
4.
Flatten the dough with your hands and a rolling pin directly onto a wooden pizza peel to produce a 1/8-inch-thick round, dusting with flour to keep the dough from sticking to the board. A little sticking to the board can be helpful in overcoming the dough’s resistance. Use a dough scraper to unstick the dough when it sticks to the board. When you’re done, the dough should have enough flour under it to move easily when you shake the peel.
5.
Working quickly, cover the surface of the dough with about a quarter-inch coating of the sautéed vegetables (you may have more than you need). Sprinkle with the pine nuts.
6.
Slide the pizza directly onto the stone (it may take a number of back-and-forth shakes to dislodge the pizza). Check for doneness in 12 to 15 minutes; at this time, turn the pizza around in the oven if one side is browning faster than the other. Continue baking until nicely browned. Finish with a grinding of fresh pepper and additional kosher salt if desired.
7.
Allow the pizza to cool slightly on a rack before serving.
Whole Grain Pizza on the Gas Grill (Right on the Grates)
Baking pizza outside on the gas grill answers one of the age-old problems that face home bakers: Who’d want to bake inside in the summer? We sure don’t. We wondered whether dough this wet would stick to the grates, fall into the flames, or otherwise cause mayhem. It didn’t. As long as your grates are in good shape and you keep the dough well dusted before sliding it onto the grill, it’s no problem at all. Just remember to first bake the crust “blind” (without toppings), flipping when the bottom browns. Otherwise it’s hard to get pizza to bake through without burning unless you use a stone.
“This pizza has been the source of many happy summer lawn parties in my backyard, where it is served with lots of cold semi-sparkling Italian wine. Have your guests make their own pizza by having a variety of toppings all ready to go—see who can throw their dough into the air the highest.”
—Jeff
Makes one medium-size pizza (12 to 14 inches) to serve 2 to 4
Use any of these refrigerated pre-mixed doughs:
Master Recipe
,
100% Whole Wheat Bread
,
100% Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil
, or other non-enriched dough
1 pound (grapefruit-size portion) of any pre-mixed dough listed above
½ cup canned Italian-style chopped tomatoes, strained and pressed of liquid (or substitute canned tomato sauce)
¼ pound sliced fresh mozzarella cheese
10 fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
2 to 4 anchovy fillets, chopped optional (see
sidebar
)
YOU SAY YOU DON’T LIKE ANCHOVIES
?
We made anchovies optional in this pizza because, well, they’re not for everyone. Kids in particular can be a little closed-minded about these salty, oily little guys. But if you don’t like anchovies, maybe you should reconsider. They’re extraordinarily rich in omega-3 fatty acids, pretty much the healthiest fat you can eat. If your kids simply won’t eat them…send them off to sleepovers, chop up some anchovies, throw them on your pizza, and serve with a big glass of red wine.
Olive oil for drizzling
Additional olive oil for oiling the grates (may not be needed if grates are clean and in good condition)
Extra flour for dusting the pizza peel
1. Preheat your gas grill with medium flame on all burners.
Prepare and measure all toppings in advance.
2.
Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a rough ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. You don’t need to be as careful about shaping a perfect ball because it won’t be your final shape anyway.
3.
Directly on a wooden pizza peel, flatten the dough with your hands and a rolling pin to produce a 1/8-inch-thick round, dusting with flour to keep the dough from adhering to the board. A little sticking to the board can be helpful in overcoming the dough’s resistance to stretch. Use a dough scraper to unstick the dough as needed. When you’re done, the dough round should have enough flour under it to move easily when you shake the peel. Dock (puncture) the dough all over with a fork.
4. Baking the crust “blind”:
Bring the dough round and all ingredients to the outdoor gas grill. Slide the dough onto the grates, directly over the lit burners, and close the lid. Keep the lid closed except for the occasional peek or it’s going to be difficult to get the dough to bake through. You may have to rotate the dough, or adjust the heat, in order to get an even doneness. If the dough puffs too much, poke it with a fork. Flip the dough with a spatula when the top surface looks puffy and the bottom surface is nicely browned (it may char a bit in places), about 2 to 3 minutes.
5.
Distribute the tomato, cheese and other toppings; be relatively sparing with them. Drizzle with olive oil and close the grill lid. It’s difficult to get the cheese to brown, but the crust will caramelize so beautifully that you won’t be disappointed. It will take another 3 to 5 minutes, depending on how much heat your grill delivers. Watch carefully and remove before the bottom burns. Keep the lid closed as much as possible to trap the heat, which will help to bake the toppings. Use your nose to detect when the bottom crust is just beginning to char.
6.
Allow to cool slightly on a rack before eating.