Postpartum Freezer Food Project of Doom: Pizza Crusts

For my first freezer project, I chose to do my pizza crusts, because bread keeps so well in the freezer. I need 4 but only had enough oil for 2, so I’ll have to make the others later.

Single Basic Pizza Dough Crust recipe (adapted from an old Betty Crocker cookbook)

1 T yeast
1 T sugar
1 c warm water
1 tsp salt
2 T veggie oil
2.5 cups flour (I use varying combinations of white/whole wheat)

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Add in salt, oil, and flour. Knead until incorporated, adding flour if necessary. I don’t usually knead it for more than a minute. Let it sit there for 5 or so minutes before rolling out to fit your pan.

In this particular batch of 2 crusts, I added in with the salt/oil:
1 T sesame seeds
1 T pizza seasoning

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.* Let cool completely. Freeze on trays before wrapping/bagging.

This recipe will do a variety of sizes, depending on thickness. I have stretched it over an 18″ circular pan (thinner crust) and these ones I did a bit thicker in an 15×9-ish rectangular pan (the biggest that fits in my trailer oven). You can also do small rounds for mini pizzas.

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*If I’m making this to eat right away, I bake it at 425 for about 5 minutes, add my sauce and toppings, and return it to the oven for 8 minutes or so. Since I’m going to be thawing and reheating this time, my theory is that baking it a little less will keep it from being too dry. I’ll let you know how that works out.

Playing With Bread

The bread recipe in my previous post is a blank slate on which you can write a myriad of bready flavours.

Let’s start with talking about flours. What kinds of flours besides (or in conjunction with) wheat work well? Below are some ideas of kinds you can try (or not!) and approximately how much you should use. Whatever flours you try, always start with just a cup or so. If the gluten content doesn’t seem drastically affected, try adding some more!

• Spelt flour can be used interchangeably with wheat. I have frequently done this.
• Soft white wheat flour is also a great idea, especially if you have children who aren’t sure about the idea of brown bread, because it makes a very light-coloured but no less healthy wheat bread.
• Rye flour has a very low gluten content. If you want rye bread, I would not recommend using more than 2-3 cups for two loaves. The bread will get more dense the more you add, and will not rise very well. I personally like the hint of rye flavour but not a heavy bread. (Some day I’ll do a post specifically about making rye bread because, uh, I’m still working on perfecting that one.)
• Millet flour gives bread a soft, delightful texture and a hint of nutty flavour. For a two-loaf batch, I recommend 1-1.5 cups.
• Corn flour is zero gluten. I’ve yet to have good luck using it and don’t recommend it for a yeast bread – yet.

Then there are the oils. Olive oil is my favourite to use in almost everything. However, because I’m out of olive oil currently, I’ve been using a lot of plain old veggie or corn oils. For something more exotic, you can try peanut or sesame oil. (I haven’t ever used either of those last two in bread. Yet.)

What about add-ins? In my template recipe, it calls for flaxseed (ground). I usually do a mixture and usually about 1/2 cup of each add-in. Start with only 2 or at most 3 add-ins until you get a feel for how each one affects your bread. Other things you can use instead of or along with the flaxseed:

• Sunflower seeds
• Sesame seeds
• Rolled oats or other rolled grains
• Ground or finely chopped nuts
• Dehydrated minced onions
• Caraway seed (use 1-2 tablespoons)
• Rosemary or other herbs (use 1-2 tablespoons)

Do you have favourite flours besides wheat flour or favourite add-ins that I don’t have listed? If so, I would love to hear what they are!

Delicious Homemade Bread Anyone Can Bake

Someone once said:

If girls were taught how to cook, especially how to make good bread, their education would be of far greater value.

(Boys can benefit too!)

Now, how about a recipe using delicious grainy goodness?

I’ve had a lot of issues making bread. Most people have. But because I usually can’t bring myself to shell out $4 or more for a loaf of bread that’s actually reasonably healthy, I’ve made it myself. With endless issues. It sank. Or it was gooey. Or it felt like I should sell it to the third little pig for his house. You name it, it’s happened to me. I tried all the recipes friends and family would throw at me and checked out book after book from the library, and while I’d occasionally get a freak good result, the frustration and failure was monumental. I gave up for a long time and my husband took over the breadmaking for several months.

UNTIL I BEGAN USING THIS RECIPE, and I have never had a failed loaf of bread since (even though I continued on to modify it slightly, because that’s how I roll).

The measurements in black text make 1 loaf. The numbers in red are a double recipe for 2 loaves. I recommend making just one loaf for starters.

Ingredients:
1.5 (3) c warm water (if you’re going by a thermometer, 105-115 degrees; I just stick my finger in it)
1.5 (3) Tbsp sweetener of choice – agave, honey, or sugar
1.5 (3) Tbsp yeast
1/4 c (3/4c) ground flaxseed (optional)
1.5 (3) Tbsp olive oil
1.5 (3) tsp salt
1.5 (3) c white flour
3-4.5 (6-9) c whole wheat flour

Instructions:
Place warm water in a large bowl. Add yeast and sweetener and whisk to dissolve yeast. Let sit for about 5 minutes, until you see the yeast bubbling and frothing rabidly on top of the water. (This is called proofing the yeast, to make sure it’s alive and functional.)

Here is my yeast with three blops of brown sugar.

Now I've added the 3 cups of warm water and whisked it up.

IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE

Add flaxseed, oil, and salt. Add the white flour and stir 1-2 minutes. This will help develop the gluten to make a light loaf of bread.

Adding in my ground flaxseed, oil (corn oil in this case), and salt.

Add remaining whole wheat flour about a cup at a time until you can handle the dough without it sticking to your hands. [I don't really count the cups I put in; I just add until it feels right, because it seems to vary depending on weather and temperature and other factors.]

Knead the dough in the bowl or on a floured surface for 5-10 minutes. Add flour as needed to keep dough from sticking to your hands. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a clean, damp towel, and let rise in a warm place approximately an hour until doubled. [Just keep an eye on it, because I find it often will double long before an hour hits, and you want to not let the yeast die out. 30-45 minutes is usually what I do.]

Stirring in my flour

It's all kneaded and ready to rise. (Yes, the picture is blurry. I have lousy lighting conditions in my current place of abode.)

Punch down the risen dough and knead a little to work out air bubbles. Shape into a loaf (or two loaves) (or divide dough into 12-16 equal blobs and shape into buns!) and place in oiled bread pan (or cookie sheets for buns). Cover with towel again and let rise 30 minutes approximately, until nearly doubled. Preheat the oven to 350 during this time. [It will continue to rise the first minute or so in the hot oven, sometimes quite dramatically!]

After rising for a while, it's ready to punch down and shape into loaves!

Here I've cut the blob of dough in two equal parts.

You can squish the bubbles out by hand if you like; I usually roll it out and then roll it up tightly.

In the loaf pans ready to rise the second time.

Ready to go into the oven to bake!

Bake the loaf for 30 minutes, until golden brown and sounding hollow when tapped on the bottom. [After about 30 minutes, I take the loaf out of the pan and just put it right on the oven rack for another 10 minutes or so. This gets a good crust on the bottom and seems to help keep the bread from being soggy.] (Buns usually go 20-25 minutes, and you can just turn them upside down on the cookie sheets to crisp up the bottom.) Cool on a cooling rack.

Out of the oven, cooling on a cooling rack!

I also let the bread sit out at least overnight before putting it away. 24 hours would be ideal. It really cures it nicely.

In my next post, I’ll share some substitutionary ideas you can try out once you’ve mastered the plain template above!