Rosemary Rolls

A year or so ago, I made these rosemary rolls from the pioneer woman. I loved them instantly and they were easy peasy. Then I did my October unprocessed (holy moly, that was a year ago) and couldn't bear to look at the ingredient list in the premade, frozen rolls. I tried to make yeast rolls from scratch, but they never lived up to my standards (thanks in most part to my grandma's amazing, fluffy, golden, tender rolls that melt in your mouth and I think make a great savory side with butter or an amazing dessert treat with a hint of jelly.. mmm..).

Yesterday, I decided to try my hand at another yeast roll. I'm not quite ready to give my grandma's recipe another try (there was a rolls turned hockey puck incident in my kitchen last year that left me feeling less than confident) I thought I'd try another rosemary roll recipe, this time with yeast rolls from scratch.

Do you love rosemary? I can hardly believe how much that scent does for me. I've been in a funk lately, and I keep trying to pull myself out of it, and I succeed for days or even a week here or there, but I eventually get sucked back in. Yesterday morning I was feeling the funk, you know what I mean? I didn't want to do anything, see anyone. I was forcing myself to go for a bike ride, knowing that I need that exercise to work through whatever is going on mentally, but I just broke down before I could even get out the front door. I took off my helmet and didn't know what to do.

Dylan asked me what I really wanted to do, how did I really want to spend my day? I had to think, but eventually it came down to wanting to do something with a finished product. I haven't cooked a lot lately (as you can plainly see) because even cooking has felt a bit like a blessing and a curse.

Long story, a bit shortened, I decided to roast some veggies for a soup. It seemed like a good place to start. I walked out to the front yard to pick some rosemary to throw in the pot. I grabbed the stem of the thickest little stalk and stripped it slowly of its aromatic leaves. I carried the little leaves inside and began chopping them up into itsy bitsy pieecs and with each slice the scent felt a bit as though it was waking me up.

It made me fantasize about those rosemary rolls from last year and I decided I just had to make some fabulous rolls to go with this delightfully autumnal soup. I went to my favorite place for recipes, food gawker, and found this wonderful recipe for rosemary rolls and whipped up a batch. The recipe was easy to follow and they taste great. I subbed a bit of flour for some whole wheat flour, and they are still light and fluffy.

Go give them a try!
Enjoy!
-m

Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies

A few years ago, I was telling a friend about a whole wheat pasta dish I had enjoyed and their remark took me by surprise. They asked why I would eat such a horrible tasting thing as whole wheat pasta. I tried to defend my desire for more whole grains but, while I knew there were countless health benefits, nothing other than "I need more fiber in my diet" came to mind.
They lamented that fact but suggested I just eat smaller portions of the 'good stuff'. The conversation has stuck in my mind and I have ruminated over this question since- Why eat whole grains if they supposedly taste worse? Why not simply eat less of the processed grains? I believe it boils down to your intended goal, lose weight or overall health? (The teacher in me really wants to type 'loose weight' and see who catches it, but the teacher in me also just can't type that on purpose)



I was only beginning my food explorations at the point that this conversation was held and I didn't know why, but I was already drawn to the unprocessed side of life. After the past year, I feel much more confident in my eating habits. While I'm no supermodel and that is not my purpose, I do strongly feel that the addition of whole grains to my meals was for the better.

There is research behind this as well, of course. Do you know the history of white flour? You might find this article interesting. Or the reason white flour has become so present in our daily eating lives? Shelf life seems to be the answer to so many of my over-processed food questions. Wheat flour has too many good things (vitamins and nutrients) that go bad much quicker than it's processed counterpart. Which seems to be one way that white flour became the norm.

Ease.
Convenience.

Seems like holding ease and convenience near and dear to our hearts has cost us dearly. If you are trying to eat healthier, then you are familiar with this struggle. It's so much easier to eat the processed foods, the pre-made dinners and the packaged cake mixes. I guess it's a struggle for a value you can't readily see, or that's how I view it. Time is valuable and while health is as well, it is a long haul and time is instantly gratifying. Does that make any sense?

I spend an hour every Sunday night chopping vegetables, making smoothies, getting food stuff ready for the week. A year ago, I spent that hour in other ways. Sometimes, when I'm beat and feeling lethargic, I lament my change in eating habits and crave that extra hour of laziness. But then I think ahead, what path will I be on if I take this step forward and change lanes from what I know is good for my body and mind overall, for what seems ok for my body and mind in the moment?

http://wallblank.com/products/food-with-thought

I feel like I'm still learning quite a bit when it comes to my food choices. Reading this book last summer, In Defense of Food, and participating in the October Unprocessed challenge have really guided me in what I believe to be the right direction. Have you heard of the pendulum swing as it relates to ideas and thoughts? In education, people are often referring the pendulum and how it affects our teaching. I can see this though, with our food choices now. I found the poster above, which is from World War 1, and thought it was something you'd see in a new foodie cookbook. How's that for things coming back around?

Anyway, that leads me to my recipe to share. As I do every year around this time, I made carrot cake. Last year the cake was all kinds of messed up and I made a trifle instead with the broken cake. I decided to make carrot cake sandwich cookies this year, sounded like fun!

The dough is sticky but firm after an hour cooling in the fridge.

But, as I was baking them I felt wracked with guilt. All that sugar. All that flour. While this is special occasion, there would be other deliicous meals to celebrate this special birthday, and this was the only one where I had control over the ingredients.

So, I did it. I swapped half the flour for whole wheat flour. I use raw sugar. And I used the recipe that called for 2 cups of oats. Whole grain-y! And I didn't tell a soul. Until they were eaten, then I spilled the beans because A) I can't keep secrets and B) I'm a horrible liar. I giggle like crazy. It's nothing too nutty, I get that, but I feel confident in my decision to attempt to make everything I create in my kitchen a bit better, anyway I can. (I do understand that I'm saying this as I share a cake recipe with a sugary crazy frosting. So be it! It's on my mind!)

I just love the look of these, excuse the abundance of similar photos. I could not resist.

I promise that I'll share more non-baking related recipes soon. I've got a pan fried cod I'm digging and a broiled salmon that is simply rocking my socks, but for now, enjoy this little ditty.

Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies with Whole Wheat Flour
adapted from Martha Stewart

ingredients

1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup raw sugar
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots, (about 3 large carrots)

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Combine sugars and butter in a medium sized bowl (you can use a mixer or do this by hand) and beat until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat until combined.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger and stir to combine. Slowly add flour to butter mixture and continue to mix on a low speed until just blended. Mix in the oats and carrots and then chill dough in refrigerator for about an hour, or until it is firm.

Before you bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment or grease with butter. These are sticky!

Using a ice-cream scoop, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets. It's a good idea to leave 2 inches between cookies. Bake for 11 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Prepare the frosting by mixing the cream cheese with the butter, followed by the sugar and vanilla. Adjust the sugar to your tastes/desired thickness.

Once cooled, spread about 2 teaspoons of cream-cheese filling onto a cookie. Squish this onto another cookie and repeat with the rest of the cookies. You can store them in an airtight container for a few days, but good luck with that! 

Enjoy!

-m

Flax Seed Whole Wheat Bread

Don't lie, you know you love bread. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. Sometimes we 'hate' bread because we have discovered that you really shouldn't eat it at every meal and well, especially for white breads or breads with a base of bleached, white flour, they aren't very nutritious on their own. Does that usually stop us? Sometimes, but not always. I know some people who have successfully given up almost entirely on eating bread and are healthier for it, but this is not one of those breads to hate. Or bread doughs, because it is so much more than bread.

I've decided- this is a bread to love. This is no summer fling bread. You can bring this bread home to momma. You love it and it loves you in return- because it has some good stuff in it and it tastes so darn good. And, it's flexible. It's not just bread dough- you can make anything bready and carby with it- they suggest hamburger buns. I suggest pizza. See below.

Liquids that will soon be poured into the tub above and mixed

I've talked about this type of bread before- the now pretty famous "5 minutes a day" type. I bought the "Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day" recently and have been trying it out. This is my new favorite- I added flax seed to it, just because I totally can, and I'm glad I did for a really silly reason. It's kind of pretty. It adds such a nice little fleck of color- I don't even really mind that it also adds some health benefits! Omega 3's- How about gorgeous contrast!

It's described as sandwich bread your kids will love and I chose to make it because the other recipes I had tried seemed like they needed something to fire back at the yeasty bite I was receiving-I thought a bit of honey would do the trick and when I stumbled upon this recipe in the cookbook, I was ecstatic.

This makes making bread so so easy. You just mix a few things, let it sit, then make a loaf and let it sit some more. Then bake and enjoy! The dough lasts in your fridge for up to 5 days. I highly suggest any of their books if you are even remotely intrigued and if you think you can't- then I think you must. 

Flax Seed Whole Wheat Bread 
adapted from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day

makes 2 (2lb) loaves (if making loaf bread) or 4 (12 inch) pizzas

5 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup flaxseed meal (ground flax seed- you can buy it ground up or grind it up yourself- try the coffee grinder!)
1 tablespoon kosher salt (adjust to taste, and use less if you are using Morton's)
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
2 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup honey
5 large eggs
2/3 cup melted unsalted butter (or use a neutral oil)

While the title suggests this will take only five minutes, the waiting time is much longer, the prep time is though- just five minutes. These are the steps, you will want to make this ahead of time.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl or a lidded (not air-tight) tupperware/food container. I use a large, rectangular container that used to hold granola bars in my pantry. Be sure to really stir this dry mixture around, getting the wheat gluten all mixed up with everything else.

Next, mix all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl and then pour them into the container with the dry ingredients. Mix this up well, getting all the dry stuff mixed in well. You may need to use wet hands to get it all.

And really, that is it for preparing the bread. That's the 5 minutes aspect of it, in my opinion. Now, let it sit with the lid on (or plastic wrap on the bowl, but don't make it air tight) and let it rise and collapse. Do not punch the dough down.

The dough can be used right away, or you can refrigerate it and use it over the next 5 days.

How do you want to use it? 

Loaf of Delicious Bread: 

Lightly grease a loaf pan (8x4ish). Dust the surface of the dough and pull off a cantaloupe sized piece (should be about half of the dough). Dust a little more flour on the top and quickly pull it into a ball, as they show you here:  

It will be bigger than the ball he has here, and should fill your loaf pan about 3/4 of the way. Let it rest for 90 minutes in a warm place. I opted to put a little melted butter on the top of my loaf before baking it, just a note.

About 60-75 minutes into the resting, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. When the oven is preheated and the 90 minute rest period is up- bake the bread for 45-50 minutes, or until it is golden brown. Adjust your baking time if you made a smaller or larger loaf. Allow the bread to cool before serving.

Pizza: 

Preheat the oven to 550 degrees (or 500 if that is the highest your oven will go) and place your baking stone near the bottom third of the oven. I use a terra cotta pot bottom for my baking stone- and have for years. Much cheaper!


Dust the surface of the dough and pull off a grapefruit sized piece, as shown in the video above, and shape it into a ball. Sprinkle some cornmeal or flour on your cutting board or pizza peel. Shape the pizza on the board/peel and top as you feel fit. Slide it into the oven (you may need a few shakes of the hand to wiggle it off the peel) and turn on the exhaust fan, because things will get a bit smokey with that flour or cornmeal flying into a hot oven.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, check it at 8 and go from there. Allow the pizza to cool a bit before serving.

Other? Get the book! You won't regret it.

Enjoy!
-m

Savory Whole Wheat Monkey Bread

When I was in 5th grade I read a book about a group of kids who were trying to raise or save money for..something, I'm not sure and that's not the the point, it's how they did it! They decided to make... toothpaste. Seriously. I swear this wasn't just one of my super odd dreams. I remember thinking 'you can't make toothpaste!' and I was amazed that they did. They even had a recipe for the toothpaste in the back of the book. I was impressed and I started looking at everything around me and wondering how to make it myself (one thing that kept me up at night- what was in windex? why was it blue? Oh, the things I concerned myself with seem so strange now, but they seemed so vital at the time).

I bring this up because I have those 'toothpaste' moments a lot lately. You can make wheat thins? goldfish crackers? That just blows my mind. Maybe you already knew that, and if you did- why didn't you tell me?? Hello! Share please! 

Since I beg you to share, it only seems fair to share one of my favorite 'oh no you didn't' moments in the kitchen recently. I make bread. No really, like homemade bread. What? That's no big deal? Well, it's whole wheat or whatever, so there's that. And it's easy. Seriously. I mix up a few ingredients in a big ol' tub and put it in the fridge, then I take out a chunk when I get home from work and turn it into a cute little loaf of bready fabulousness. I use this whole grain recipe and I love having it in my fridge.

So, when I saw this savory monkey bread recipe I thought I had to give it a try using the bread dough I already had in my fridge. What a cheater- I know! But isn't that the thing with 'traditional' (ha!) monkey bread? Don't people use biscuit dough or the like? I thought I was having a stroke of genius. I rolled out the dough. I diligently cut it up and rolled it around in delicious dill butter. Then I baked it and gobbled it up. Well, some of it. Then I tried a bit more. But. Hm. It was missing something. Yep. Missing something for sure. Don't you just hate that?

my hopes were so high

I thought it was maybe a 7 out of 10. It was good and the dill butter was phenomenal. I was afraid of dill before this (don't laugh) but now I'm totally in love with it. That's why I chose to include some rosemary. But I felt like I was left with an unsatisfied feeling in both. Maybe it was those amazing pictures from the recipe, maybe they set my expectations too high. It was good, and I'd make it again, but I wanted this to really float my boat and it didn't.

a little rosemary action

I thought it had so much potential though, so much so that I made it again the next day but made a batch of the dough that went with the original recipe, but I made it whole wheat-ish. It smelled so amazing, but it tasted pretty much the same to me (don't hate!). It did get me thinking though and I loved using my super easy bread dough to make something very different. It's these experiences that keep me coming back to cooking even when I'm tired or feeling burnt out. I'm just too curious to leave it be. I love when I'm cooking and I think 'what if...' I'm going to attempt some more savory monkey bread recipes soon. I'll let you know how that goes. And if you do, by all means, share!


If you want to make anything from above here are the links for your reference:


Whole What Bread Dough with Vital Wheat Gluten

Savory Monkey Bread with Dill Butter 

Enjoy!
-m

Whole Wheat Pepperoni Calzones

On Friday night we planned a good three hour drive to head to the mountains for the weekend. Usually, we eat on the road, grabbing a burger or finding a deli to get some grub. This time though, I wanted to keep it cheap and use food we already had on hand. I had all the fixings for a few little pizzas, I just had to make the dough.. which I wanted to experiment with. I also wanted to make the pizzas easier to eat on the run, meaning I was making calzones! I love all things pizza related.

I was searching and searching for a good whole wheat pizza dough recipe. The problem is that I've been spoiling myself with Alton Brown's recipe, this means that every other recipe seems to fall flat.

So I started wondering, what if I just substitute half the bread flour for whole wheat flour? I kept searching but this question was nagging at me. So, that's what I did. The recipe calls for two cups of flour, I used one cup regular old flour (not even the bread flour he asks for, I'm out!) and one cup of whole wheat flour. I was so hopeful.



I made the dough Thursday night, and on Friday it had risen and was ready for me. But, it felt a bit odd. It never, even after an hour of being in the mixer, got the 'bakers window' that makes the dough so fabulous. Bummer. Oh well.

I made the calzones pretty small. The dough makes two smallish pizzas, I cut the dough in half, then into fourths. This made good, hand held sized calzones.



Have you ever been slapped by hot pepperoni? You bite into a delicious calzone, pull your bite away and whack! You get hit by hot, sauce covered pepperoni right on your chin. I have, and it's a problem I was aching to solve. That's why I cut the pepperoni into fourths- these small pepperoni pieces worked fabulously.

Did I over think this? I think not.

After I put all the goodies on half of the dough circle thing (which I rolled out using a rolling pin, because the dough was not stretching well), I painted a little water around the egdes and folded it over.



I cook it the same way I cook my pizzas: HOT HOT oven. I used my 'pizza stone', which is actually a terra cotta planter bottom. It works like a dream. They only took 6-7 minutes each. Quickness!




Here is the good stuff. You can see that the dough was very thin, admittedly it was kind of cracker-like. However, the insides were sooo good.

After they all cooled off, I wrapped them in little napkins and put them in a box so they could travel with us unharmed. It worked like a dream! Now, to just tweak the dough recipe so that I get that chewy texture I was missing..



Whole Wheat Pizza/Calzone Recipe
adapted from Alton Brown


Ingredients

2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon pure olive oil
3/4 cup warm water
1 cup bread flour (I used AP flour, but prefer the bread flour if you've got it!)
1 cup whole wheat flour (as I mentioned above, next time I might adjust this ratio a bit, feel free to tweak it)
1 teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons olive oil
Olive oil, for the pizza crust
Flour, for dusting the pizza peel

Toppings:
1 1/2 ounces pizza sauce (for the calzone, I used about 1 1/2 tbsp)
1/2 teaspoon each chopped fresh herbs such as thyme, oregano, red pepper flakes (I used basil in mine as well)
A combination of 3 grated cheeses such as mozzarella, Monterey Jack, provalone, or fontina.

Directions
Place the sugar, salt, olive oil, water, flours and yeast into the mixer's work bowl. (I proof my yeast first, out of habit, so in goes a watery, yeasty mess- I just follow the yeast package instructions there)

Mix the dough on low using the paddle attachment. Then switch to the hook and knead for 15-20 minutes. Check the dough by tearing off a piece and stretching it out a bit, if it tears you need to knead it more! With the whole wheat, I found that it tore even after about 45 minutes of kneading. If you used all bread flour, this would not happen. Just a note. You are looking for a stretchy, taught dough.

When the dough is ready, take it out of the bowl and gently roll it into a ball on your countertop. Place it in a large bowl with a bit of olive oil to keep it from getting dry or sticking. Cover it with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge overnight.

Ready to get to work? Put your pizza stone or other contraption in the oven, on the bottom rack. Then crank the oven up really high, around 500 degrees.

Split the pizza into two balls. If you are going for plain pizza stop here and shape the dough and dress it, for handheld calzones, cut the two dough balls into fourths. Use a rolling pin to shape the dough into circles.

On the thin dough circles place the sauce, herbs, then on half of the dough put the cheese and pepperoni. Using a pastry brush apply some water around the edge of the dough (just a tiny tiny bit, I only put it on half of the dough edge) to help prevent the good stuff from seeping out. Gently fold the dough in half and pinch the edges together. Cut three tiny slits in the top of the dough.

Place on pizza stone in super hot oven and bake for about 5-7 minutes. Check for doneness. Let cool for 5 minutes before eating.

Enjoy!
-m