KAF whole-wheat pizza crust, step-by-step

As Heather and I have been eating our way through the pantry and freezer, we decided to make homemade pizza, since we had all the ingredients on-hand. Instead of using the dough recipe that came from my breadmaker (not bad in a pinch, but made with all white flour, which I don’t prefer), I decided to take a peek in my King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook.

This was a book withdrawn from the Carmel, IN, library (libraries withdraw older, outdated books all the time and often sell them for 50 cents or so all the time) that Andrew’s grandmother gave me awhile ago. I LOVE it. I treat it kind of like a whole-wheat baking “bible” of sorts. If I have something I’d like to make, or something I’d like to make in a whole-wheat version, I just open to the index and wha-lah! There is a recipe for it!

I found this recipe:

Sounds yummy, huh? Well, before you start salivating too much, I just used it for the crust.

It called for the water, honey, yeast and some of the flour to be mixed and then given a rest for an hour.

Disregard my crappy photos…my kitchen has almost ZERO natural light (something I MUST change in the next house!) and I’m still a beginner on Andrew’s fancy-schmancy camera.

After the rest, it called for 1 tbsp each of dried oregano and basil (a teaspoon probably would have been fine), as well as salt, cayenne pepper and olive oil.

After mixing the herbs in, the dough shrunk way down and was really wet. Then I added the remainder of the flour, and this is what I got:

Doesn’t look much like dough, yet does it? I should have used my KAF pastry mat here–would have made a better photo, and the measurements on it are so handy.

After 5 minutes of kneading, this is what the dough turned into:

Nice! I did think this was one of the better photos, by the way. I got two of these softball-plus size balls of dough, then gave them a 20 minute rest while I prepped ingredients.

A pineapple (how appropriate), leftover ham that had been frozen after our Easter feast, green peppers and mozzarella cheese.

I LOVE hawaiian pizza. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Unfortunately, neither Andrew nor Heather share this love, so I kept the pineapple pieces to 1/4 of the pie.

I rolled each ball into about a 12-inch round crust, then pricked the bottom with a fork and into the oven it went. This was one of those recipes that calls for you to pre-bake the crust, which I have to admit, works best. All too often my pizza crust is doughy in the middle from all the sauce and toppings. Pre-baking ensures a nice crispy bottom and top before adding all the goodies.

Our topped pizza. With two pizzas, this was a bit of a process. Pre-heat pizza stone. Slide crust #1 onto hot stone (tricky, to say the least), roll out crust #2, remove crust #1 and find somewhere to put it, then load #2 onto hot stone (trickier this time) and into the oven. Top crust #1 while #2 is baking, then remove #2 from oven, crank up the heat and load topped pizza #1 onto hot stone AGAIN (this time, the crust was crisp, so very easy).

Our finished pizza! YUM. Verdict on the crust: Heather wasn’t a huge fan, but it wasn’t bad. If you’re in the mood for total splurge-worthy pizza, go with a white or half-white flour dough instead. This is not pizza hut pizza. While not cardboard-like in any way and very flavorful, it’s definitely a wheat crust. I really liked it, mostly because of the texture. It was a cross between a “hand-tossed” and a “thin and crispy” crust, which I loved. And for me, a lot of the joy of eating is knowing I’m having something really good for me.

And because it made TWO crusts, I have one topped and in the freezer ready to bake for later :). Half hawaiian and half green pepper and ham.

OIAJ!

I made my first OIAJ today! Actually, I made it last night. I read about it on KERF and have anxiously awaited my chance to enjoy some as soon as I got to bottom of one of my nut butters.

That day was yesterday 🙂

I used the remaining tablespoon of peanut butter with half a banana, 1/4 C old-fashioned oats, 1/4 C plain yogurt (homemade!), 1/2 C milk and 1/2 tablespoon flax seeds. Mixed all those together last night, covered it up and stuck it in the fridge.

Today AFTER my run (chose to have just coffee and half a banana before–lesson learned!), I grabbed it, added some toppers: 2 tablespoons of Susy’s granola and some Honeyville whipped pumpkin spice honey. I nuked it for just 30 seconds to take the chill off, and the lukewarm oatmeal is actually pretty good, since it’s getting warmer here. OIAJ is SO good! I love the extra peanut butter flavor!

On a side note, see my chives? They are actually growing now since Zorro (one of our two cats who are currently living up in Buffalo with Andrew and his parents during our move-process) isn’t here to snack on it!

I’ll be taking a short hiatus this weekend…going to visit Andrew in East Aurora and visit some open houses! I’m bringing the camera so I can document some of our weekend and post when I get back home. I’m really excited to drive up with Andrew’s mom and sister, Abigail, who just finished her freshman year at Penn State!

Heather will be home holding down the fort for me and enjoying some much-needed quiet time.

For all you praying people out there (and I know most of you are!), please say a quick prayer for our house! We have a second showing Saturday morning and our first open house Sunday.

Happy Friday!

flowers, flowers, everywhere…

Today just seems like a day to blog about my day. I usually try to have some sort of subject, or point or just something particular to type about. But today my mind is all over the place!

Andrew got me flowers 🙂 I thought they were for Heather (we did just have Mother’s Day, and I’m not a mother), until she said they had come for me while I was working at the library! They are the white roses in the pale green fish gurgle pitcher (b-day present from Heather!). The other flowers are from Heather’s dad for Mother’s Day. And, on the computer, is a giant orange rose. I’m not really into orange (see yesterday’s post on color), but I wanted a new desktop photo and it’s full of energy.

That yellow thing in my water glass? It’s a cube of frozen pineapple juice. Awhile ago (like maybe last summer), I had a giant container of pineapple juice that I didn’t want to waste. So, I filled up ice cube trays, froze them, then noted how much juice was in each cube (2 tbsp) and then bagged them all up. I also did this with some limes. I’m loving the hint of flavor it gives my water.

It’s currently 80 degrees out and I’M DYING. I took a few minutes (literally!) to go outside before lunch and clear some dead grass and put down grass seed–I was dripping within minutes! This is why I am so glad we’re moving to western New York. I spent all last summer trapped inside because all I do is melt outside. I broke down and turned the AC on…

I did my long run with Susy outside today. Note to self: DO NOT eat a high-protein, egg-white and veggie omelet before running. You may balk at this, but I do typically eat breakfast just before I head to gym. Usually I have yogurt and granola with fruit, cereal or toast. Lately, because I’m watching what I’m eating and because I’ve had an abundance of produce around the kitchen, I’ve been making omelets. Very yummy. Also very heavy. I regretted it this morning. Lesson learned: smaller, higher-carb breakfasts before runs!

After my stomach FINALLY stopped feeling like it had a brick in it (around noon), I made a lunch of salad, Trader Joe’s veggie and flaxseed chips with my homemade hummus and a mango and strawberry bowl. I splurged and had ranch dressing on my salad–I LOVE ranch-anything. Seriously, unless it’s some fancy fruit/nut/greens salad–I want ranch. Not the Hidden Valley brand (which I lived on as a kid)…I’ve been using T. Marzetti’s Light Classic Ranch. It’s in the refrigerated section in produce at the grocery store. Love it.

I have a full afternoon ahead of me–cleaning because we have a showing tonight! Honestly, the house has stayed pretty immaculate lately, but it could use some tidying-up here and there. I also have to make bread for dinner, prep dinner and have it on the table by 5 p.m. so we can eat and run before the showing.

Scored some awesome sports bras and tanks at TJMaxx today! Been needing to replace some of my stuff for awhile now, and I had some time to run in after I ran an errand at Lowe’s. I love that store–well, I love Lowe’s too–but you just never know when you’ll hit the jackpot. I did today!

Tonight Heather and I are going to enjoy some wine, cheese and crackers that we got while shopping at Trader Joe’s–cannot wait! (Thankfully, it’s a long-run day, so I can splurge!)

That might be it for now…can you tell my mind is racing?? Except that this is pretty normal for me… After I do all the things on my list, hopefully I’ll have some time to sit and have some tea.