Yeast Doughs - Things Are Growing In Here
All Things Yeasty - Simply yeasty
I got tired of just making bread. I've turned to trying other yeast doughs so here is my collection. It will be an on-going collection of some of my favorite findings. Join me and let's explore all things yeasty.
Let's face it - I am lazy. Lazy people order pizza but you have to look up the number or have to deal with some dough head on the phone. I hate that. Once you understand how simple it is to make pizza dough you'll never go back.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cups warm water
- 1/2 tsp honey or agava syrup
- 1 tsp yeast
Instructions
- Mix the syrup or honey in the warm water and add the yeast. Set aside to bloom for 5 minutes.
- mix the salt into the flour and add the bloomed yeast mixture and stir in with your dough whisk until you can get a ball. Knead a few times until it is smooth and place in a greased bowl and let sit for 1/2 hour in a warm spot.
- Pre heat your oven to 500F.
- Gather your toppings.
- I get the pizza pack from the deli and I have spliced pepperoni, salami and back bacon. I also slice onions thin, mushrooms and red peppers. I keep a supply of pizza cheese in the fridge which is shredded and a mix of mozzarella, cheddar and jack cheese.
- After the dough has rested for 1/2 hour you can form it into a ball, flatten it out and roll out your dough. I cook mine on a pizza stone so I don't use a pan. If you have a pan then form it onto that at this time..
- Bill's #1 pizza hint.
- When putting on your toppings put a layer of cheese on the dough first, then toppings sauce and then more cheese. If you start with sauce on the dough - when you pick up a slice everything slides off. START WITH CHEESE AND THE TOPPINGS STICK.! Yes!
- Cook the pizza for 10-15 minutes on high heat. I cook mine at 500F for 10 minutes. It depends on you pizza, your toppings and your oven. It takes longer for instance if you use a pizza pan.
- Enjoy. Remember cheese can give you third degree burns - let you pizza rest for 5 minutes before cutting and serving. Safety first.
Bill's #1 pizza hint.
When putting on your toppings put a layer of cheese on the dough first, then toppings sauce and then more cheese. If you start with sauce on the dough - when you pick up a slice everything slides off. START WITH CHEESE AND THE TOPPINGS STICK.! Yes!
Variations
Make it healthy
I make a variety of doughs from multigrain to sourdough. You should consider a change to optomize the flavor, texture and health aspects of having pizza.
1/2 cup AP Flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 cup multigrain flour
The sauce is another way to vary the pizza. I've used prepared sauces, homemade sauces and even used salsa instead of tomato sauce. The options are wide and varied and limited only to your imagination.
My Tools of the Trade
Bill's Big Cinnamon Buns - Bigger is Better - Are you Nuts?
I was in a cafe restaurant last weekend that touted to have the best cinnamon buns in the city. I guess I need to open a shop then because I think mine are comparable. Here's the recipe - let you be the judge.
Ingredients
- Yeast Dough
- 1 tsp yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups a.p. flour
- Sugar Mixture
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup butter melted
Instructions
- 1: Add yeast to water and a pinch of sugar and set aside to bloom for 5 minutes.
- 2: Heat milk and coconut oil until warm ( no hotter that 110 F)
- 3: Mix whole wheat flour sugar and salt together in a large mixing bowl
- 4: Add the milk/oil and water/yeast mixtures to the flour in the bowl and stir until combined. I use a Danish dough whisk but you can use a stand mixer with paddle attachments for this.
- 5: Gradually add the a.p. flour until you have a smooth dough you can work with but not stick to your hands. Knead by hand for about 6 minutes then set aside in a covered greased bowl to rise double in size. About an hour.
- 6: Punch down the dough and form into a ball. Cut into 9 equal sized pieces and roll these out into long thin ropes about 1/2 inch by 10 inches. Set them on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- 7: Grease an 8 by 8 square baking tin
- 8: Dip each of the ropes in melted butter carefully and roll in the sugar cinnamon mixture. Tie the rope in a loose knot and set in the baking tin. When all six are in the tin sprinkle with the chopped nuts. Cover with plastic film and a tea towel. let rise again.
- 9: Cook for about 40 - 45 minutes in a 375 F oven. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan before turning them out onto a rack to cool.
Tools and Techniques Photo Gallery - Simple.
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Baked Yeast Doughnuts - Baked not Fried - Healthier?
I love doughnuts. I hate deep frying at home because I don't have a fryer and its messy and impractical to have at home because I don't deep fry often. I happened upon a recipe for baked doughnuts on the net but it involved store bought dough and was designed to use some sort of tacky kitchen gadget designed to bake them. My thoughts drifted back to my youth and my younger sister and her Easy-Bake-Oven. I remember choking down many a half baked cupcake.
I came up with this recipe to bake yeast doughnuts and hopefully the sweet dough will provide the flavor and texture I am after.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup water (with a 1/2 tsp agava syrup)
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/3 cup agava syrup
- 2 eggs
- 5 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 - 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tbsp yeast
- sugar topping
Instructions
- Heat the water to lukewarm, between 105 and 110F. Add the yeast and set aside for 5 minutes.
- Heat the milk, honey, agava syrup and coconut oil to lukewarm, and put in the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the room temperature eggs and mix on low speed with the beater while you get the flour ready.
- In a bowl mix the flour, salt and nutmeg together.
- Pour half the mixture into the liquids in the stand mixer. continue to mix until the dough is too stiff for the beater. Change to the dough hook and add the remaining flour. Let the mixer knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it forms a soft ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Remove from mixer and knead by hand to form a smooth elastic ball. Place the dough ball into a greased bowl and cover and place in a warm place for an hour.
Baked vs Deep Fried? You'll have to try it.. I've tried to put as much favor in without the fat.
Putting it all together.
Some like the doughnut - I like the hole.
Once the dough has rested for and hour it should be almost double in size.
Punch it down and degas it gently. Roll it out to about 1/2 in thickness and use a doughnut cut to cut shapes. If you don't have a specific cutter then use a wide-mouth glass. The hole in the center is optional. Sometimes I make a whole batch of just the doughnut holes. It's your choice.
Lay them out on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet. Cover them with plastic film and a clean tea towel and set aside to raise again. They will spring up in the hot oven so don't let them raise fully outside the oven or they'll collapse when you move them.
Bake in an oven, preheated to 375F, for 8 minutes. Have the tray on the upper middle rack so the tops can brown like the bottoms. Do not over cook. They will continue to cook for 1-2 minutes outside the oven.
Let them rest for 5 minutes before dusting them.
It's What You Put On That Makes Them Fattening
It's All About the Taste.
Toppings:
Mix 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tbsp cinnamon in a bowl. In another bowl put 1/2 cup of melted butter. Dip the cooked and cooled doughnuts in first the butter then the sugar and set on the cooling rack to cool. Alternatively you can use a pastry brush and brush the tops of the doughnuts with melted butter then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over top.
Other things to Top Your Doughnuts.
Shredded toasted coconut.
Honey
Melted sugar glaze
Chocolate sauce or ganache
powder sugar
crushed walnuts
candy sprinkles
The list goes on and is up to you.
Try injecting them with jam or jelly. Butter cream?
More Kitchen Toys
More info to come
Stay tuned.. the recipes will be tweaked and added to as I experiment.
