Clean Eating #13: Whole Grain Clean Bread & Pizza Crust

Whole Grain Clean Bread and Pizza Crust

*The Verdict?  It is good, but a little heavy.  I think I'll double the Vital Wheat Gluten Next time and see if that helps 'lift' it a bit.

We just adapted a recipe slightly from the Clean Eating Magazine.  (Awesome magazine, honestly go get one if you're looking for well organized, planned out, new recipes!)  I don't own/want a bread machine because we always make a bunch of bread at once and the people in my house devour it like rabid animals.  A bread machine would take too long.

Ingredients that we used:
5 tsp yeast
2 1/2 cups of warm (not hot) water
6 1/2 cups of Whole Wheat Pastry Flour/White Whole wheat flour (we did 1/2 and 1/2, but you could use either)
2 Tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten (I will be using twice this next time to see if it helps lighten the texture a bit...)
4 Tbsp melted coconut oil (you can use EVOO if you prefer)
2 Tbsp Raw honey or Agave Nectar
2 tsp sea salt

Combine all the ingredients, but leave out at least a few cups of flour.  This allows you to use your mixer without breaking it:)  Unless you have one of those awesome hardcore mixers that will also knead your bread for you. 

Once your ingredients are mixed, add the rest of the flour and mix by hand.  I generally dump the rest of the flour on the table and knead it into the bread dough, but that's way too messy for a 15 year old boy:)

The bread will need to be kneaded for 8-10 minutes.  Since we are using this for pizza crust and savory bread, we kneaded some pizza seasonings and grated parmesan cheese into the bread.   

Don't slack on this part, its a great arm workout:)

Or, you might want to know how to do it like a normal person:)

Let the bread rise in a bowl in a warm spot until its about doubled in size. (cover it lightly with a towel or plastic wrap so the outside doesn't get crusty) I usually leave my bread rising for a couple of hours and forget about it until I get back in the kitchen.

Punch it down (the kids love volunteering for this part) and form into loaves/rolls or pizza crust.  Make your loaves somewhat skinny, as this bread is still pretty heavy and it won't cook all the way through if your loaves are too big.  As a matter of fact, I ended up slicing the larger loaf above in half lengthwise before I baked it because it was just getting too big.

Once your loaves have risen a bit, stick them in the oven.  We baked ours at 400 for about 15-20 minutes until they were nicely browned on the outside... Yummy!  I had a slice topped with pizza sauce, roasted garlic and parmesan cheese (broiled for a tiny bit to melt the cheese a little) with my salad for lunch today.  It was YUMMY!!  I used this salad dressing recipe.

The pizza crust is in the freezer awaiting our next pizza day.