Pita Breads and Baked Falafel Balls

Pita Breads and Baked Falafel Balls

A Light Mediterranean Summer Dinner!

I admit it--I have a special fondness for the thick, soft pita breads that I used to eat in Los Angeles.  I make a special effort to bring some back in my suitcase when I visit.  The kind I have been able to get here is thin and just not as tasty.  With practice, I am getting closer to baking the kind I crave.  So I was really glad to see that our "Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" baking group would be doing pita breads for this assignment.

Our  baking group is using the HB5 Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil dough to make Seed Encrusted Pita Bread.

I made a couple of substitutions to the dough:

--Used white whole wheat flour

--Cut the water by 1/4cup to avoid overly wet dough

I also had some Master Dough from "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" in the refrigerator.  I decided to make pita bread from this recipe, also.  It would give me a good opportunity to compare pita breads made from both doughs.

I rolled out the dough using my new pastry roller.  Michelle, our group leader, told me about this gadget.  I was skeptical, I found it very easy to use.  I can grab one roller end with a whole hand.  The angle can put more pressure on a small area.  I quickly rolled out the pita breads, and felt I had more control than with a large rolling pin.   

Check out the big bottle of seed mixture in the picture above!  After running to the store constantly to replenish my small jars, I finally bought 1/4 pound of seeds like sesame, anise, caraway, flax, and poppy.  I mixed them altogether and will keep them in my fridge.  Now I can shake them over my baking items as much as I want!  I think they make whole wheat breads taste so much better.

I immediately placed the finished pitas between two kitchen towels on top of a cooling rack.  That way, they stayed soft and pliable.  Here is a closeup of the finished pita breads: 

For our dinner,  I decided to finally try a 1996 baked falafel recipe that I had in my files.  Here is my adapted version:

Baked Falafel Balls
Serves 4 (16 balls)

1 lb can of garbanzo beans (chick peas), rinsed and drained
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 egg white
1 TBSP oil
1 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP  lemon juice (I didn't have fresh, so I added a few drops lemon extract to reconstituted.  It works well.)
1 TBSP  sesame seeds
salt and pepper to taste
3 TBSP wheat germ (could use bread crumbs)

Preheat oven to 357 degrees.

Mash the garbanzo beans with potato masher or fork.  Add all but wheat germ to the mashed beans.  Roll into one-inch balls.  Roll each  ball into wheat germ.  Bake in a non-stick baking pan for 20 minutes, turning the balls over halfway through baking.

Serve 4 falafel balls in a pita bread with tomato, cucumber, and lettuce.  Top with plain yogurt or nonfat sour cream (optional). Tehina sauce would be wonderful!

I also added some sweet onions that I sauteed in olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar.  YUM!

We tried the falafel w/pita sandwiches with both the regular and whole wheat seed encrusted pitas.  Both were good, but the regular ones were much easier to open and fill.  I had this great picture of the food spread out to show you, but it got deleted. But we had a wonderful, low fat dinner that night!  I had made baked falafel from a mix, but it's inexpensive and easy to make it yourself with this recipe.  These recipes will be made again!!!   Hope you enjoy them soon, too.

Handwise tips:  If you have hand pain, tendonitis, or arthritis or any other pain issues and want to make this recipe, you might space it out over a few days:

1. Use some HB5 stored dough that you made several days before.  If you make both doughs, you don't have to make them on the same day.  You can store the whole wheat and olive oil dough in the fridge for 7 days, and the white/master dough in the fridge for 7 - 10 days.  You don't have to bake them on the same day, but they roll out pretty fast and cook quickly.  It's nice to do it all while the oven it hot!
2. When you are mixing the dough--If your hand problems respond to warmth, mixing with your hands may be a wonderful option.  The water you add is about 100 degrees, and it's a very wet dough.  It's pretty easy to mix, and no kneading.  I always love to put my hand into the warm dough to mix it!  You can get a better idea of when the dough is "just right," too!
3. Let the dough rest if it resists stretching out.  Wait 10-15 minutes after doing the gluten cloak, and it easily should be able to be patted into a larger circle or rolled out.  Good time to have a seat and rest your hands!
4. Find what kind of rolling method works best for you.  You might pick up the dough and have gravity stretch it for you.  You might use an OXO-type rolling pin.  Or a pastry roller may be easier for you to use, with the angle of the roller coming from above.  I thought the pastry roller was easy to use.
5. Soak your tools in your empty dough bucket or a pan when you are finished using them.  Soak your baking pan with soapy water after you remove the falafel.  That way, you can wash them easily later (or tomorrow!)  Give yourself the permission of time to clean up much later. 
6. Mashing the falafel mixture can be tricky and hard on hands.   Unfortunately, a mini food processor would make the mixture too thin. I think it's easier to mash the beans in a bowl with a little bit of water or saved liquid from the can.  Then, mix in the remaining ingredients.  That's one of my recipe changes.  It goes quickly, and is easy to do. 

Thanks for stopping by to visit!  I hope you will leave a comment below.  Maybe you can add a handwise or time saving suggestion that will help others?

About the HBinFive Baking Group
The HBinFive Baking Group, started by Michelle of Big Black Dogs, is baking through all of the breads in the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes book. For more information on the HBinFive baking group, check out BigBlackDog.

Oven-Baked Whole Grain Pizza with Roasted Red Peppers and Italian Cheeses

 Oven-Baked Whole Grain Pizza with Roasted Red Peppers and Italian Cheeses

Our baking group is using the whole wheat bread dough with olive oil for our next creative assignment.  It sounded healthy, but I wondered how it would taste.  

I made a couple of substitutions to this pizza:
--Used white whole wheat flour.
--Cut the water by 1/4 cup to avoid overly wet dough.
--Used a blend of Italian cheeses that include Mozzarella, Provolone, Parmesan, Asiago, Fontina and Romano Cheeses.  The Fontina cheese alone was a bit pricey for me.

First, I charred the red bell peppers.  I covered a baking sheet with foil and put it under the broiler.  When they began to char, I put the bell peppers in a paper bag to "sweat."  After about 15 minutes, I took them out of the bag and the skins were easy to remove.  I did this a few days before making the pizza so that the pizza preparation was really easy on baking day.


I found that my pizza peel really wasn't large enough for what I wanted to make.  Therefore, I used the back of a baking sheet.  It worked just great when I sprinkled whole wheat flour to keep the dough from sticking.

Oven-Baked Whole Grain Pizza with Roasted Red Peppers and Fontina Cheese

 

I baked the pizza on an unglazed tile this time, and let it cool on the rack.  My unglazed tile is a bit larger than my stone, and I wanted the extra room.  The pizza was really great!  We didn't miss the sauce.  I don't know if the white whole wheat flour made a difference, but I think I'll keep using it.  My hubby said it tasted like one of the wood fired pizzas from a restaurant we like.  

Handwise tips:  If you have hand pain, tendonitis, or arthritis or any other pain issues and want to make this recipe, you might space it out over a few days:

1. Use some HB5 stored dough that you made several days before.
2. Make the roasted peppers a day or two before making the pizza.  Roast them, put them in the bag to sweat, peel them, and chop them.  That's enough for one day!
3. Use pre-shredded cheese
4. Let the dough rest if it resists stretching out.  Wait 10-15 minutes, and it should be able to be patted into a larger circle or rolled out.  Good time to have a seat and rest your hands!
5. Find what kind of rolling method works best for you.  You might pick up the dough and have gravity stretch it for you.  You might use an OXO-type rolling pin.  Or a pastry roller may be easier for you to use, with the angle of the roller coming from above.
6. If a large pizza is to much to work with, try making 2 smaller pizzas.

About the HBinFive Baking Group

The HBinFive Baking Group, started by Michelle of Big Black Dogs, is baking through all of the breads in the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes book. For more information on the HBinFive baking group, check out BigBlackDog.

Deli Rye and Pumpernickel Breads

Deli Rye and Pumpernickel Breads

My husband is really in the mood for a New York deli style salami sandwich.  To make this type of sandwich, take great rye or pumpernickel bread, extremely thin-sliced salami, and add tasty deli mustard.  We had our BBQ yesterday, so this sounded like a fun dinner for this Monday day off.

I haven't seen these breads in Northeast Tennessee.  People here tend to like sweet breads, not savory breads like these.  When you bake your own breads, you can have any kind of bread you want-- whenever you want!  I love the recipes in "Artisan Breads in Five Minutes a Day" for these two breads.  Some people feel that these breads are among the best in the book.

It's been awhile since I made these breads.  Like other people in our baking group, we tried experimenting with other recipes and techniques.  It's great to get back to basic breads!

I made the dough last night.  I had about 1/2 pound of  master dough from "Healthy Breads in Five Minutes a Day" that was about 10 days old, and added it as starter for the bread.  Also, I felt that refrigerating it overnight would help the flavor.

I was only going to make enough dough for 2 loaves of deli rye.  But as long as I had the rye flour out, I thought I would try the pumpernickel loaf again.  Last time, it didn't turn out dark enough.  This time, I measured with measuring spoons/cups and not by weight.  I found that I hadn't used enough expresso coffee powder and cocoa last time.

I used the letter fold technique for the rye bread, and it gave me a nice long loaf.  I was dissappointed after it baked, however, because I felt it would only make small sandwiches.  I had hoped it would rise more.  I think that next time, I will try bread flour instead of the recommended all-purpose flour.

My hubby came to the rescue, and made submarine-type sandwiches.  He cut about 1/3 of the bread off, and then cut it horizontally for his sandwich.

The salami sandwiches tasted great with our favorite deli mustard!  We served them with our special recipe of fresh cole slaw.


The bread was absolutely wonderful.  It had a nice crust, without being crunchy.  The inside was soft and had the flavor of the caraway seeds.  Truly a wonderful combination!


I can't wait until tomorrow, when I plan to have an egg salad sandwich on the pumpernickel bread!  

YUM! 


About the HBinFive Baking Group

The HBinFive Baking Group, started by Michelle of Big Black Dogs, is baking through all of the breads in the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes book. For more information on the HBinFive baking group, check out BigBlackDog.

This post has been  yeastspotted.

 

Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Dough Hot Dog Buns, Challah

Soft Whole Wheat Hot Dog Buns

Rather than make the assigned focaccia bread for our baking group, I decided to make a familiar recipe.  We are thinking of having hot dogs again, and I needed to make buns. 

I made the Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread dough from Healthy Breads in 5 Minutes a Day.  That made great buns last time.  I decided to use white whole wheat flour for the whole wheat portion this time.  

I made the dough, and put it in the fridge overnight to improve the flavor.  My husband didn't buy the giant hot dogs this time, so I decided to use less dough for the buns. I used only 2 - 2 1/2 ounce pieces of dough.

They look just great!  I can't wait to get those hot dogs on the BBQ!

Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Challah

I needed a bread for tonight's dinner.  Since I had a lot of the Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Dough, I decided to see if it would make a twisted bread shape.  The book says to bake it in a loaf pan.

It took a bit extra flour to keep the ropes from sticking, but I was able to make a 2-rope braid.  I let it rise, put egg wash on it, and topped it with a sesame seed/poppy seed mixture.  It should be great!

I am really glad for this baking group, because I am becoming more confident and experimenting more.  Before, I wouldn't deviate from the recipe.  This time, I tried a different shape for the bread and a different size for the buns.
 

About the HBinFive Baking Group

The HBinFive Baking Group, started by Michelle of Big Black Dogs, is baking through all of the breads in the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes book. For more information on the HBinFive baking group, check out BigBlackDog.

 

Whole Grain Garlic Knots

One of the assignments for our Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day baking group is to make garlic knots.  The recipe is found on page 87 of the book.

I had heard a comment from another member that the parsley had burned while baking, so decided not to use that.  Also, I decided to use all white whole wheat.  Also, I didn't have the special cheese.  Therefore, I omitted it.

I sauteed the garlic in olive oil and let it cool while I shaped the knots and let them rise.  Next time, I think I will make a pretzel shape.  Then, I poured the garlic-infused olive oil onto the knots.  I tried to include some of the garlic.

I baked it for 30 minutes, while I went to do some things on the computer.  When time was up, I saw that the garlic had burned.  Darn!  Well, I hope it won't hurt the flavor.

It was wonderful to have the smell of garlic in the kitchen!  We thought the garlic knots were really tasty.  They make a great snack!



About the HBinFive Baking Group

The HBinFive Baking Group, started by Michelle of Big Black Dogs, is baking through all of the breads in the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes book. For more information on the HBinFive baking group, check out BigBlackDog.

Chocolate Chip challah Braid

Challah is my favorite bread to make! Some sweet, eggy recipes remind people of cake.

I took a trip to visit friends and relatives in Los Angeles recently.  I decided to  cook for my hosts, as a thank you for letting me stay with them.  I brought all kinds of easy recipes, which they all loved.  I was happy to find that the cooking relaxed me during a stressful time, and decided to bake my specialty--challah--for them.

It's really helpful, when I am busy, to make the challah dough recipe from "Artisan Breads in 5 Minutes a Day" on an evening and bake it the next morning.  Since I flew from the east coast to the west coast, getting up early was no problem!  I was up at 5a.m., shaping the breads!

I decided to make 2 challahs.  One would be plain, and the other would be chocolate chip.  I picked up the ingredients at the store, and was so happy to be making dough again! 

I rolled the dough for the chocolate chip challah into a rectangle, sprinkled it with chocolate chips and sugar.  Then I rolled it into a log.  I cut the log in half and then rolled the pieces into longer ropes.  The ropes were braided using a 2-strand braid.  I topped off the braid with egg wash, then more sugar.  The chocolate chip challah is in the foreground of the picture.


I didn't get a chance to taste these particular challahs, but I made 2 identical ones at a friend's house later that afternoon.  I learned something while baking with my friend.  Although I have been a strong supporter of using margarine in challah, I was able to tweak the flavors to get the taste I want with oil.  I'll be using oil in the future, as it is easier to use and costs less.

Everyone was in love with the flavors!  The chocolate chips were still slightly melted--it was an incredible challah!  Some people had more for dessert.

I came back to the home of my hosts to find that they had eaten both challahs.  At first, they wanted more.  But then we all started seeing that the pounds were creeping up from all my cooking and baking.  So we decided to eat more low calorie.

Therefore, I began baking for my sister and other relatives!  They couldn't believe how good my challahs were.  My sister said they were better than a bakery.  People said that I inherited my mother's baking skills, and that's quite a complement.  It was great for friends and relatives in LA to finally know why people in my current area love my challah. And it was fabulous stress relief--making all those stock pots (the 5 qt container I had available) of dough to use.


I am so glad to be back to challah baking again!  It's been 6 months for me, and I love it.

If you want to see more of the "Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" baking group's projects sponsored by Michelle of Big Black Dog, click on this link:


http://bigblackdogs.net/welcome-to-the-11th-hbinfive-bread-braid/

Moon and Stars Bread

One of the upcoming assignments for the Healthy Breads in Five Minutes a Day baking group is this Moon and Stars bread.  It's made with the "master" dough.

For the dough, I used half white whole wheat flour and half regular whole wheat flour for the whole wheat portion.  I had purchased several bags of white whole wheat flour at a recent Trader Joe's visit.  I like the way it "bakes up."

I made a double batch of dough.  This assignment works well for me right now.  I had promised some breads to some people--my gardener, my roofer, my accountant.....  I like making this master dough because it's so quick to put together.  The crescent moon shape is so pretty, and the sesame seeds are the stars.  It makes a nice presentation!

I used the letter fold method of making a smooth taper.  It works so much better than making an oval.  In addition, I used parchment paper instead of cornmeal.  When the shape is important, as in this bread, I would prefer using parchment paper.  My breads have been known to "catch" on the peel and become slightly misshapen when using cornmeal. 

Can't wait to try it, and give some breads away!

To see what other members have made this month, check out this link for the other baking blogs:

http://www.bigblackdogs.net/2008/02/hbinfive-membership-list.html