Crusty Creations

I made bread! I didn’t exactly follow a recipe but just used what I had and my limited knowledge of making pizza dough. I leaned the amounts of flour, water, and yeast on recipes on VegWeb, and used the baking time, temperature, and technique from a bread baking book my mom gave me.

Multigrain Bread

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 cups white unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup rolled oats (+ 1 Tbsp for sprinkling on top)
• 1 Tbsp poppy seeds
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 tsp dry active yeast
• sprinkle of oil
• about 2 Tbsp agave nectar (reserve about 1 tsp for glaze)

Stir the yeast and agave into the warm water and leave to rest while you combine all the flours, oats, seeds, and salt in a large bowl. When the yeast has been sitting for 10 minutes, stir it into the flour and form a dough. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes on a floured surface with flour-dusted hands until the dough is smooth and springy.

Form into a ball and leave, covered, in a lightly oiled bowl at room temperature to rise until about double in size. Depending on the ambient temperature this might take anywhere from 1.5 hours to 8 hours (if you leave it in the fridge for example).

Punch down dough with kuckles and knead lightly before shaping into desired shape (braid anyone?). Place on lightly oiled baking sheet and leave to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425° F and place a baking sheet or other container with water inside the oven to increase humidity (will make for a crispier crust). Mix a few drops of water with a bit of agave and brush the loaf with this liquid. Sprinkle some rolled oats on the loaf. Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 375°-400° F (depending on your oven). Check back after 30 minutes. You can turn off the heat a little bit before the bread is done, the residual heat can finish the loaf. Test if the loaf is done by taking it out of the oven, holding it in a dish towel and tapping the bottom with your knuckles. It should be firm and dry, but not burnt.

Balsamic Tomato Pizza

I have never made my own pizza. I’m always scared of working with yeast, thinking it won’t rise or something else will go wrong. I’m proven wrong every time.

Balsamic Tomato Pizza

• One pizza dough recipe from “Garden of Vegan” (I used whole wheat flour)
• 1 large tomato
• 3 cloves garlic, mashed
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp marjoram
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• dash of sweet paprika
• dash of ground cumin
• salt to taste
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• One half of a green bell pepper, sliced
• 3 beets, steamed and grated
• handful of fresh basil leaves
• freshly ground black pepper

Make the pizza dough according to directions. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic. When garlic is starting to brown, add dry herbs and spices. Chop half of the tomato finely and add to the pan. Now add tomato paste, nutritional yeast, balsamic vinegar, and bell pepper. Cook until the sauce turns thick (this may take a bit). Add the grated beets and spread the sauce on the pizza dough. Slice the other half of the tomato into thin slices and layer with the basil leaves on top of the sauce. Add pepper.
Bake at 350°F for about 30-40 minutes.