#235_Pizza Rolls, Pizza and Calzones

You can make three different kinds of Pizzas by using one dough recipe.

Pizza Rolls, a.k.a. Strombolis

For fillings, I used rotisserie chicken breasts and cream cheese, fresh diced chives and garlic powder. Added Sliced ham in some and pepperoni in some and more cheese.

Before the rolled bread hit the oven, I sprinkled some grated cheddar cheese on top.

Here is the Pizza Dough recipe:
2-1/2 cups warm water
1 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2 cups whole wheat
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp instant yeast
3 tbsp vital wheat gluten
1 tsp salt

1) Put everything in the bread machine pan in the order listed above starting with the water.
2) Set the bread machine on dough cycle and let it do the mixing and kneading.
3) Let the dough rest in the bread machine pan for about 25 minutes or until it is almost doubled in size
4) Deflate the dough then take it out onto a floured surface and divide into 8 pieces or divide into half. Use one half for pizza rolls and the other half for other varieties.
5) Roll out dough into rectangles and fill with your meat/veggies fillings, then roll them up.
6) Brush top with egg wash then sprinkle with grated cheese.
7) Bake in a pre-heated 375 degrees oven for 18-20 minutes
Baking time depends on the variety of bread.

Calzone
Calzone is like a stuffed pizza or turnover.

The dough is rolled out into a disk like a pizza crust. Spoon fillings on the half side of dough then fold the other half over completely enclosing the fillings by folding the edges in and pressing with a fork.

Brush Calzones with egg wash (egg yolk plus a little water) then bake in a 375 degrees oven for 20 minutes.

Pizza

The beauty of making pizza at home is that you can customized the fillings. I don't particularly like tomato sauce in my pizza, so I made this Hawaiian style without tomato sauce. I just spread some mozzarella cheese on the pizza crust then added pineapple pieces and slices of ham, then put some of the chicken/cream cheese filling that I used to make the pizza rolls. Baked the pizza for 25 minutes at 375 degrees.

Hawaiian Pizza

Pizza crust recipe 2
Here's another recipe for pizza crust with an in-depth step-by-step procedure, posted by an online friend. Click here, then scroll down to the "comments".

#216_Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Honey Whole Wheat

I'm not usually a big fan of wheat bread,
but this has become my favorite bread as well as my husband's.
We enjoy it specially when it is fresh and warm.
Although this recipe requires 3 risings, and takes 4 hours to make,
it is still considered easy to make because
the rising time is all waiting time.
The ingredients are simple, but they are healthy ingredients....
honey and whole wheat flour, what a fantastic combination!

Here's the recipe:

(a) Sponge:
1 cup warm water
3 tsp quick-rising yeast
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup honey

2 cups bread flour

Procedure:

1) Dissolve yeast in warm water in a bowl. You can use a wire whisk to do this.
2) Mix in the honey and canola oil, then gradually stir in the flour using a wooden spoon. Mix well.
3) Cover with a plastic wrap and let it proof or ferment for about 20 minutes until the mixture becomes foamy.
This is the sponge, a very wet and sticky dough, which will be mixed in with the rest of the main dough ingredients in the bread machine pan or bucket.

(b) The main dough:

In the bread machine pan or bucket, pour in:
1-1/2 cups warm water,
then add:
the sponge
1 cup bread flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tablespoons of vital wheat gluten (edited 3-3-10)
1 tsp. dough enhancer
Turn bread machine on to dough cycle and let the machine do the mixing and kneading. This takes exactly 30 minutes with my bread machine.
(bread machines vary so, it is a good idea to get to know your bread machine first)

When the dough cycle is finished, turn the machine off, but leave dough in the pan to rise, with lid closed.

When the dough has risen, punch it down to release the air, then take the dough out of the pan onto a floured or oiled surface. Divide dough into 4 pieces, shape each piece into loaf, and place them in 4 greased 4"x 8" loaf pans.(or you can use 3 bigger loaf pans)
(here's a link on how to fold and roll the dough for bread:) http://www.artisanbreadbaking.com/discussions/folding_dough.htm)

Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
Brush top of dough with egg wash then bake in preheated 350 degrees oven for 40-45 minutes.

Let bread cool on wire rack for about 10 minutes before slicing.

(I made 2 batches, 4 loaves from each batch. As you can see one was already gone as soon as they were out of the oven. This is the beauty of making your own bread at home, you can be the first one to eat and enjoy them while they are fresh out of the oven.)

Enjoy with butter and jam or with more honey!

A note from MaMely:
The dough can be made the night before then baked in the morning. Or prep the dough in the morning and have some freshly baked bread for dinner. Allow about 1 hour for the first rising, and another 1 hour for the second rising. Rising time depends on the temperature of your kitchen.

To do this, I use regular active dry yeast instead of instant or quick-rising. Follow the steps up to the point where you have the dough in loaf pans. Cover with plastic wrap, then put them in the fridge. In the morning (after 8 hours) take them out and set them on the counter for about an hour before baking them.

Addendum:

You can also use this recipe to make wheat rolls (picture on the left below)
or wheat Pan de Sal at right

Vital Wheat Gluten

Vital Wheat Gluten at Wal-Mart

I had recieved several inquiries via e-mail from readers
where to find vital wheat gluten, an ingredient
I use in most of my yeast bread recipes, such as the
Pan de Sal, click here,
Reduced Eggs Ensaymada, here,
and Basic Sweet Dough here.
and other bread recipes.
Usually regular grocery stores don't carry them, so
I buy them at our local baking supply store
and are made here in Utah.

Yesterday as I was in one Wal-Mart store,
I spotted the Vital Wheat Gluten on their shelves at the baking aisle.
I thought I'd take a picture to post it here so my readers
would know what to look for.
I'm just hoping Wal-Mart will not sue me over this.

#118_Red Beans Ensaymada

Bean Paste-Filled Ensaymada Bun

There were two blogs that inspired me to make this
version of ensaymada:
Firs, I saw burnt lumpia's post on ensaymada, click here,
where he filled the dough with cheese.
Well, I don't like cheese that much, that's why I don't put cheese
on my ensaymada, but the idea is good and is new to me
as I never had cheese-filled ensaymada before.
Second, I saw cafenilson's post (here) on bean paste buns....
I love the bean paste in sesame balls (bochi),
and her bean paste buns look so delicious that I want to try to them.
Then a thought came, why not combine the two ideas.

Red Bean Paste

I bought this pouch of bean paste at a Korean store.
They are pre-made red bean fillings for bochi or sesame balls,
just snip off one corner of the pouch and ready to go.

I used the dough for the Reduced Eggs Ensaymada recipe#114,
but you can also use richer Ensaymada recipe #113 as well.
They are both soft as long as you follow the
whole procedure of proofing and rising.

Divide dough equally into 24 pieces.
Roll each dough out into approximately
10 inches long by 3 inches wide
and fill each one with the bean paste.
If you have a mini rolling pin like the one pictured here,
it makes it easier to roll out these little doughs.

Roll the filled dough tight and pinch the seams really good
so they won't open up during the rising process.

Coil each filled dough like you do ensaymada
and follow the rest of procedure
as directed on the ensaymada recipes.

Top the baked ensaymada with softened butter,
sprinkle with sugar and grated cheese.

I find the bean paste to be too sweet,
so I prefer mine without the toppings.

NOTES:
1) A friend of mine suggested these for variations:
For fillings, use mung bean paste or ube halaya

2) If you want to make your own red bean paste, go to cafenilson for the link.

#114_Reduced Eggs Ensaymada

This is a Reduced-Eggs Ensaymada recipe

using only 4 whole eggs and takes 3 risings
(If this recipe is a little complicated for you, you can use the
Basic Sweet dough recipe #178, click here.)


For the Sponge:
1 cup whole milk
1 tbsp quick rising yeast or instant
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup bread flour

1) Warm the milk in a bowl in microwave.

2) Stir sugar in the milk and sprinkle yeast over the mixture. Use a whisk to dissolve the yeast.
3) Let this mixture sit for a few minutes until it becomes foamy about 10 to 15 minutes.
4) Mix in the flour and stir with a sturdy wooden spoon.
5) Cover with a plastic wrap and let it rise for about 20 minutes or until bubbly. This will be a sticky, wet dough but should not be runny.
This mixture is called sponge and will be mixed in with the dough.

The Dough
3/4 cup milk, very warm
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
2/3 cup white sugar
the sponge
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large large eggs, slightly beaten (1 cup)
4 1/2 to 5 cups bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dough enhancer (my secret ingredient)
1 tsp vital wheat gluten (another secret ingredient)

1) Put everything in the bread machine pan or bucket starting with the warm milk making sure the paddles are in place.

2) Use the dough cycle and let the machine do the stirring and kneading.
3) When the cycle is finished, take the dough out and place it in a well-greased bowl and cover with a plastic wrap to rise until doubled in bulk.
This is the SECOND RISING.

Option: Instead of transferring the dough into a bowl, you can leave the dough in the bread machine bucket or pan, put the lid down and let the dough rise until doubled in bulk.

The Traditional Coiled Ensaymada

How to coil the dough:

1) Lightly punch the dough down and take it out onto a floured surface.

2) Divide the dough into half then cut the half into 12 pieces.
3) Do the same thing with the other half of dough, cutting it into 12 pieces, so you have 24 pieces all together.
4) Roll dough into ropes about 8 inches long, fat on one end and tapered on the other end. Take the fat end with your forefinger and thumb and coil dough around tucking the tapered end under.

Braided Ensaymada

5) For braided ensaymada, divide dough into 48 pieces. Twist together 2 ropes. Hold the twisted dough with your forefinger and thumb, and coil the rest of dough around, tucking the tapered end under.

6) Place coiled dough in greased molds.

(Sorry, I did not get to take pictures while braiding the doughs. Burnt Lumpia, a blog, gives a very good illustrations on how to braid the doughs. Click here for the link).


This recipe makes 24 braided pieces using the ensaymada moulds with base measuring
2 1/4 inches in diameter.

If you're using ensaymada molds, grease each mold with shortening, then place the molds on a cookie sheet.

If using cookie sheets without the molds, line the sheets with parchment papers.

The 3rd Rising

This is an important process in order
to achieve a flavorful pillow-soft, but not airy rolls

The picture above is recycled from ensaymada recipe #113.

1) Place the molds with coiled doughs in cookie sheets.
2) Turn the oven on for just 1 minute or until the temperature reaches 8o degrees and then turn it off. (Make sure the temperature is not hotter than 80 degrees).
3) Place the cookie sheet with the ensaymadas below the middle rack, then shut the oven door. Let the dough rise until they are soft and springy to the touch, about 20-30 minutes.

4) Or boil some water in a pot and place this pot right on the oven floor.
5) With the oven door shut, let the dough rise for about 30 minutes or longer.
6) When dough has doubled in size, soft and spongy or springy to the touch, take the pan and pot out and turn the oven on to 350 degrees to pre-heat.
7) Bake the ensaymadas for 18-20 minutes.

You can leave them plain or slather them with butter

then sprinkle sugar and grated cheese on top.
They are good for meriendas or for breakfast.

Notes from MaMely
1) You can use this recipe for almost any kind or shape you want such as for dinner rolls, croissant rolls, Parker house rolls, etc.

2) If you want to let the dough rise overnight in the fridge, here's some tips:
a) use regular yeast, not instant as the dough might rise too fast if you use the instant kind.
b) after the dough cycle if finished, take the dough out and place it in a well greased bowl, turning it upside down to coat the other side of dough with grease or oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight,(about 8 hours). The next day take out dough and let it stand for about 1 hour then proceed to the rest of the procedure, i.e. punch dough down, shape, etc.

3) Store this kind of breads in plastic bread bags or in air tight containers to keep them soft for days. Microwave old rolls for 10-15 seconds to make them oven-fresh.
Do not store them in paper bags as they will get hard. French breads and baguettes kind of breads are stored in paper sacks to keep their nice crusts.

Important bread-making tips from KAF bakers

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/100-whole-wheat-sandwich-bread-recipe

• Don't bother heating the orange juice to lukewarm; you can use it straight out of the fridge. The orange juice won't add its own flavor to the bread, but will mellow any potential bitterness in the whole wheat.
• If you're kneading bread by hand, it's tempting to keep adding flour till the dough is no longer sticky. Resist the temptation! The more flour you add while you're kneading, the heavier and drier your final loaf will be.
• The amount of liquid you use to make the "perfect" dough will vary with the seasons. Flour is like a sponge; it absorbs water during the humid days of summer, and dries out during the winter. Your goal should be making the dough as it's described (e.g., cohesive, soft but not sticky), rather than sticking religiously to the amount of liquid.
• When making yeast bread, let the dough rise to the point the recipe says it should, e.g., "Let the dough rise till it's doubled in bulk." Rising times are only a guide; there are so many variables in yeast baking (how you kneaded the dough; what kind of yeast you used) that it's impossible to say that bread dough will ALWAYS double in bulk in a specific amount of time.

#20_ Pan de Sal ( Philippine Dinner Rolls)

Pannn-de-sssssaaaallll!!!

Growing up, these ubiquitous dinner rolls were a very popular breakfast item among Filipinos for their versatility and convenience. We used to fill them with scrambled eggs, sardines, mackerel omeletes, corned beef, you name it, the list can go on and on. I remember every bakery in the city was opened as early as 4:00 in the morning and if you came in a little past 7:00 a.m. you were lucky if there was some left for you.
Pan De Sal was one of the first Filipino food that I missed when I left home. I'm so lucky that a family friend, Bayani Parayno, who had a bakery back in his hometown, showed me how to form the pandesal using dough made in the bread machine.

About 22 years ago my husband gave me a bread maker for Mother's Day and it probably idled for a couple of years after I used it once, because the loaf of bread I made didn't turn out very well. I said, "The heck! I can't make bread..it's cheaper to buy it". Not long after that, I gave it another try, studied the manual instructions, and experimented with different recipes. After that I was hooked and spoiled too, because I can't make breads without this machine.

This recipe is from my sister, Melita, which was given to her by a friend, but I had made some alterations to suit my bread machine. The beauty of this recipe is that it only requires one rising, and no need of proofing the yeast which means you don't need to activate the yeast in warm water first before mixing it with the other ingredients.

(I'm going to update this Pan de Sal dough recipe and share with you some changes I had made. Due to the higher cost of Bread Flour nowadays, I had switched to All Purpose Flour in practically all of my bread recipes, and increased the amount of Vital Wheat Gluten....gotta have the Vital Wheat Gluten if using all purpose flour. I also made adjustments on some other ingredients for a better yield. This new recipe yields 32 pieces or more depending on how you roll and cut the dough. The old recipe only yield 24. The changes I made here are indicated by red asterisk).

Ingredients:

2-1/4* cups milk, warm (or 1-1/4 cup milk + 1 cup water)

1/3 cup white sugar

1/2 stick butter, very soft

6 cups* all purpose flour* (plus 1/4 cup if needed)

2-1/4* tsp Saf instant yeast

1 tsp dough enhancer, my secret ingredient, now revealed

1 Tbp* vital wheat gluten, another secret ingredient

1 tsp salt

1 egg, slightly beaten

Baking Procedure:

1. Put all the ingredients in the bread machine pan in order given above starting with the warm milk.

2. Select "Basic Dough" or "Quick Dough" setting and let the machine do the mixing and kneading. Mine takes 30 minutes to do the cycle. Its a good idea to experiment with your bread makers first.

3. Take the dough out of the pan and divide it in half for easy handling, or use the other half for other kinds of bread like cinnamon rolls, or just plain dinner rolls. Cover it with greased plastic wrap.

4. On a floured surface, ( I prefer to use oil) roll out half of the dough into rectangle

5. Starting on the side closest to you, roll up the dough like you would jelly roll only tighter and longer like a stick. Make sure to seal the seams securely by pinching them using your thumb and forefinger. Do the same with the other half

6. Using a dough cutter, or a knife, slice the rolled-up dough into 1-1/2 to 2-inch thickness

7. Toss these slices of dough onto some bread crumbs, coating each cut side with the crumbs and gently form them into somewhat oval shapes

8. Arrange them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Let rise for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until they are doubled in size,(that's all the rising they need). Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven for 18 to 23 minutes depending on your oven.

This is an authentic old fashion kind of Pan de Sal, soft but not fluffy. If you grew up in the 50's and 60's you know what I mean. You want your Pan de Sal to be hefty enough or strong enough to hold up to the fillings we Filipinos put in our rolls (palaman sa tinapay).

Now you can enjoy warm Pan de Sal anytime even if you're away from the Philippines.

Gramma enjoys her pandesal with hot cocoa while Grampa Gregg likes his with peanut butter and raspberry jam

grandson Conner

and grandaughter, Aurionna enjoy their rolls with just plain butter.

Notes from MaMely:

1. I also use this recipe for just plain dinner rolls. After the dough cycle is finished take the dough out and form into rolls about (more or less) 2 1/2 inches diameter. Arrange rolls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the temperature in your home. Bake same way as pandesal.

2. Another name for dough enhancer is dough conditioner. If you don't have dough enhancer, you can crush a vitamin C tablet, (500 mg or 1,000 mg). This will act as dough conditioner. I learned this from a book entitled " BREAD BAKING MADE EASY" by Dora Flack (1984). She also said that dough conditioner works as a yeast enhancer, helping it (the yeast) to achieve its maximum potential. It also strengthens the gluten and produces a lighter, more elastic bread.

3. Wheat Gluten, according to her, wheat gluten traps the gases given off by the yeast enabling the dough to rise higher. It gives better texture and helps retain moisture in breads and dough. It also prevent crumbling.

3. Put the egg on one side of the pan and the yeast on one side so they won't be touching each other. You don't want the egg in the warm water either as you might end up with a poached egg. This is just a precaution.

Important bread-making tips from KAF bakers

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/100-whole-wheat-sandwich-bread-recipe

• Don't bother heating the orange juice to lukewarm; you can use it straight out of the fridge. The orange juice won't add its own flavor to the bread, but will mellow any potential bitterness in the whole wheat.
• If you're kneading bread by hand, it's tempting to keep adding flour till the dough is no longer sticky. Resist the temptation! The more flour you add while you're kneading, the heavier and drier your final loaf will be.
• The amount of liquid you use to make the "perfect" dough will vary with the seasons. Flour is like a sponge; it absorbs water during the humid days of summer, and dries out during the winter. Your goal should be making the dough as it's described (e.g., cohesive, soft but not sticky), rather than sticking religiously to the amount of liquid.
• When making yeast bread, let the dough rise to the point the recipe says it should, e.g., "Let the dough rise till it's doubled in bulk." Rising times are only a guide; there are so many variables in yeast baking (how you kneaded the dough; what kind of yeast you used) that it's impossible to say that bread dough will ALWAYS double in bulk in a specific amount of time.

UPDATE ....

4-14-09

Click here to link to Malisa's blog where Malisa, the author, made this recipe with some few adjustments. Other than the few changes she made, she is happy with the result. (Read her nice comment in this post too).