Kitchen Trails - Whole Meal Pizza

I try to eat less gluten, and when I do eat them, I try to eat whole grains.

I have always been a bit wary of using yeast in my baking, but pizza dough seems easy enough, even for me hehehe

So today I forayed into making whole meal pizza dough. 

Ingredients

1 envelope instant yeast (you can use active dried yeast, just need to rest it longer)

1 tsp sugar

1 1/3 cup warm water

2 tbsp olive oil

1- 2 tsp salt

1 tbsp honey (optional)

3 1/2 cups whole meal flour plus extra for kneading

Corn meal, to dust the baking tray/sheet/stone

Method

(I chose to add the yeast into the water and sugar even though I used instant yeast.)

In a mixing bowl, add the yeast, warm water and sugar. Give it a stir and let it sit for a few minutes to activate. It will foam a little

Add in the olive oil and honey and salt. Stir to mix

Add in the flour. At this point you can either mix it with a spatula, a big spoon or with your hands. Or use the dough hook (use a slow - medium speed) on the stand mixer if you are using a mixer.

Mix/knead for 10 minutes. The dough should be less sticky at this point. If it's still wet-ish and sticky, add a bit more flour (a tbsp at a time) and knead. Do not add in too much flour, else your pizza base will turn out really hard and dry. If on the other hand, the dough is dry and flaky, add in water a tbsp at a time and knead.

Once the dough is smooth and soft, and will slowly "bounce" back if you prod it, it's ready for proofing. Otherwise, continue kneading a bit more.

Apply a thin layer of olive oil on the walls of a BIG bowl and plop the dough in, gently cover the whole ball of dough in a thin film of olive oil. Use cling film and cover the bowl well. Let it rest in a warm place for the yeast to work its magic. The dough should double the size. It can take from 1- 2 hours, depending on yeast amount, temperature, etc etc.

Preheat the oven to 235 C. Let it preheat for a good 30 mins. We need the oven to be really hot when we put the pizza in.

Once it has risen nicely, cut and divide the dough into 4. Dust a working surface with flour and gently pull, roll and shape the dough into a disc shape. Roll the dough thinner if you want a thin crust, and leave it thicker if you want a chewier crust. You get the idea.

Some like to "pinch" and shape the edges into a lip to sort of "hold" the toppings, I prefer it to be kinda flat.

Apply a good coat of olive oil on the pizza. Now, I like to bake the base for 5 minutes to kinda "set" it. This is a optional step. Some will put the topping and bake the pizza at a go.

Add the topping and bake for about 15 minutes, depending on how thick your pizza base is.

Enjoy!!

Kitchen Trails - Healthier Carrot Cake

I was looking for a healthier option for carrot cake, and after some research, I came up with this version. Using half all purpose flour and half whole grain flour, low fat yoghurt instead of butter for the cream cheese, using coconut palm sugar syrup instead of refined sugar for the cake.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole meal flour

2 tsp baking soda 

Cinnamon powder

Pinch of cardamom powder

Pinch of salt

Gula melaka 300g, melted in 1/4 cup water

3 eggs

Yoghurt 1/4 cup

Vegetable Oil 1cup (I used olive oil)

Vanilla extract 

Zest of 1/2 orange 

Carrots, finely grated, 3 cups

Frosting 

200g Low fat cream cheese

2 tbsp Yoghurt

2 tbsp Honey

1/2 cup Pecans, toasted, chopped and mixed in 2 tbsp maple syrup/gula Melaka (optional)

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 175 C. Prepare two 8-inch baking pans, butter the bottom and sides, and line the bottom with baking paper, butter the top of the paper, and then flour the pans

Whisk the 2 flours, baking soda, cinnamon powder, cardamom powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In another bowl, beat the eggs thoroughly with a whisk or hand held or stand mixer. 

Add the gula melaka syrup and beat thoroughly to incorporate with the eggs. Then beat in the yoghurt, vanilla extract, and orange zest. Slowly drizzle in the oil as you beat the wet ingredients.

Fold in half of the dry ingredients, mix with a rubber spatula until just incorporated, and fold in the other half and do the safe. Do not over mix.

Lastly, add in the carrots and stir until just mixed.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, checking at 35 mins. Poke a skewer or toothpick in the middle of the cake and it should come out clean once it's done. If there's wet batter sticking to the skewer, bung back into the oven for another 10 minutes and check again.

Once the cake is done, let it cook in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove from pan and let cool completely.

Frosting: 

Whisk/beat/mix cream cheese, yoghurt and honey until it's well mixed. Set in the fridge for 30 mins to let it set a little. Spread the cream cheese frosting in between the two layers of cake and the top, spreading to the sides if there's enough. Top with toasted pecan bits if preferred.

Note: if the cream cheese topping is too thick, then add a little milk of choice to thin it out