After receiving my lovely flour mill as a birthday gift, I’ve finally expanded some of my baking to include the freshly ground whole wheat flour.   Last night I made Honey Whole Wheat Pizza and oh my goodness I’ve never had pizza quite like that before.  I have always been afraid of yeast and have only ever sucessfully made plain white bread with it.  This week marks new endeavors with it and it has been so far so fun.  The pizza recipe was quite quick, it doesn’t have to rise forever.  I made some pizza sauce with leftovers in the fridge and mozzarella and a few cut up pieces of meatballs.  I hadn’t planned on making it until about 3 PM so next time we’ll have more fun with toppings for sure.  But this pizza meant I didn’t have to run to Papa Murphy’s so it saved me money and it was much better on many levels.

Here is the recipe for the dough –

• 1 small onion minced
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 1/4 tsp yeast (quick)
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 T honey
• 2 1/4 whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 T gluten
• 2 tsp salt

Brown onions, then garlic with a tad bit of olive oil.  Set aside.  In a small bowl, dissolved honey, then yeast in warm water.  Let stand till creamy, about 10 min.  In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, gluten, onion/garlic, Italian seasoning, and salt.  Make a well in the middle and add honey/yeast mixture.  Knead in remaining flour.  If making thin crust, roll out immediately and top with toppings then bake.  If making focaccia or thick crust pizza, cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place.  Roll dough on a floured and greased pizza pan.  Allow to rise while preheating oven to 350 degrees.  Top with sauce, cheese, meat, veggies, whatever!  Bake for 20 minutes watching carefully to ensure it doesn’t burn.  Make sure the middle is cooked through.

This slice managed to live long enough for a photo but quickly vanished along with the rest of the pizza.

On Friday I was cleaning out the freezer and found frozen dinner rolls.  I remembered on of my small group girls raving about “Monkey Bread” and making it for me once.  It was amazing and sticky and super yummy.  It took about 3 minutes to prepare Friday night, sat in the oven till morning when I turned the oven on and cooked it for 30 minutes.  The overnight transformation went something like this.

Before:

After:

It made SO much that I sent a bunch next door and brought some to another friends later in the morning (and everyone here ate their fill except me-I limited myself to 3 pieces).  Here is the recipe for the pull apart Monkey Bread:

• 1 package (24 rolls) frozen white dinner rolls
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 package butterscotch pudding
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup walnuts (I used pecans)
• 1/2 cup butter

Grease bundt pan.  Place frozen rolls in pan.  Mix brown sugar and pudding mix then sprinkle over rolls.  Mix granulated sugar and cinnamon, sprinkle over rolls.  Sprinkle with nuts if desired.  Cut butter into little cubes and place over all.  Do not cover.  Place in oven overnight.  Next morning, turn on oven and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.