Grilled BBQ Pizza with Whole Wheat Olive Oil Dough: HBinFive

I saved the best for last. For the final bread of the March 1st bread braid, we were supposed to make Southwestern Focaccia with Roasted Corn and Goat Cheese; however, I opted to make pizza instead.  Read on to find out why.

The Healthy Bread In Five Minutes’ book provides several dough options for making the Southwestern Focaccia.  One option is to use Mesquite Dough made with a mixture of Mesquite flour, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour and corn masa. Well, when I found out about mesquite flour, that just put this Focaccia over the top for me.  I just couldn’t see making this bread with any other dough besides the Mesquite dough.  I haven’t found Mesquite Flour (yet) so I decided to wait and make the Focaccia when I do find it.  The recipe also calls for roasted corn so I thought it would be awesome to wait until I can get some fresh corn and roast it on the grill.  If I can wait that long, that is…

Some of the other bakers in the group decided to make pizza with the whole wheat dough. I thought that was a great idea! I decided to grill the pizza rather than baking it on a baking stone like I usually do because it was beautiful day in Atlanta yesterday and I just wanted to be outside.  Of course, by the time I got around to grilling it, it was a little bit nippy but still sunny.

I’ve also been wanting to try some of the recipes in my Pizza on the Grill Cookbook and I thought this dough would be perfect.  I even got to use my handy foldable pizza peel.  This is the main reason I got this particular pizza peel in the first place.  It has a longer handle and it’s metal (the peel not the handle) so I thought it would be good for all the grilled pizza I plan to make.  This is only the second time I’ve grilled pizza, but based on the results, I’ll be doing this more.

Grilled Barbeque Pizza with Whole Wheat and Olive Oil Dough

Recipe adapted from Pizza on the Grill by Elizabeth Karmel and Bob Blumer.
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Ingredients:

• 1 large boneless, skinless, chicken breast (about 12 ounces) or any sliced cooked chicken breast. I used grilled chicken tenders.
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 1/4 cup uncooked grits or polenta, for rolling the dough.
• 1 ball prepared pizza dough, at room temperature. I used Healthy Bread in Fives Minutes Whole Wheat with Olive Oil dough, but you can use any pizza dough.)
• 1/4 cup Barbeque sauce
• 1 cup grated smoked mozzarella.  (I just used regular mozzarella.)
• 1 cup grated Colby jack cheese.  (I opted not to use this cheese even though I had some.)
• 1/2 medium red onion, cut 1/8 inch thick and separate into rings.
• 1/2 bell pepper (any color), halved, seeded, and cut into very thin strips. (I used a red bell pepper.)
• BBQ rub or red pepper flakes. (We just added more BBQ sauce instead of using the rub.)
  

 

Directions:

If you’re not using leftover chicken, then you’ll want to grill the chicken before you make the pizza. 

Preheating the grill

For a gas grill, set all the burners to high.  Close the lid and leave on high for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat of all the burners to medium.

Brush the chicken breast (or tenders) with 1 tablespoon of the oil and season with salt and pepper.  Place the chicken on the cooking grate directly over the heat and grill until no longer pink in the middle, 10 to 12 minutes, turning once halfway through.  Set aside until just ready to use, then cut into 1/4-inch thick strips.

Shaping the Pizza

For this pizza, I made up another 1/2 batch of the 100% whole wheat and olive oil dough using Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour this time instead of freshly milled whole wheat flour. I let it ferment for a few hours, then refrigerated it overnight.

When I was ready to make the pizza the next day, I shaped the dough into two balls and let them rest on the counter while I was grilling the chicken.

Then, I shaped the pizza by stretching it out with my hands, pressing it out from the center against the work surface. You’re supposed to make a 12-inch, organically shaped piece of dough – round, square, or rectangular – 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick; however, I made it in the shape to fit my pizza peel to make it easier to handle – or so I hoped. Then I brushed both sides of the dough generously with oil. I was really getting into the whole process so I forgot to take a picture of this part. 

Grilling the Pizza

The instructions say to pick up the dough by the two corners closet to you and in one motion, lay it down flat on the cooking grate from back to front (as you would set a tablecloth down on a table). This was a little bit tricky.  I used the pizza peel to transfer the dough to the grill and then placed it as carefully as I could. Since I needed three hands for this already, I didn’t get a photo.  

Close the lid and grill for 3 minutes (no peeking!), then check the crust and, if necessary, continue grilling a few more minutes until the bottom is well marked and nicely browned.>



Use tongs to transfer the crust from the grill to a peel or rimless baking sheet.  Close the lid of the grill.  Flip the crust to reveal the grilled side.



Then, brush the entire surface with the BBQ sauce.  For the first pizza, I used some BBQ sauce I got in San Antonio the last time I was there on business. I didn’t have quite enough for two pizzas so I used some hickory smoked BBQ sauce as well.  My sons and I decided it tastes better with the Hickory or other smoked flavor.  I used that on the second pizza and the flavors worked together much better.
Top with the chicken and sprinkle with the cheeses. Arrange the onion rings and all of the bell pepper over the cheese.



Switch the grill to indirect heat by turning off the center burner(s) if you have a three- or four-burner grill.  For a two-burner grill, turn off one burner.  I have a three-burner grill so I turned off the center burner. 
Set the pizza back on the grate over indirect heat (the unlit section) and grill, with the lid down, until the bottom is well browned and the cheese is melted, 7 to 10 minutes.



Remove from the grill, sprinkle with the BBQ rub, and season with salt and pepper.



We added extra BBQ sauce instead of the rub and pepper flakes.  Although I’m sure my sons would’ve loved the pepper flakes, I kind of forgot.



Slice and serve immediately.  Not that I needed any urging to do that.



I thought this pizza tasted wonderful, particularly since it had a whole wheat crust. My oldest son just shook his head up and down when he took a bite – that’s a good thing!  When I told him it was 100% whole wheat, he said, “I don’t taste it!”  Another good thing.

My youngest son ate dinner at a friend’s house so he didn’t try it until later.  When I asked him how he liked it, he said “it was awesome!”  It was then I told him that the crust was 100% whole wheat.  He was very surprised and had a pleasant smile on his face. He told me it’s the best pizza I’ve made yet and “it’s grilled”. Something about guys and grills I guess.

I baked the other pizza on the pizza stone in the oven to compare and there was a big difference.  The flavor of the whole wheat was definitely stronger.  The baked version was really good, but the grilled pizza just blended all the flavors together much better.




There were a couple of things I liked better about the baked version, however.  For one, I added more BBQ sauce and used only the hickory-smoked which gave it a big flavor burst. I also put all the toppings (chicken, onions, and peppers) under the cheese.  It definitely had a better flavor.

My sons and I loved this pizza. I don’t know that it’s the best pizza I’ve made, but I do think we have a winner here.  Hey!  When you can get your 20-year old and 17-year old sons to eat something that is good for them, it’s definitely a good thing.  I’ll be making this one again.

Thanks for joining me in the bread-baking blog.  Check out Michelle's blog to see what everyone else baked for the March 1st bread braid.




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 new HBinFive baking group, check out Michelle's blog.





Happy Baking!
Cathy

Here are some additional bread-making resources:

• Pizza Recipes
• Bread Recipes
• Bread Cookbooks
• Bread Making
• Baking Supplies
• Bread Flour
• Bread Mixes

You might enjoy some of the other breads that have been featured in the bread making blog.

Aloo Paratha (Stuffed Flatbread): HBinFive

Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old…

For some reason, that nursery rhyme pops into my head every time I think about this Aloo Paratha. I suppose it’s because it’s stuffed with a mixture of peas, potatoes and curry.  I even had my boyfriend singing the rhyme the other night while I was making it.  We were quite the pair.

This is another bread I almost didn’t make. It’s not that I didn’t want to. I had all the ingredients and I had even made the ghee, but I just wasn’t in the mood the night I planned to make it. However, I had invited my boyfriend over for dinner and he thought the Aloo Paratha sounded really good so I made it anyway.  I’m glad I did.  We both enjoyed it!

This version of Aloo Paratha is made using the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes 100% Whole Wheat Olive Oil Bread dough.

Making ghee (clarified butter)

Aloo Paratha uses ghee (instead of butter) which I thought might be hard to find until I learned how easy it is to make. Ghee is basically just clarified butter. To make it, just heat unsalted butter until it melts, bring it to a boil and cook until it is frothy.  Then cook it gently until the milk solids float to the bottom of the pan.  Strain it, cool completely, then put it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.  It will last for a month in the refrigerator. 

 

Making the Aloo Paratha

I had already weighed out the dough a couple of days earlier when I made the 100% whole wheat with olive oil bread so I just took out the remaining piece and formed it into a ball.

Then, I used my palms and the rolling pin to get the dough rolled out to about 1/8-inch thick.  I also put it on a greased piece of parchment so it would be easier to work with and transfer to the baking stone. 

Then I spread the mixture of mashed potatoes, curry, ghee, neutral-flavored oil and peas on one side.  I used frozen peas and didn’t even have to thaw them.  I thought it might make it too watery but it didn’t. I kind of spread it over more than half, but it was ok.

Then I brushed the outside edges with water and folded the other half over and sealed it by pinching it closed with my fingertips.

Then, I brushed the top with more ghee and sprinkled on more curry.

Using a serrated knife, I cut 3 slits in the top crust, all the way through the top layer of dough.

Then I slid it onto the baking stone (in the preheated oven) with the steam pan underneath.

 

And, baked it for about 35 minutes, until it was golden brown. 

Here it is.  I think it’s kind of neat with the mashed potato mixture peeping out from under the slits.

It turned out a little bit crunchy on the outside which I liked because if offset the soft inside.  My boyfriend and I were very pleased with this bread.  We really liked the flavor.  It was filling as well.  It wasn’t too filling, but we didn’t need anything else with it and we only ate half of it.

I really liked this version of Aloo Paratha.  It had a wonderful flavor.  However, I’ve never had this before so I would like to try an authentic version.  It just so happens that one of the other bakers in the HBinFive group is from India and she has a more traditional version of Aloo Paratha, on her blog My Diverse Kitchen.  I’ll have to try that one.  It sounds really good.

Thanks for joining us in the bread-baking blog.  Look for more breads from the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes Baking Group.

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 new HBinFive baking group, check out Michelle's blog.

 

 

Happy Baking!
Cathy

Whole Wheat Olive Oil Bread with Home-Milled Flour: HBinFive

For the March 1st Bread Braid, our mission was to make several different types of breads using the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes 100% Whole Wheat Olive Oil Dough: 1 loaf of 100% Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil; 1 loaf of Aloo Paratha; and Whole Wheat BBQ Pizza.

Due to my busy schedule the past couple of weeks, particularly with baking 27 breads for the STIR IT 28 Atlanta Event last weekend, I had to wait until the last minute to make the breads for the bread braid.  I’ll be honest, I almost blew this one off.  I was so exhausted at the beginning of the week, I didn’t want to think about bread much less make any for awhile. Plus, I kept doing stupid things like dropping a whole pan of taco meat on the floor while I was trying to put it away.  But, that’s a story for another day…

My bread-baking reprieve didn’t last very long – two days to be exact.  By Wednesday, I was having withdrawals.  So, I decided to make a half batch of the whole wheat with olive oil dough.

100% Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil
You can find the recipe here.



I’ve been doing some more research on home-milling and using different types of grains.  According to my new book (Flour Power: A Guide to Modern Home Grain Milling by Marietta F. Basey), hard red spring wheat has a higher protein content than hard red winter wheat due to the shorter growing cycle, but hard red winter wheat has a better flavor due to the longer growing season (they are both harvested in the summer) so I decided to use a mixture of both.

I used 1 cup of flour made from hard red winter wheat, 1 cup of flour made from hard red spring wheat and 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour I got from the farmer’s market.  I used more of the farmer’s market flour mainly because I didn’t have enough home-milled flour to make the 3 1/2 cups.  The flour from the farmer’s market didn’t specify the type of wheat (only that it was Kansas wheat), but I’m pretty sure it was red winter wheat. 


The home-milled whole wheat flour had also been sifted once to separate the bran and germ.  The resulting flour is called clear flour. Clear flour still retains some of the finer bran fiber from the outer endosperm of the wheat berry and is thus coarser and contains higher levels of ash.  We used this technique in the BBA Challenge for the Marbled Rye Bread. It is usually made from very high-protein wheat and is used for whole-grain and high-fiber breads.

I made up the dough and let it ferment on the counter for a few hours.  However, I didn’t put it in the refrigerator for the overnight retard.  The consistency of the dough looked, smelled and felt so good, I decided to go ahead and bake part of it.



I weighed out two portions.  Each piece weighed slightly under a pound, but it was close enough. I used one piece for this bread and saved the other one for the Aloo Paratha.

 

I shaped the dough into a ball and let it rest for a couple of minutes.  Then I shaped the ball into an elongated oval, placed it on parchment paper, and let the dough rest on the counter for about 90 minutes.  Right before baking, I made three slashes in the loaf using a serrated knife.




Then, I sprayed the loaf with water and sprinkled a mixture of seeds on top. After that, I sprayed the loaf with spray oil to try and keep all (some) of the seeds from falling off.



Then, I placed it on the baking stone with a steam pan underneath and baked it for about 30 minutes.  It had good oven spring.



Here is the finished loaf.



I really liked this bread.  It was very flavorful, not dense at all. It tasted really good as a PB&J.  As I’ve mentioned before, my test of whether a bread is good or not is if it tastes good with PB&J or at least with peanut butter. This one passed the test with flying colors.



I loved the flavor of this bread. It’s one of my favorites so far.  I think part of it is because of the flour I used.  It was fresh and had a wonderful flavor. All I know is that I’ll definitely be making this bread again and using this flour mixture.

Thanks for joining me in the bread-baking blog.  I’ll discuss the other two breads next time. Check out Michelle's blog on March 1st to see what everyone else baked with this dough.




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 new HBinFive baking group, check out Michelle's blog.





Happy Baking!
Cathy