Sunday, January 22, 2012

Okie-Dokie Artichokie

So, I recently joined "Culinary Capers," which is a fun Facebook group that challenges its members with a new ingredient each week. This week's ingredient was artichokes. I decided to go with canned, and I chose to make The Way the Cookie Crumbles' spinach artichoke pizza.

I'm into TWtCC lately. This girl has got some tricks up her sleeve, I tell you what. I tried out her pizza crust recipe, using her special technique for adapting any bread recipe to whole wheat. {I mean, she didn't make it up, but she was kind enough to share it.}

The basic gist of this technique is that you make a "pre-dough" the night before, using whole wheat flour, water, and a little salt. Letting the moistened whole wheat flour ball sit overnight softens the whole wheat fibers. When you incorporate the whole wheat pre-dough into the remaining ingredients of your desired bread recipe, you get a dough that is remarkably soft and pliable for whole wheat. Neato!

Pre-dough.
Going in.
Coming out.
Crust porn.

This was good!

What I liked most about this recipe:
1. It calls for fresh spinach instead of frozen.
2. The crust is hand-formed. {Bridget recommends not using a rolling pin.}
3. Béchamel. {Need I say more?}

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That looks incredibly good!

Mom

Betsey said...

Uh, yeah. This one is definitely a keeper.

Bridget said...

Betsey, your pizza looks fantastic! I'm so glad you're sold on the whole wheat method - I haven't eaten 100% white bread in years. Why would I when I can make whole wheat bread that's every bit as good?

Betsey said...

Oh yes! I was surprised at how soft the dough was after rising, and then the excellent flavor. I had stopped making WW pizza dough because of the weird taste, but now I'm back in business. : )