The Frugal Kitchen: Easy Flatbread

While this is an easy recipe I would not call it a fast recipe.  However, it can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator for up to three days.


INGREDIENTS

1 cup warm water
1 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. yeast
unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. olive oil

In water dissolve sugar and stir in yeast.  Wait ten minutes for it to proof.  It should be foamy, but if it isn't stop here, discard and buy some fresh yeast.

Add yeast mixture to the mixing bowl.  Add salt and oil and mix together for a second.  I used my Kitchen Aide mixer with a dough hook, but you can do this all buy hand.

Start adding the flour one heaping mixing spoon at a time.  Mixing it thoroughly until the dough is no longer sticky.  Knead until a smooth ball forms.

Add an additional teaspoon of oil to a gallon plastic bag and smear to thoroughly cover inside of bag or oil a bowl.  Add dough to the bag and seal.  If using a bowl turn dough to ensure it is covered with a light coat of oil, then cover securely.  The dough can now be refrigerated until it is to be used.

To bake, first heat a cast iron pan or griddle on medium heat and turn on the broiler in the oven.  Move oven rack to a high middle position.  Flour a flat surface and roll out a handful of dough to make a round the size of a commercial pita bread.

Lightly oil the pan with an oil saturated paper towel.  Place bread on pan and cook until it begins to brown on the bottom and small bubbles form.

Then transfer pan to the oven, under the broiler.

The dough will puff up.  When it is lightly golden brown with darker spots remove and place on a heated plate.

Melt some butter and lightly brush on both sides of bread.

Here is the finished product:

This flatbread dough can be cooked in other ways.  You can cook both sides on the stove (will not puff as much) or on the grill.  Place 1/2 inch of oil in a skillet and fry both sides of the dough to make a Navaho fry bread.  Use as a pizza dough or place a filling inside two rounds of dough and bake.  The options are as endless as your imagination.  Enjoy.

God bless,
Pam

What's On Sale In November?

I have been stocking up on baking goods for the last week.  Walgreens has an excellent sale going on for flour, sugar, shortening and chocolate chips.  I need all of these for my holiday baking, so I bought several of each.  Most of them require the store ad coupon, plus you may find some manufacturers coupons out there.  Check on the True Couponing coupon database.

My local natural food store, Nature's Food Patch, has a great sale for the entire month of November for canned pumpkin, canned sweet potato puree and other baking goods.  Their organic pumpkin puree is less expensive than the Libbys at Publix.  Blind Pig And The Acorn has a great recipe for pumpkin bread on her site today.  I love pumpkin bread; it is one of our Fall favorites.

Do you remember that last year at this time there was a pumpkin shortage?  The prices got very high and it seems to me that they just stayed high rather than going back down to normal.  Of course, I am shocked at all of the prices I see nowdays.

Christmas items are going on sale already.  Using a Walgreens store coupon I bought Hallmark wrapping paper for 99 cents a roll.  Not bad at all and the selection is still good.  I need to get our box of wrapping supplies down and see what else we will need for this year.  I bought our Christmas cards at Hallmark after the first of the year, so we are well stocked on those.

At midnight, just as black Friday is starting (day after Thanksgiving), the Apple store puts one item on sale at a deep discount.  Keep an eye out; it might be that big ticket item you can't normally afford.

The holidays can be a stressful time of the year, especially if you are strapped financially.  Remember that the things your family will remember for years are the traditions you celebrate together, not what gifts they received.

God bless,
Pam

The Frugal Kitchen: Flour Shakers

Don't we all do it?  When baking I will grease my pan, then throw in several tablespoons of flour and dust it around the inside of the pan.  I end up throwing most of the flour into the trash can.   Wasteful and definitely not frugal.

I remembered my grandma having a flour shaker to evenly shake flour into her pans or on the table before kneading bread dough.  No wasted tablespoons of flour for her.  Flour shakers were found in all mid-twentieth century American kitchens.  People had been through the Great Depression; they were not going to waste even the smallest bit of food.

Flour shakers came in many styles and sizes, but they all had fairly small holes in the top to control the amount of flour that came out.

Grandma had one with a handle that made it easy for her to grasp when her hands were wet or greasy.

Just like Grandma's

If you can't find an old flour shaker try making a simple one at home.  Take an empty spice jar with the shaker top still intact.  Fill with flour, save money and avoid wasting food.  Just like Grandma!

God bless,
Pam

The Frugal Kitchen: Dough Enhancers

In our pursuit for healthier eating and after seeing the lovely whole wheat loaves of bread being sold at bakeries, many of us embark on a mission to bake our own home baked whole wheat bread.  It's not too far fetched, we have been at least semi successful at baking white bread, why not whole wheat?  We find out why when we pull the equivalent of a whole wheat brick out of the oven.  You could build a retaining wall with that stuff!

Don't give up.  I finally figured out that most professional bakers use dough enhancers to get those beautiful, well risen loaves of wheat bread.

I discussed lecithin and it's usefulness in the kitchen when making nonstick oil (see previous post), but it is also a dough enhancer and will boost the wheat gluten's rising ability.  Other enhancers are dried wheat gluten, ascorbic acid and the list goes on (check the above link for details).

So, yes, we can bake light, well risen, wheat bread that we can be proud to serve to our family.  We can relieve their stress at trying to say the right thing about the semi-edible brick we have served them.  You know, something that won't hurt our feelings, but won't encourage us to bake this stuff again.  Let's take them off the verbal tightrope by using gluten/dough enhancers in our bread.

God bless,
Pam

Christmas Countdown: Cookies and Candy

The trick to enjoying Christmas cookie and candy making is to plan and make detailed lists.  Yesterday Dear Daughter and I chose four cookie recipes to bake, two classic and two trendy.  We will be baking mouse shaped cookies with licorice tails and almond ears, classic shortbread, multi-colored pepper shortbread and ginger bread men.

All of these recipes have one big thing in common; the dough can be made in advance and refrigerated.  That means that we can do the mixing tonight, then bake/decorate later in the week.

Look through your pantry to see which ingredients you have on hand and which you need to purchase.  If your almond extract is three years old or your other spices are over one year old, please toss them and purchase new.  Making cookies that taste odd is not frugal, money or time wise.  Make detailed lists of ingredients you need to buy and go shopping.  This is not a task to put off until the last moment.

While you are at the store check out the great prices on baking goods.  We purchase flour on sale at a very good price.  This is a good time to stock up for your pantry.

Most of all, please enjoy yourself and let your children have fun.  The cookies don't need to be worthy of appearing in a Martha Stewart episode.  They can be odd and quirky as long as they nurture your family.

God bless,
Pam

P.S.  Here is a hint:  Roll your dough out on the parchment paper you will be baking it on.  Cut out your cookie shapes and remove excess dough.  Transfer the parchment paper and cookie shapes to your baking pan.  This keeps you from having your cookie dough shapes fall apart when transferring them to the cookie sheet.