Poly Dough - pizza, bread, fry bread, cinnamon rolls, etc.

O.K., guys & gals, not to get off the subject - but, I did see a grilled cheese sandwich in here.

Try a grilled cheese this way with thin sliced cheese or purchased thin sliced cheese.

1. Butter 2 pieces of bread, not too thick on the butter.
2. Place the first slice butter side down in your waffle iron.
3. Place slices of cheese on that piece of bread - to your liking, but not too much.
4. Place the other slice of bread on top of the cheese with the buttered side up.
5. Pull the waffle iron together - and you may have to hold it together - for three minutes.
6. Pull your grilled cheese sandwich out - cut into 4 sections - and enjoy!

Some brave soul can try this with the bread made from the 'Wheaton Formula' and report back to everyone as to how great that grilled cheese sandwich really is.

We are thinking of making a poly dough vid.  And the focus will be on all the variety of possible creations one could make with poly dough.  

I think a fun bit, to end the video with would be to say "pizza" and show pics of a dozen different pizzas.

For today, what are things you can make with poly dough that are not yet on this list?

   raisin bread
   apple bread
   jalapeno cheese bread
   dumplings

Stephen is asking for cookies made with polydough.

Braided bread?

I know that magdalene once made bread rings and covered them in sugar and called them donuts.  They were a nice treat, but "donuts" was a stretch.

Stephen made bread bowls to go with soup.


T Melville calls this a "cheesy bacony pie tart thing"



Is there a better name?



What are some other creations not yet mentioned in this thread?

paul wheaton wrote:T Melville calls this a "cheesy bacony pie tart thing"...

...Is there a better name?

One would hope!

T Melville wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:T Melville calls this a "cheesy bacony pie tart thing"...

...Is there a better name?

One would hope!

in a way, it is a micro pizza.  Only more bowl shaped with more goodies.

Maybe a savory galette?

Right now, dear hubby and I are on a kick for dinner rolls.

These rolls can be made in several shapes though I like cloverleaf rolls.

The unusual thing about this kick is that is what we are having for supper most nights.

No meat or vegetables just dinner rolls ...

I like mine with maple butter.

What in earth is poly dough???

Gaurī Rasp wrote:What in earth is poly dough?

See the top of this thread: https://permies.com/t/1371/Poly-Dough-pizza-bread-fry#8292

First attempt at a Cookie recipe for Paul's Poly Dough.  My son says they are like the pizza place sweets...lol.

1/4 of Paul's Poly Dough

1 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 c Granulated Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

Topping

1/4 c Granulated Sugar

1/8 tsp Ground Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350° F and grease a cookie sheet.  
Mix the warm water, yeast, cinnamon and vanilla together.  Mix the sugar with the dry ingredients.  Combine dry ingredients with the yeast mixture.  Mix the topping sugar with the cinnamon.  Roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, roll each ball in the topping, place on the cookie sheet and press flat.  Cook for 10 minutes, or until light brown.  Remove from oven and cool on rack.  Makes a lot of cookies.

Can you make polydough with whole grain flours?
Even part whole wheat?
I haven't used white or even unbleached flour for years.

I did a standard polydough recipe with regular, bleached AP flour a few days ago and pulled off a very tasty herbed bread loaf(focciacia style)

The attempts making the dough with whole wheat never end up as light and fluffy. I think experimenting with letting the dough rise the second time in its baking vessel and not handling it other than putting it in the oven could give a more enjoyable loaf.

I'll post when that experiment happens:)

I updated the first post a little.  A little "bold" and i clarified that the water is warm.

I'm prepared to skip my usual whole wheat version, but if I add wheat germ will that disqualify my contributions?

" just one ounce can knock out a significant chunk of the thiamine, folate, phosphorus, manganese and selenium you need in the entire day." They strip out the wheat germ because it can go rancid on the shelf. However, I store it in the freezer and add about 1/4 cup for every 2-3 cups of "flour" when I'm baking most things. It adds a bit of a nutty flavour and a bit of texture, but not enough that my fussy friends whine about it in deserts.

I like the idea of trying some cookies.

Following Paul's idea to create a permies-focused poly dough video, please use the link above to submit your recipes and share your poly dough creations. Help us spread this delicious solution with the world!

Here's a smattering of photos of things I've personally made with poly dough during my time here at Wheaton Labs.

Flapjacks made with a variety of additions: buch=kwheat, pumpkin, raisins, maple syrup, etc.



Pizzas. I've baked a few in the House oven, though I've also baked a few dozen over the years for the summer and winter events in our outdoor Rocket Oven.

In my opinion, pizzas and other flatbreads seem to be the most-forgiving and "Gilligan-proof" poly dough things to make in the oven.





Cookies. This photo's from some time ago, and looks like basic sugar cookies or shortbread. However I've found many different cookies possible by modifying the basic poly dough recipe: chocolate chip and chocolate-chocolate chip, molasses, ginger snaps and ginger chews, gigantic oatmeal cookies, and so on.







Scones. These were blueberry scones made for one of our half assed holidays.



Bread Bowls. Possibly my favourite thing to make with poly dough. We've filled these with a vegan minestrone, split pea soup (definitely my preferred bread-bowl soup), classic tomato, and vegetable noodle soup.







Bread. A loaf of bread, in multiple variations. I've noticed that unless it's something like a focaccia, I have a tendency to take it out of the oven too early. More practice and I ought to be able to remedy this. Using a rectangular bread pan also helps.









Fry Bread. I've not done this too much, and unfortunately I don't have a photo of it. Very satisfying. It's the closest thing I've done to making my own donuts. I think it would also be possible to turn this into a funnel cake recipe. It's just a matter of time before I try that out for myself...

I uploaded some baking footage to Andres a short time ago, so maybe there will be some additional footage of baking stuff with poly dough available.

The higher the protein level of the flour the tastier it is.

King Arthur Hard Winter Wheat flour was my favorite.

Hi!

I've been trying to make my own bread for sometime now, however I am gluten free which always offers its own unique perspective toward cooking food. I've been working on some GF sourdough, and have not yet been successful.

I like this approach and have hope it may allow me to cook a bit more from scratch without the issues of rising sourdough that hasn't any sticky glutenous proteins.

Do you think this recipe will still work if I were to use brown rice flour in place of regular flour??

-Madds:)

A few quick updates to bread-making with poly-dough here at Wheaton Labs. I've been baking bread twice a week for the rest of the Boot Team for maybe a month now, and here are a few pointers that help me come up with consistently good poly-dough breads.

- flour total usually adds up to 11 cups, including "dusting" and incidental coating of my hands while shaping and kneading
- sprinkle salt on top, not mixed into dough until you're shaping the loaves
- rise in the oven for 4+ hours, excessively beyond that is marginal returns at best
- make four small loaves from one batch, or one focaccia and two small, sweet loaves
- usually make two savory and two sweet loaves to accommodate different tastes
- set oven to 380*F, bake for 30 mins (I think this is particular to our oven)
- be sure to poke it with a toothpick and check for thorough baking

A word on adding salt: I've heard conflicting reports about how salt can inhibit or somehow impact the yeast action, while just as many people have said it's not a big deal. I saw someone sprinkle the salt on top of the dough before proofing, and so that's what I've decided to go with for now. Seems like doughs rise consistently and there have been no issues, so long as the yeast hasn't "gone bad."

Attached are a couple photos from today's batch. I usually divide the batch in half, then make a pair of savory herb loaves and a pair of sweet loaves. The Boots can come in at the end of the Boot day and have some buttered toast or make a peanut-butter sandwich or something like that, based on their mood.

It's also very easy to make a focaccia bread (it's just like making a sauce-less pizza crust), then cut it into breadsticks and serve with marinara sauce. I can usually get away with a 25-minute bake when doing this. I like adding herbs de provence as the savory addition, and drizzle a little extra olive oil on top just before putting in the oven.

Today I made rosemary and thyme for the savory option, and I've been doing well with cinnamon raisin (and now, with maybe a teaspoon or so of added molasses) as the sweet option.

Madison Mills wrote:Hi!

I've been trying to make my own bread for sometime now, however I am gluten free which always offers its own unique perspective toward cooking food. I've been working on some GF sourdough, and have not yet been successful.

I like this approach and have hope it may allow me to cook a bit more from scratch without the issues of rising sourdough that hasn't any sticky glutenous proteins.

Do you think this recipe will still work if I were to use brown rice flour in place of regular flour??

-Madds:)

Hey Madds!
I've adjusted this recipe to work with brown rice flour and I believe I posted it earlier in this thread (let me know if you can't find it).

Some things I've realized since then:
1) I made my recipe with freahly milled brown rice flour. If you try to use it with store bought rice flour you don't need as much.
2) My recipe uses fine ground pink salt. Salt may need to be adjusted if it is coarser table or kosher salt.
3) I made the recipe when I lived closer to sea level and you may not need as much flour at higher elevations. Add a half a cup of flour at a time until you get a batter that is a little bit thicker than pancake batter.
4) I like to leave my gluten free polydough in the fridge and it will expand after a couple days so make sure the container is big enough to accommodate. You can keep this stuff in your fridge for a couple weeks but it's best after like 3-5 days or so.

I love keeping a container in my fridge at all times! It became the base of many meals. Hope this helps!

What have lab experiments with baking bread in the rocket oven shown?

Coydon Wallham wrote:What have lab experiments with baking bread in the rocket oven shown?

I've only baked pizzas in there, myself. Other folks have baked casseroles, roasted vegetables, and things like that. Never tried bread.

I wonder how to keep the temperature consistent when there's so little mass. Seems like one would have to adjust the design to accommodate a slower warm-up time, in addition to a slower cool-down time. Either that, or constantly hover over the heat source for the duration of the bake - which prima facie doesn't really appeal to me.

Earlier this year I visited a massive brick-oven bakery (as in, the brick oven itself was massive), and they would light a fire early in the morning, then start baking bread a couple hours close to lunch time. There was a lot of stone and brick that held on to that heat and let it slowly dissipate. I suspect this is possible with a rocket oven, however it would take a lot to bring it up to temp. I don't think the "tiny" oven at Basecamp is the right tool for the job.

I'm wondering how versatile an oven like that could be as the only baking source. Putting on my permie facia thinking hat, I wonder if it could be fed with larger sticks of fuel since bread temps are lower than pizza temps, and maybe the fire would not demand the attention of helicopter-style parenting?
[Just to clarify: what temps do you do the pizzas at in the rocket oven?]

Stephen B. Thomas wrote: I don't think the "tiny" oven at Basecamp is the right tool for the job.

Is it large enough to hold a Cast Iron Dutch Oven? The Dutch Oven might hold enough heat on its own, to make it less critical what the temperature reads? You would still need to get the oven up to about 450F to pre-heat, then keep it fairly stable around that range for 30-35 minutes depending on the size of the loaf.

This is one reason I haven't rushed into some sort of Rocket stove or oven. I would need to build a whole outdoor kitchen to make it worthwhile, as my current kitchen is on the second floor and my cloning machine broke years ago!

Coydon Wallham wrote:I'm wondering how versatile an oven like that could be as the only baking source. Putting on my permie facia thinking hat, I wonder if it could be fed with larger sticks of fuel since bread temps are lower than pizza temps, and maybe the fire would not demand the attention of helicopter-style parenting?
[Just to clarify: what temps do you do the pizzas at in the rocket oven?]

Pizzas are typically baked 8 to 10 minutes at 525*F - 600*F. It is a poly-dough base (though we've also used GF crusts, either store-bought or from scratch), and we make sure the pies are of consistent thickness (crust + toppings) because that helps keep baking times consistent.

Maybe this coming Autumn I'll have a go at baking bread out there, and see how the temperature behaves with thicker fuel bits. I also like Jay Angler's idea of using a dutch oven to keep the temps consistent over longer periods of time.