Yesterday I was blogging over on Thyroid Treatment For Women, about finding a good protein powder for hypothyroidism and got to thinking about my whey good bread recipe, so I thought I’d share it with you all.
Having goats, means lots of milk, lots of milk means you need to make stuff with it or what is the point right?
Whey is the by product of making cheese. It is the liquid that remains after you have coagulated the milk, separating it into curds and whey. Which I believe is what cottage cheese was called back in the day….Remember the old nursery rhyme:
Little Miss Muffett sat on her tuffet eating her curds and way. Along came a spider and sat down beside her and frightened poor Muffett away.
That was from memory so don’t hold me responsible if I messed it up. It has been a few years since I thought about that little ditty.
Any way back to the recipe at hand.
This recipe for Rustic Farmers Bread at Let The Baking Begin calls for milk – but you could totally substitute whey and get even better results!
You can use Whey as a substitute for any bread recipe you are making, it is especially good for pizza dough. It will give your bread a slightly cheesy flavor so you might not want to use it in a sweet bread.
Whey Good Dutch Oven Bread:
- 3 Cups flour – you can use bread flour or fresh ground flour (which is what I like to do)
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups whey warmed up to 100 degrees (I freeze my whey when I’m making cheese so that I can make bread when I’m ready)
You can also add in dry Italian herbs for extra special yumminess
I start this in the evening then bake in the morning. Here is the not very difficult process – mix all four ingredients in a glass or plastic bowl. It will be a thick mass but not look like bread dough in the traditional sense. No worries. Leave it on the counter, covered over night.
In the morning heat your oven with the dutch oven in it to 450 degrees for about 30 minutes. You want to get that dutch oven super hot before you add the dough.
Then dump your mixture onto a floured surface and shape into a round. Let the round rest while the oven heats up.
Transfer the round to your dutch oven with the lid on let it bake for 30 minutes then take the lid off for the next 15 minutes.
Let the bread rest for an hour or so.
I have it on good authority that this whey good bread recipe can be used to make baguettes if you have a baguettes pan.
Use It For Pizza Dough
The secret to good pizza dough is to let it rise slowly in the refrigerator over night. For some reason it make the crust much more chewy and delicious.
- 3 Cups flour
- 1 Cup warm whey
- 1 tsp dry activated yeast
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tbs olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
Mix the warm whey, yeast and sugar together in a measuring cup until the yeast activates – forms bubbles on top
In a mixing bowl, add the flour and salt, give it a whirl to mix them together. Once the yeast is proofed add the whole shebang with the olive oil to the bowl.
Mix until it is a sticky mass, then keep adding bits of flour until it doesn’t stick any longer. Knead it for about 5-7 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. (Which means you can poke the dough and it will come back)
Let the dough rest in a warm place for an hour or so until it doubles in size – or you can let it rest in the fridge until an hour before you want to make your pizza then take it out and finish off the rise at room temperature or in a warm oven (100-200 degrees) Don’t put a cold glass bowl directly into a warm oven though it will crack it.
You can add dry Italian Herbs to this recipe for a wonderful change up of flavor. You can also take your home made mozzarella and fold it into the crust around the edges for stuffed crust pizza.
Build your masterpiece then cook it at 450 for about 15-20 minutes on a pizza stone?, until the cheese is bubbly.
Other Related Articles
More articles that will help in your quest to dominate the bread making skill.
Secrets to making Artisan Bread
The best tool EVER for making dough
Maybe you want to make some cheese to go with!
How to make goats milk cheese (or even cheese from regular milk)
