Black-Bean Sprouted Grain Pizza/Bread

Yes, you read it correctly! Black beans functionally replace some of the flour in this dough and enhance the phyto-nutrient load. This is a great way to "sneak-in" some plant-based goodness into a classic american favorite - PIZZA!

An ideal make-ahead food staple to keep in your freezer at all times. Freeze the dough or freeze pre-baked, pre-sliced, individually-wrapped pizza rounds or "english muffins". Great for sandwiches filled with nut butter & homemade fruit preserves (no-sugar-added, of course!), pizza, toast etc. When freezing english muffins, be sure to slice the muffins in half and separate with parchment paper before freezing in a freezer-safe bag. When you're ready to thaw or heat, the muffin halves will be easy to grab-&-go since the parchment keeps the bread from sticking together.

To preserve freshness of baked goods, do NOT Refrigerate. Always FREEZE your baked goods, whether in dough-form or baked-form to ensure they do not dry-out/stale &/or perish. This is especially true for no-sugar-added baked goods since sugar is not present to preserve the baked product.

Blender Ingredients:

1.5 cups black beans*, cooked, rinsed, drained (equivalent to 1-15.5 oz. can)

2 cups water, warm, ~ 80-90F (not too hot or you'll deactivate the live yeast)

Large Bowl for Wet Ingredients:

1 packet yeast (7 grams or 2 tsp.), live/active, Non-GMO

1.25 tsp. sugar*, granulated (must be real sugar for the yeast to consume/ferment)

Medium Bowl for Dry Ingredients:

1.75 cups whole-wheat flour*

1 cup whole-wheat bread flour*

1/2 cup sprouted whole-grain oats*, ground into flour or buckwheat flour*

1/2 cup sprouted whole-wheat flour*

3 tsp. salt

Additional/Optional Ingredients:

Up to ~ 1/4 cup water, purified, ambient (use if necessary to hydrate dough)

Almond flour* or whole-wheat flour* may be sprinkled on parchment to prevent sticking

Almond flour* may be sprinkled on top of dough to provide a crispy, nutty texture/flavor

Sprouted whole-grain oats* may be sprinkled on dough before baking if desired

Chia Seeds* may be sprinkled on dough before baking if desired

* Organic if possible

Instructions:

1) Using a high-shear blender like a VitaMix, pulverize the oats into oat flour (unless you choose to use buckwheat flour or store-bought oat flour) & add to the medium-sized

bowl. Add the the flours and salt to the oat flour and mix using a whisk.

2) Puree "blender ingredients" in the VitaMix (or comparable blender), make sure bean puree is not too hot (ideally ~ 80-90F) & add to the large bowl containing the yeast & sugar. Avoid hot water as it will kill/deactivate the live yeast. Use a whisk to mix the bean/yeast/sugar/water solution.

3) Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl of wet ingredients, mix with a large spoon, then knead by-hand. If needed, add more water or whole-wheat flour* to form a moist dough. Error on the moist side, versus the dry side. You can always add more flour after the dough rests and rises. But if dough is too dry/stiff, it won't rise sufficiently and will be tough/dry after baking.

4) Place the dough in the large bowl, cover with a clean dish towel and place in a warm location for 1-2 hours. During this time, the gluten proteins in the wheat will relax & the yeast will ferment/consume the sugar and produce bi-products that leaven & flavor the dough.

5) Once dough has had sufficient time to rise/expand, split the dough into desired portions depending on your desired end-use. This recipe makes enough dough for 1 large pizza or 2 full-size pizzas or 4 personal pizzas. Alternately, you can split the dough into 8 balls and make english muffins. If dough is too sticky to handle, sprinkle a little flour on your work surface & knead the flour into the dough until desired texture is achieved.

6) Wrap desired portions of dough in parchment paper, place in freezer-safe bags (reusable if possible) & freeze for up to 2 months. If you're ready to bake now, line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper or prepare a pizza stone by sprinkling with almond flour.

7) Pre-heat oven to 425F, form dough into desired shape(s)/size(s), place formed dough on baking sheet(s)/stone & let rest on top of pre-heating oven where it's warm.

8) As an option, brush a little water on top & sprinkle oats &/or chia seeds to english muffins and almond flour to the pizza(s). The almond flour is a nice way to add "whole-food, plant-based" fat which provides a nice golden color, crispy texture and rich flavor. Almond flour also works well in place of cooking spray (oil) to prevent sticking.

9) Once the oven is up-to temperature, prick the dough several times with a fork to prevent large air bubbles during baking. Then bake the dough to desired consistency.

English muffins usually take about 8 min, depending on thickness. Pizza dough I usually bake in stages.

For pizza, par-bake dough about 10-15 min then remove from oven to add pizza sauce and sauteed** toppings such as mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, olives, cashew "cream"/"cheese", salt, pepper, red pepper flakes. Bake an additional 15-25 min, remove from oven & top with lightly salted, fresh diced tomatoes & arugula. Bake for a final 2-3 min to warm & sweeten the tomatoes & slightly wilt the arugula. Once baked pizza is removed from oven, top with freshly chopped basil, let cool, cut with kitchen shears & enjoy! Save leftovers in freezer for delicious pizza on-the-go!

**Note: For sauteed veggies, no need to use oil. Just cook on low/medium heat (I like cast-iron) and let the veggies cook in their own water & essential oils. Salt will help draw the water out of the veggies so you don't need to use oil. Saute until most of the water is cooked-off so the veggies don't release water into the dough which makes pizza soggy.

If using a pizza oven, which achieves much higher temperatures than a household oven, you can apply raw veggies directly to the pizza dough & your pizza won't be soggy. Since pizza ovens achieve very high temperatures, bake-time is also significantly shorter.

For english muffins, bake dough about 8 minutes, remove from oven and enjoy warm or after cooling. Once cool, cut in half, wrap in parchment and freeze in freezer-safe bag (preferably reusable). Be sure to use a piece of parchment paper in between the muffins to keep muffin halves from sticking together.