Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Whole Wheat Hot Pockets

I love using whole wheat in recipes for many reasons. It's better for you, I think it has more flavor then white flour, and I have over 100lbs of wheat in my food storage that I've got to use up, which means I grind my own wheat. I've been using a variety of wheat that is called hard white wheat. It's much lighter in color then hard red white which is what I grew up with. It also has such a flavor. Hot pockets are fun to make, it's like a baked sandwich. I start out by making this recipe for the bread (this is from ourbestbites.com breadsticks recipe slightly modified, it's also fatfree)

1 1/2 c. warm (105-115 degrees) water
1 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
4 1/2 tsp of vital wheat gluten
3-4 1/2 c. flour

In my kitchen aid mixer I added the water and honey mixed up and sprinkled the yeast on that. Set the timer for 10min and let it proof (just let it sit there dont' turn on the mixer). I then turn on the mixer and add the salt and start adding the flour and the vital wheat gluten. The vital wheat gluten helps the wheat dough become a softer dough when baked. I usually only add 3 cups of flour and then it starts balling up. Once it's there, I remove the ball, spray the mixer and put that ball of dough right back in the mixer and cover with a towel and let it rise for about 50min.
After that I turn the dough onto a floured counter top shape into a rectanged and cut into 8 equal rectangular pieces. This is where you add what you want, my personal favorite is ham and cheese. But I've also done roast beef and swiss, chicken broccoli and cheese. The key here is to not overstuff just a small slice of cheese and a few pieces of meat. You wrap up the dough into a little mummy or a hot pocket once they are all made start preheating the oven, this gives them a few minutes to rise, once it's preheated pop them in the oven and bake at 425 for 15minutes.