The many possibilities with 2 ingredient dough (*unpaid product ads*)
A confession to start with – my 2 ingredient dough does not have 2 ingredients at all. But that is, because I have not yet found self-rising whole wheat flour but prefer it over all purpose flour. Because it keeps you full longer. So let’s have a look at my meal prepping hack #2: Baking with my version of 2 ingredient dough.
Saturday morning, after a long walk, our breakfast and some playtime and exercise (swim / jog) in the yard, it’s time for me to bake for the week. Since I am usually doing this every Saturday morning, I am not spending too much time in the kitchen as I just have to stock up on the things we used during the week.
By the way, in Germany, bread and dinner rolls can be the main star in a dinner. Because we do like to eat some kind of bread with a spread, lunch meat or cheese and some pickles, tomatoes etc. as a side. That’s it. If you are also a little adventurous, you might even have a slice of bread with a sweet spread for dinner. And we also do not eat bagel as much, we eat them without the whole as a larger dinner roll.
Base recipe
Equal parts of whole wheat flour and Fage fat free plain Greek yogurt. It depends on the amount of servings you want to make, you have to vary this. However it is always equal parts of these two. Then One tsp of baking powder per 1/2 cup of flour and yogurt. To this, add a little over a 1/4 tsp of Kosher salt.
Bagel or dinner rolls (makes 4)
- 1 Cup of whole wheat flour
- 1 Cup of Fage plain fat free Greek yogurt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp of Kosher salt
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a large bowl mix flour with baking powder and salt. Mix well or your rolls might grow on one side but not on the other.
- Add yogurt and mix thoroughly with a fork
- Finishing kneading the dough with your hands until a smooth dough ball forms
- Divide dough into 4 equal portions (I use the scale as I am really not good at eyeballing it)
- Form each portion into a ball, put on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and push down with your hand to achieve the form in the picture.
- Either baste the rolls with a little bit of egg wash or, if you prefer the lazy way of meal prepping like I do, just spray the tops with a little bit of butter flavored cooking spray and spread with your hand.
- Bake on the upper quarter of the oven (or the bottoms will turn too tough) of your oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.
I am making these as a full meal i.e. with one half with Hope roasted red pepper cashew and almond dip. click here to find it). This is dairy free, delicious and 1 tbsp is absolutely enough to cover one half of the roll. I am adding a slice or two of low sodium deli style turkey breast and if I have the points (I am doing WW) I add either an egg or 2 egg whites. It’s so good. The other half we often times eat sweet. For example with this Hope chocolate cashew and almond dip (click here to find it). You can also replace the spread by your preferred cream cheese or avocado would be awesome too, especially with a fried egg on top.
We are buying the spread partly at Publix and partly at Sprouts as our Publix does not carry the roasted red pepper version anymore. Check their product finder to see who carries them in your area and, especially if you want to reduce your dairy consumption, give them a try.
I always have a batch of these in the freezer for easy lunches or dinners. But since I like variation, I am also turning the dough into this other baked goods.
Sometimes I just need a small dinner roll to go with a salad or soup or when I have less points left and still would like to make a small roll with a spread. Time for my mini-dinner rolls.
Mini Dinner Rolls
Prepare the same base dough as above. Divide dough into 6 equal portions (using the scale). Form 6 little balls and push softly down forming a mini dinner roll as on the picture. Brush with a little egg wash or spray with butter flavored cooking spray. Bake in the oven for approx. 5 minutes less than the Dinner Rolls. Voila!
These are great if you add a little Italian seasoning to the dough. Of course then you would not eat them with a sweet spread (well of course you could..).
Pretzel sticks or Pretzels
We lived in Munich, Bavaria before we moved to Jersey City, NJ 6 years ago. Now we ended up in Weston, Florida but we still like our Bavarian pretzel treats. Just in a lighter version to maintain our weight loss. So no Auntie Annie’s or Wetzel’s Pretzels soft pretzels for us. But this version is great, versatile and freezes well.
Same base recipe as above. You also need 4 tbsp of baking soda and 2 cups of boiling water.
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Divide dough into 4 equal portions (really recommend using a scale for equal bake time etc.)
- For the pretzel sticks, roll dough into a little thick “sausage”.
- Press dough down to form a tine oval “bread loaf” and if you like make 2 some cuts with a small knife to resemble a pretzel stick you would get in Bavaria (see picture).
- Now set pretzels aside.
- In a pasta plate, resolve 4 tbsp of baking soda in the boiling water
- Dip each pretzel stick in the hot baking soda resolution (flip it around 1-2 times)
- Put the pretzel stick on your baking sheet and repeat
- Bake the pretzel sticks for 16-18 minutes, rotating the sheet half way through.
You need the baking soda water mixture to create the lye that gives the pretzel sticks the slightly salty taste and creates this dark and crunchy outside. However if this is too much of an effort, you can also make simple bread sticks and skip that part. They certainly will be a delicious and low points (WW) addition to any meal.
You prefer the real pretzel shape? No problem! Just roll your dough into a long and think “snake”. After that, fold them into a pretzel. Meanwhile prepare the same baking soda and boiling water mixture. Dip them into the mixture and bake for approx. 2 – 3 minutes less (check your oven) than your sticks.
And to stay in the “pretzel family” you can also make my ball park impostor pretzel bites. Recipe here. These freeze super well and make for a delicious and quick lunch or dinner.
Lastly I am sharing one of my husbands favorite two ingredient dough recipes for my meal prepping hack # 2 – home made naan bread. Because sometimes you need a quick snack. So, try this naan bread recipe with some delicious store bought roasted red pepper hummus or a dip of your choice and you’ll never want any store bought naan ever again.
Two ingredient dough naan bread
Prepare your dough as per my base recipe. This will make 4 naan breads.
- Firstly get a large non-stick skillet ready.
- Secondly, divide dough into four balls and spread the dough into a 1/4 thick naan bread shape
- Spray bread with butter flavored cooking spray and spread your preferred seasoning on top (i.e. garlic salt, everything seasoning etc.)
- After that, heat skillet on medium heat and fry bread in the skilled for 2 to 2.5 minutes on each site.
Serve hot with a lentil soup, some hummus, tzatziki, home made or store bought Falafel etc.
We had it for lunch today with some home made turkey burger patties, that I seasoned with a warm spices to have a little bit of an oriental flavor to go with the naan. I topped the burger with a quick and simple cucumber and pineapple salad and served it with a small portion of store bought (Whole Foods) roasted red pepper hummus.
This is a little on the smaller side as I like it super chewy but you can make this easily the size of a normal dinner plate. Above all, it’s a great and filling side to any dish.
All of these ideas from my meal prepping hack #2 freeze well and will also last a couple of days in the fridge. They are high in protein due to the Greek yogurt. And of course, if you make them with whole wheat flour, they are also going to keep you full for a while.
I prefer to make the naan fresh. However on a regular Saturday morning, I will make 2-3 of these variations and freeze them for the week. Makes my life so much easier and has helped me to stay away from “comfort food” when stressed out. Check-out what else helped me stay away from “comfort food” (here) and how I do meal prepping the lazy way (here).