I made a spinach & garlic, bacon, and artichoke pizza today. The spinach wasn't fully thawed, so I couldn't release all its water when I squeezed it by hand. I think that contributed to the center pieces of the crust being somewhat soggy. But it also could have been that the center of the pie crust was thinner than the outsides. It's been a long time since I made a pizza, so I was a bit rusty with shaping. The recipe I used didn't have any semolina, so that would have also contributed to some sog. In spite of that, the pizza was delicious! I used only mozzarella -- the only cheese I had on hand.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Italiancook.

BakerAunt, would you please post a link to your Grape Nuts Bread recipe; I have tried the search function and cannot find it. Thank you! I'm also wondering if the cereal stays hard and crunchy, or does it soften up a lot? And does it taste like Grape Nuts? We both love Grape Nuts, but gave it up years ago because it tends to destroy teeth!

Chocomouse--I usually soak the Grape Nuts in the buttermilk for about an hour before I start. I think that also helps figure out the hydration. I have made a few changes since I posted the recipe, mostly by increasing the whole wheat flour and the liquid by a bit. I also have been using a combination of special gold and regular yeast, but it would probably be fine with just the regular.

I will add a note to the end of the recipe I posted with how I currently bake it.

I had an overripe banana so I made banana waffles with it. I added the banana to the liquid ingredients, milk - egg - oil - honey, and liquified it with an immersion blender that I recently bought then added the dry ingredients, which was Arrowhead Mills pancake mix. It came out pretty good and I have leftover waffles for the next day or two.

Thank you BakerAunt and Mike. I'm going to try it, after I get groceries next week and buy Grape Nuts.

I stumbled across a blog by a woman who was researching and updating recipes used during WWII rationing. She had read that people were much healthier during that time because of more wholesome eating. The pandemic messed with the supply chain here in Cleveland and it seemed like a good idea to see what substitutions and such would work depending on what was available in the grocery stores. Like so many, we had a hard time getting flour and yeast. The rationing recipe I started with was called Oaty Biscuits. I had a Costco sized box of rolled oats in the pantry so it seemed a logical choice. It used rolled oats but it also called for wheat flour. I subbed oat flour that I made from rolled oats in my food processor. Here is the recipe:

4 oz (115 g) margarine or butter.
3 oz (85 g) of sugar
7 oz (200 g) of rolled oats
5 oz (150 g) self-raising flour or plain flour sifted with 1 teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt
1 reconstitued dried egg or fresh egg
A little milk

* Pre-heat the oven to 180C (350F) or Gas Mark 4.

* Grease two baking trays well or use parchment/baking paper instead.

* Cream the margarine/butter with the sugar until soft and light.

* Add the rolled oats and mix.

* Sift the flour, baking powder and salt and add the egg (if used) into the * mixture and mix well again before adding in a little milk to moisten. The dough should be stiff and quite dry but sticks together. Knead together. Use a cookie scoop to portion out 36 lumps of dough, roll into a ball, place on parchment and flatten with a fork or cup bottom. Bake for about 15 minutes, let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes.

Subbing oatflour for the wheat flour worked great. I have also used brown sugar instead of white and that worked too. Next I want to try using molasses. These cookies are a little dry and go great with tea or coffee.

If you're interested in old recipes, there is a guy on youtube, Glen and Friends, who does recipes from old cook books, some of them are quite old. And Emmy Made In Japan often does depression era recipes as well as more modern odd recipes. She has also done prison recipes. I find them interesting.