Whole Wheat Flour

This is one of those Italian-American classics—a dish that looks and tastes as though it was born in the Old Country but that was really born in the United States. Capers are used liberally in Sicilian cooking, and a lemon-caper sauce lives up to its name, piccata, which some say means “piquant.” Other translations say piccata means to add fat—which might be where all of the butter in the original sauce comes in. This recipe calls for just a dab of butter for flavor in the tangy, tart sauce.

In Italy, pasta and meats are generally served as separate courses, but in this country, we like to combine them into a single main course. This creamy pasta pairs well with the sauteed chicken.

“Jumbo” and “shrimp” aside, there’s another oxymoron at work in this recipe. How about a basket of hot, crispy fried shrimp and tartar sauce—and no eater’s remorse? The key to the crispy coating is a short blast in a hot oven, not a dunking in a tub of hot oil. A word to the wise: Lobster is really delicious with this preparation, too.

What makes Française (“in the French style”) different from other sautéed dishes is the eggs. Anything cooked à la Française is dredged in flour first, then dipped in beaten eggs before you sauté it. Most similarly prepared dishes are dredged in flour only. The eggs add a lot of flavor and texture—but also fat. I tried using a low-fat egg substitute, and it worked like a charm. Matter of fact, enough calories were shaved off that I was able to put some butter back in and still keep it under 240 calories per serving. Now that’s what I’m talking about!

If you love thin-crust pizza (I am one of you), after you taste this version, you will never buy premade crusts again. Once baked, these crusts hold well at room temperature for several days if lightly covered with a tea towel—and hold very well in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap, for up to a week. Make a batch on Saturday for later in the week. Please note: This is a very generous portion—you might be full after eating just half of one personal-size pie.

This pizza is so good, I could eat it every day—and at 218 calories per serving, that wouldn’t be a bad thing! It takes more effort than most of the dishes in this book, but few things are as satisfying as making your own pizza from scratch. If you are deterred by the concept of making your own dough, there are alternatives. Boboli makes a very good prepared whole-wheat crust (although it is loaded with sugar and is made from a mix of whole-wheat and white flours, unlike this all-whole-wheat version). Mix and match the toppings for variety.

Po’ boys are a kind of sub sandwich from the sultry state of Louisiana, consisting of fried meat or fish served on a crispy French-style baguette. Traditionally they are made with fried shrimp or oysters, though soft-shell crabs, catfish, crawfish, Louisiana hot sausage, and roast beef have been known to make an appearance. Served hot, the shellfish, fish, or meat is dressed with some combination of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, pickles, onions, and mustard or a spicy mayo. In this version the fat and calories are reduced to a fraction of the original by faux frying the shrimp, using low-fat mayonnaise, and replacing the traditional white-flour baguette with sprouted-grain bread.

Mozzarella sticks may have single-handedly brought down the American health-care system. It’s fried cheese. Luckily, there are high-quality, reduced-fat mozzarella products available now, and in this recipe there is no deep frying. Fra diavolo means “brother devil” in Italian; in cooking terms, the phrase refers to fiery food. This favorite snack may be more angelic now, but the sauce is still devilish—in a very good way.

Buffalo wings are, hands down, one of the greatest dishes ever created. The combo of hot sauce and butter on a crispy chicken wing is sublime. Here’s the downside of these tasty things: Wing sauce is high in fat, chicken wings are high in fat, and the accompanying blue cheese dressing is high in fat. It all adds up to an astonishing 1,188 calories per serving. Here, the wings have been replaced with low-fat chicken tenders, the buffalo sauce with a great low-fat store-bought product, and regular blue cheese dressing with reduced-fat blue cheese dressing.

Fried calamari and tomato sauce is one of the great food combinations. Fried calamari is sweet and crispy, and tomato sauce is slightly acidic—that’s a culinary trifecta! Without the fat and calories of the original, you get to eat a lot of this. Use as a spicy fra diavolo pasta sauce as you can handle—the heat will make the dish feel bigger and richer.

A chapati is like a tortilla. Unlike a corn tortilla, it is made out of wheat flour. Unlike a wheat tortilla, it is made out of whole-wheat flour known as ata or chapati flour. You may use a tortilla press or a chapati press (they are almost the same) instead of rolling each one out with a rolling pin. Small thin chapatis (about 5 inches in diameter) are considered much more elegant than large thick ones, though you will find all sizes in the cities and villages of India. Those who eat chapatis daily eat them with everything at lunch and dinner. You break off a piece and enfold a piece of meat or vegetable in it. If you want to spice up the morsel a bit more, you brush it against a chutney or pickle. You could also roll up some food inside a whole chapati, to make a kind of “wrap,” though you would not do this at the table, only with leftovers to make a snack.

A poori requires almost the same dough as the chapati, except there is a little oil in it. It is rolled out almost the same way too, but then, instead of being cooked on a hot, griddle-like surface, it is deep-fried quickly in hot oil, making it puff up like a balloon. (When the same bread is made with white flour, as it is in Bengal, it is called a loochi.) Pooris may be eaten with all curries and vegetables. At breakfast, pooris are often served with potato dishes—such as Potato and Pea Curry or Potatoes with Cumin and Mustard Seeds—and hot pickles and chutneys. They are eaten very much like chapatis—you break off a piece and roll some vegetable in it, then brush it against a pickle or chutney. We always took them on picnics with us, all stacked up inside a tin. On picnics and train journeys, they were eaten with ground-meat dishes and pickles, all at room temperature.

The dough for the paratha is similar to that of a poori but is rolled out very differently to give it multiple layers. It is cooked on a cast-iron griddle rather like a pancake, with butter, ghee, or oil to keep it lubricated. This particular paratha, among the simplest to make, is triangular in shape. Parathas are a very popular breakfast food when they are eaten with yogurt and pickles. They may also be served at mealtimes with meats and vegetables.

Crepes are one of those brunch dishes that always impress people. They are versatile and a snap to whip out. In this section I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite ways with the French pancake. All of the recipes are a slight variation of the Basic Crepe Batter, substituting different types of flour, fillings, and techniques. They are all amazing, and after you master the basic crepe batter, you can create your own different recipes. Tapping your inner chef has never been so easy.

Whenever bananas get a bit too ripe, I bake banana nut bread and keep a few loaves in the freezer. Whole wheat flour enhances the nuttiness of the loaves. Baking time in the convection oven is reduced by 10 to 15 minutes for either size loaf.

Muffins used to be a healthy breakfast option, but in recent years they have become jumbo sources of fats and sugar. There’s no reason why a medium muffin shouldn’t be a reliable breakfast staple. Here’s a basic recipe that’s relatively low in butter and sugar but still completely satisfying. Once you master (and memorize) the basic formula, you can create anything you desire. Six variations follow. Rather than reduce the oven temperature here, I prefer to keep it the same as in the conventional oven, but reduce the baking time so you can bake them even on a workday morning.

Cinnamon perfumes the air as this loaf bakes. This not-too-sweet wheat bread is a perfect match for aged sharp Cheddar. This dense loaf bakes beautifully in the convection oven at a lower temperature than you’d expect.

Here’s another favorite country bread that includes honey and eggs. The baking temperature is reduced in the convection oven although the baking time remains the same.

Späetzle are little noodles or dumplings made by pressing a sticky dough through a perforated tool right into boiling water—one of the simplest of all the techniques by which pasta is made. These whole-wheat späetzle are especially delicious, dressed simply with butter and grated cheese, and make a good alternative to potatoes as a contorno accompanying roasts or braised meats. The key to making späetzle is having the right tool or utensil, with holes large enough to let the sticky dough pass through easily and quickly. You might have a colander that works, but I recommend that you buy a späetzle-maker designed for the job. There are different kinds—some slide like a mandoline; others extrude the dough, like potato ricers—and both types are inexpensive and easy to use. And you’ll use your späetzle-maker often, I am sure, after you make and taste a batch of spätzle di farina integrale.

These cinnamon buns are well worth the extra effort to make. They're so moist, sticky, cinnamon-y, and delicious you'll never miss those sugar-laden ones sold at malls. P.S. These smell even better than "those" when they're baking...and they don't have a million calories. Make them vegan by using butter and milk substitutes.