The lighter side of whole grains - includes recipes and a guide to different types of grains and flour - Cover Story

Vegetarian Times, March, 1996 by Nancy Ross Ryan

PREHEAT OVEN to 42 5 degrees. In sifter or wire-meshed sieve, combine flours, baking powder and salt. Sift into large bowl.

In a smaller bowl, measure oil then, using same spoon, honey. Add egg or egg whites, and milk and soymilk. Whisk to dissolve honey. Add to dry ingredients, mixing lightly just to moisten.

Fill lightly oiled nonstick muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake until tops are golden brown and muffin is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Serve hot. Makes 12 big muffins.

VARIATIONS: Add 3/4 cup toasted finely chopped nuts and 1/2 cup plumped raisins to flour mixture, tossing to coat with rubber spatula. Proceed with recipe. To plump raisins on range, cover raisins with water and bring to boil over medium heat. Cover; remove from heat and let rest 30 minutes. In microwave, put raisins in 2-microwaveable container; cover with water. Cover with microwave-safe wrap. Microwave on full power for 4 minutes. Let rest, covered, for 5 minutes. Drain well before adding to batter.

* Add 1 cup washed, drained blueberries to flour mixture, tossing to coat. Proceed with recipe. PER SERVING: 132 CAL.; 3G PROT.; 4G FAT; 21G CARB.; 18 MG CHOL.; 316MG SOD.; 1G FIBER. OVO-LACTO

Big Pizza Dough

This homemade, half whole wheat dough is quick and easy to make, requires only one rising, and makes enough dough for two round or one big rectangular pizza. A word of warning: Do not knead pizza dough after first rising. This will make it hard to roll out. If you forget and knead, let dough relax, covered, 20 minutes.

1 1/3 cups lukewarm water 1/4-oz. packet active dry yeast (see glossary) 1 tsp. salt 1 1/2 cups whole wheat or white wheat flour 2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour Additional unbleached flour for kneading 4 tsp. cornmeal

PUT WATER in large bowl. Sprinkle in yeast, let soften and whisk to dissolve. Add salt; stir. Add flours all at once. Stir to mix with sturdy wooden or stainless steel spoon until flour is incorporated and dough forms ball.

Turn out on lightly floured board and knead 5 to 8 minutes, or until dough is elastic and not sticky, but still soft.

Wash and dry bowl; oil lightly. Return dough to bowl. Cover with clean damp towel. Let rise in warm place (85 degrees) until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Turn out dough on lightly floured board. For two pizzas, divide dough in half with knife or dough cutter. Roll into 14-inch circles. Ease into lightly oiled 14-inch round pizza pans that have each been sprinkled lightly with 2 teaspoons cornmeal. Or, roll out entire dough to fit 1 cookie sheet that has been lightly oiled and dusted with 4 teaspoons cornmeal.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Top pizza as desired with sauce and toppings. Bake about 15 minutes, or until dough is completely baked and toppings are cooked through. Makes 2 thin 14-inch round crusts, 110- by 15-inch rectangular crust, or the top and bottom crusts for a 12-inch stuffed pizza. PER SERVING: 118 CAL.; 4G PROT.; 0.4G FAT; 25G CARB.; 0 CHOL.; 179MG SOD.; 2G FIBER. VEGAN

Caraway-Rye Bread

What this rye is not: chewy and tangy like sourdough rye, sweet and aromatic like Swedish rye, black and hearty like pumper-nickel. What this rye is: fine-textured, savory, with a delicious flavor and color. Use an unusulphured molasses with a light flavor (not blackstrap molasses) or honey.