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Easy Bread Dough Clean Eating

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Easy Bread Dough from Scratch

Easy Bread Dough

If there is one prepared food that I miss the most since we started Clean Eating, it would be store bought Crescent dough.  My kids eat anything that was wrapped in these delicate, fluffy, buttery rolls! So delicious… In an attempt to eat less processed foods, I started making my own crescent rolls from scratch using this delicious recipe from Served From Scratch. The recipe is delicious (and I still make it for guests), but it is far from clean.

Now that we have been eating clean for a few years now, it just doesn’t seem right to make an exception with crescent rolls. Over time I have modified the recipe from Served from Scratch and have found a recipe that works! It is not as delicious as store bought crescents, but they are much healthier. Rather than calling them crescents, I refer to this as an easy Bread dough recipe.

And they are so versatile! As you can see, I like to make them into breadsticks too!

Cleaning it up…

The original recipe called for all purpose flour and white sugar. It also use a lot of butter. Even if you use grass fed butter, it’s better to limit the amount if possible! I substituted White Whole Wheat Flour and honey to clean up this recipe. Because the whole wheat flour sucks up the liquid, I decreased the flour by 1/2 cup. I also skipped the butter layers. I know this is key to making crescents and I’m sure it is delicious, but I didn’t need it for this purpose!

easy bread dough

The Recipe

  •             1/4 cup warm water
  •              2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (one packet)
  •              2 teaspoons honey
  •              3/4 cup warm milk (I used grass fed cow milk)
  •              1 egg
  •              1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
  •              1 teaspoon salt
  •              2 1/2 cups White Whole Wheat flour, plus more for rolling
  •              1 egg, beaten and or melted butter, for brushing

Add the Warm water, yeast and honey to the bowl of a stand mixer. Let it sit until it starts to bubble and the yeast is dissolved – about 5 minutes.

kitchenaid

Add the milk, egg, butter, salt and white whole wheat flour. Use the dough hook and mix on low until it turns into a ball. You will need to scrape down the sides of the bowl several times. It will look like a ball of dough when it’s ready. It takes about 5 minutes.

Once well blended, put it on a flat surface that has been dusted with flour.

bread dough

Knead the dough for a few minutes and roll into a ball. Place it back into the greased bowl of your stand mixer and cover with a dishtowel or plastic wrap. place in fridge for 30 minutes.

bread dough

place the dough back on a flat surface and roll out into a rectangle that is 1/4th inch thick. If you wanted to make more of a buttery crescent, you would add butter at this point. See the original recipe here for instructions on how to do that. If using this as a bread dough, there is no need to add the butter at this point.

Fold the top of the dough half way down the rectangle. Then fold the bottom of the dough up half way, so you end up with a rectangle that is 3 layers thick. Cover with a dishtowel or plastic wrap and place back in the fridge for 10 minutes. Repeat this step 3 times, so it is in the fridge for a total of 30 minutes.

Make Crescents

If making crescents, cut the dough into 3 pieces. Each piece can be rolled out and cut into 8 pieces. Roll like a crescent (starting on the thick end) and place on a baking sheet. Cover with a dish towel or plastic wrap and let rise for 10 minutes. Brush the rolls with egg whites and bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

For an easy kid lunch, you can add cheese and spinach, or leftover meat before rolling them up. I like to make these for an easy school lunch because they can be eaten cold too.

crescents from scratch

Make Breadsticks

To make breadsticks, cut the dough into 3 pieces. Roll each piece out and cut into long strips. Hold each end to twist the dough and place on a baking sheet. Cover with a dish towel or plastic wrap and let rise for 10 minutes. Brush the rolls with egg whites and bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

These can also be wrapped around hot dogs! Or for garlic Bread Sticks, brush them with garlic butter before baking. Serve with pizza sauce!

breadsticks from scratch

Holidays

This dough is so versatile, it can be used in place of crescent rolls in any recipe. We’ve used it to make mummy hot dogs, Mini pizza crusts and in Christmas appetizers. They are always a hit! My favorite way to eat these is to brush them with garlic butter and serve them with pizza sauce!

I’d love to hear your creative uses for this dough! Share with us on social media and maybe we will share your ideas on our site!

Happy Cooking!

Easy Bread Recipe

This easy bread dough recipe is so versatile that you will be reaching for it all year long! This is the Clean Eating version too!

Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword clean eating recipes, easy bread reicpe, healthy bread recipe, homemade bread, kid friendly recipes
Prep Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 55 minutes
Servings 24 rolls
Calories 58 kcal

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast one packet
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • 3/4 cup warm milk I used grass fed cow milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter softened
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/2 cups White Whole Wheat flour plus more for rolling
  • 1 egg beaten and or melted butter, for brushing

Instructions

  1. Add the Warm water, yeast and honey to the bowl of a stand mixer. Let it sit until it starts to bubble and the yeast is dissolved - about 5 minutes.
  2. Add the milk, egg, butter, salt and white whole wheat flour. Use the dough hook and mix on low until it turns into a ball. You will need to scrape down the sides of the bowl several times. It will look like a ball of dough when it's ready. It takes about 5 minutes.
  3. Once well blended, put it on a flat surface that has been dusted with flour.
  4. Knead the dough for a few minutes and roll into a ball. Place it back into the greased bowl of your stand mixer and cover with a dishtowel or plastic wrap. place in fridge for 30 minutes.
  5. Place the dough back on a flat surface and roll out into a rectangle that is 1/4th inch thick. If you wanted to make more of a buttery crescent, you would add butter at this point. To do this, brush melted butter on dough and move on to the next step. If using this as a bread dough, there is no need to add the butter at this point.

  6. Fold the top of the dough half way down the rectangle. Then fold the bottom of the dough up half way, so you end up with a rectangle that is 3 layers thick. Cover with a dishtowel or plastic wrap and place back in the fridge for 10 minutes. Repeat this step 3 times, so it is in the fridge for a total of 30 minutes.
By on October 9th, 2017

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