Homemade Pizza with Whole Wheat Crust

Granted, pizza is just too easy to pick up or have delivered to your door.  And although you can't really make it cheaper, you can make it better.  I was thinking that you could actually make pizza for dinner every day – and have a different meal each time!  Be creative with the crust toppings and the pizza toppings. Some ideas for toppings are: Pizza Prosciutto e Funghi- Prosciutto and Mushroom, Pizza al Quattro Foraggi- Four cheese Pizza,Pizza Vegetariana-Vegetarian, artichoke hearts, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, sweet onions, stewed eggplant, roasted red peppers.  Let your imagination go!  Have a fun pizza making night with friends or your family.

  Homemade Pizza with Whole-Wheat Crust

Pizza Dough

Adapted from The New Best Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup warm water (about 110°
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cups (20 ounces) white whole wheat flour (aka white whole wheat flour)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• Olive oil or butter, for greasing the bowl

Directions:

1) Place the 1/2 cup warm water in a small bowl. Add the yeast and stir. Let sit for about 5 minutes, or until the yeast begins to swell. Add to the room temperature water and oil and stir.

2) Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix briefly until combined. With mixer on low speed, slowly add the liquid ingredients. Mix just until a cohesive dough forms. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

3) Change to the dough hook attachment. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic, about 5-10 minutes.

4) Oil or butter a medium-sized bowl. Transfer the dough to the prepared bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot. Allow to rise for 1 ½-2 hours, or until double in volume. The dough is now ready to be used in your recipe.

Makes enough dough for approximately 2 large thin-crust pizzas

Pizza Ingredients

• Olive oil
• Cornmeal (to slide the pizza onto the pizza stone)

• Tomato sauce (purée)
• Mozzarella or Parmesan cheese, shredded
• Feta cheese
• Mushrooms, thinly sliced
• Bell peppers, stems and seeds removed, thinly sliced
• Italian sausage, cooked ahead
• Chopped fresh basil
• Pesto
• Pepperoni, thinly sliced
• Onions, thinly sliced
• Sliced ham

Special equipment needed

• A pizza stone, highly recommended if you want your pizza dough to be crusty
• A pizza peel or a flat baking sheet
• A pizza wheel for cutting the pizza, not required, but easier to deal with than a knife

·       Preparing the Pizzas

·       1 Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.

·       2 Remove the plastic cover from the dough and punch the dough down so it deflates a bit. Divide the dough in half. Form two round balls of dough. Place each in its own bowl, cover with plastic and let sit for 10 minutes.

·       3 Prepare your desired toppings. Note that you are not going to want to load up each pizza with a lot of toppings as the crust will end up not crisp that way. About a third a cup each of tomato sauce and cheese would be sufficient for one pizza. One to two mushrooms thinly sliced will cover a pizza.

·      4 Working one ball of dough at a time, take one ball of dough and flatten it with your hands on a slightly floured work surface. Starting at the center and working outwards, use your fingertips to press the dough to 1/2-inch thick. Turn and stretch the dough until it will not stretch further. Let the dough relax 5 minutes and then continue to stretch it until it reaches the desired diameter - 10 to 12 inches. Use your palm to flatten the edge of the dough where it is thicker. You can pinch the very edges if you want to form a lip.

·       5 Brush the top of the dough with olive oil (to prevent it from getting soggy from the toppings). Use your fingertips to press down and make dents along the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. Let rest another 5 minutes.

·       Repeat with the second ball of dough.

·       6 Lightly sprinkle your pizza peel (or flat baking sheet) with corn meal. Transfer one prepared flattened dough to the pizza peel. If the dough has lost its shape in the transfer, lightly shape it to the desired dimensions. At this point you can add some flavour toppings to your crust, red chili peppers, garlic, and oregano.Sprinkle some cornmeal on the baking stone in the oven (watch your hands, the oven is hot!). Gently shake the peel to see if the dough will easily slide, if not, gently lift up the edges of the pizza and add a bit more cornmeal. Slide the pizza dough off of the peel and on to the baking stone in the oven.

    

I like to precook my crust for 10 minutes then add the toppings.

          

  7  Take pizza dough out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes. Spoon on the tomato sauce, sprinkle with cheese, and place your desired toppings on the pizza, then add another layer of cheese on top.

·      

·8  Bake pizza one at a time until the crust is browned and the cheese is golden, about 10-15 minutes. If you want, toward the end of the cooking time you can sprinkle on a little more cheese.

 Yield: Makes 2 10-12-inch pizzas.

Now that's a PIZZA!