Homemade pizza is such an easy, fun thing to make. You can top it with anything and feel good about eating pizza for dinner. Usually when making pizza at home I will just pick up a ball of dough from my local pizza place -- you can usually buy a ball of dough for somewhere between $3-$5 depending on where you live. I've been on a big kick recently of using whole wheat flour and trying to reduce the amount of white flour that I eat on a daily basis. That in mind, I decided to try to make whole wheat pizza dough to use instead of buying the regular white dough that's usually used. I've noticed that a lot of whole wheat bread/dough recipes use a mixture of whole wheat and regular white flour. Whole wheat flour on its own is very tough and can be a little too dense for day to day purposes. Combining it with white flour helps keep the dough light but gives you extra health benefits of using whole wheat flour.
I found a recipe online and decided to try it. It takes a few steps but is really easy.
Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tbsp dry active yeast (one package)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups white flour
In a large bowl dissolve the sugar into the warm water. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and allow it to sit about 10 minutes until it starts to get frothy. It should look something like this:
Once the yeast gets frothy add the salt and olive oil to the mixture and stir to combine. In a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add all the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the white flour. Add the water/yeast mixture and start to combine on the lowest setting on the machine. After a minute or so add the remaining 1/2 cup of the white flour. Let the dough hook do all the work for you and knead the dough for about 5 minutes, until the dough ball is smooth (if you don't have a stand mixer, knead the dough by hand on a lightly floured surface until smooth).
Place the dough into a medium sized bowl that has been oiled. Turn the dough to coat it with the oil, and place a clean kitchen towel over the bowl. Leave it sitting in a warm place in your kitchen (I leave it near the oven) for about 1 hour. The dough should just about double in size.
Punch the dough down and then dump it onto a lightly floured surface.
How you divide the dough depends on how many people you are making pizza (or calzones) for. For two people, I divide the ball of dough into four pieces. One piece makes one thin crust pizza for two, that takes up one pizza stone. If you make calzones, you can cut the dough into eights, or cut one of the quarters into half. The dough freezes great, so put three of the dough balls in the freezer and then roll one out to use that night (or freeze all four). Roll the dough out and make it cover as much of the pizza stone as you can, like this (this is one quarter of the dough):
One of the best things about homemade pizza is that you can top it with anything you want. On the pizza we made below, we brushed the crust with olive oil and sprinkled it with chopped garlic. We thinly sliced zucchini and almost covered the pizza with zucchini slices. We then dropped little mounds of fresh ricotta cheese over the pizza, sprinkled some chopped kalamata olives over it, and topped the entire thing with a little shredded mozzarella. Another favorite pizza uses tomato sauce, thinly sliced fennel and onion, and sausage, topped with mozzarella. Use whatever you like and whatever you have on hand.
Bake the pizza in your oven on the highest temperature it goes (mine goes to 550) on a pizza stone if you have it or a baking sheet if you dont have a stone. Cook the pizza until all the cheeses you use are melted and the crust has gotten crisyp. Delicious!
I found a recipe online and decided to try it. It takes a few steps but is really easy.
Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tbsp dry active yeast (one package)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups white flour
In a large bowl dissolve the sugar into the warm water. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and allow it to sit about 10 minutes until it starts to get frothy. It should look something like this:
Once the yeast gets frothy add the salt and olive oil to the mixture and stir to combine. In a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add all the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the white flour. Add the water/yeast mixture and start to combine on the lowest setting on the machine. After a minute or so add the remaining 1/2 cup of the white flour. Let the dough hook do all the work for you and knead the dough for about 5 minutes, until the dough ball is smooth (if you don't have a stand mixer, knead the dough by hand on a lightly floured surface until smooth).
Place the dough into a medium sized bowl that has been oiled. Turn the dough to coat it with the oil, and place a clean kitchen towel over the bowl. Leave it sitting in a warm place in your kitchen (I leave it near the oven) for about 1 hour. The dough should just about double in size.
Punch the dough down and then dump it onto a lightly floured surface.
How you divide the dough depends on how many people you are making pizza (or calzones) for. For two people, I divide the ball of dough into four pieces. One piece makes one thin crust pizza for two, that takes up one pizza stone. If you make calzones, you can cut the dough into eights, or cut one of the quarters into half. The dough freezes great, so put three of the dough balls in the freezer and then roll one out to use that night (or freeze all four). Roll the dough out and make it cover as much of the pizza stone as you can, like this (this is one quarter of the dough):
One of the best things about homemade pizza is that you can top it with anything you want. On the pizza we made below, we brushed the crust with olive oil and sprinkled it with chopped garlic. We thinly sliced zucchini and almost covered the pizza with zucchini slices. We then dropped little mounds of fresh ricotta cheese over the pizza, sprinkled some chopped kalamata olives over it, and topped the entire thing with a little shredded mozzarella. Another favorite pizza uses tomato sauce, thinly sliced fennel and onion, and sausage, topped with mozzarella. Use whatever you like and whatever you have on hand.
Bake the pizza in your oven on the highest temperature it goes (mine goes to 550) on a pizza stone if you have it or a baking sheet if you dont have a stone. Cook the pizza until all the cheeses you use are melted and the crust has gotten crisyp. Delicious!
I LOVE PIZZZZZA!
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