Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Dough and White Pizza Recipes

Tonight was an experiment in making my own whole wheat pizza crust.  For years we've been using the herb pizza dough that Trader Joe's sells, and while it tastes really good, it has a ton of sodium in it.  In an effort to cut back on sodium, tonight we ate my first ever homemade pizza crust!

It turned out really well.  My husband and I had no problem downing a large pizza tonight.  The recipe makes 2 crusts, so I have one in the refrigerator to use tomorrow night.  :)

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Ingredients:
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 c warm water
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
3 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp oregano

Method:
Pour water into a large bowl.  Dissolve sugar in water.  Sprinkle yeast over water and set a kitchen timer for 10 minutes.  At this point, yeast should be foamy.  Add salt and olive oil.  Then add 3 cups flour, basil and oregano.  Mix until dough starts to form.

Turn dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining 1/2 cup flour.  Knead dough until all the flour has been incorporated and dough becomes elastic.  This should take about 10 minutes.

Put dough in an oiled bowl.  (You can use cooking spray or olive oil.)  Turn the dough to coat with oil.  Cover bowl loosely with a towel and put it in a warm place to rise.  (I often put my oven on it's lowest setting and put the bowl in there.)  Set a timer for an hour.

At this point the dough should be doubled in size.  Remove dough from bowl and separate into 2 equal parts.  Form two dough balls and place the balls in 2 separate oiled bowls.  Cover the bowls with a towel and place in a warm place.  (If using the oven idea, you may want to turn the heat off this time.  The oven will already be warm, and you don't want the dough to actually bake at this point.)  Set the timer for 45 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out to your desired size.  Each dough ball should make a large thin-crust pizza.  If you don't want to make both pizzas, you can refrigerate the second crust until you're ready to use it.

Preheat over to 425 degrees.  Add whatever toppings you desire and bake in a pizza pan or on a baking sheet for about 15 minutes or until the crust is slightly browned and the cheese is melted and golden brown.  It's pizza time!

Before Baking
Tonight, I turned a pizza crust into a delicious White Pizza.  Want the recipe?  You got it!

White Pizza

Ingredients:
1 recipe whole wheat pizza crust (see above)
3 thinly sliced roma tomatoes
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 c ricotta cheese
16 ounces frozen chopped spinach (defrosted and drained of liquid)
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
16 ounces mushrooms (chopped and precooked to remove excess liquid)
1 tbsp TexJoy
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
2 tsp chipotle pepper flakes

Method:
After Baking
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Roll out the pizza crust to desired size and place on a greased pizza pan.  Place tomato slices evenly on top of the crust.  Sprinkle the garlic and salt on top of the tomatoes.  Add small dollops of ricotta cheese evenly on top of tomatoes.  Sprinkle spinach evenly on top of pizza and then sprinkle mozzarella cheese evenly on pizza.  Top evenly with mushrooms.  (It's important that the mushrooms are on top so that any liquid can evaporate so that the crust doesn't become soggy.)  Sprinkle TexJoy, Parmesan and pepper flakes on top of mushrooms

Bake for 15 minutes or until crust is slightly browned and the cheese is melted and golden brown. 

Happy eating!

No comments:

Post a Comment