Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Pizza is a favorite in our household. But after we decided to almost eliminate white flour from our diets, we wondered if there was something to do about pizza. The past year, I have been buying a mix that makes a Spelt Pizza Crust. It is fabulous and filling. But, it is not cheap. I buy it at Müller for about $3.

I recently came across a blog dedicated to cooking using whole grains, called 100 Days of Real Food. On there, I found a recipe for a Whole Wheat Pizza Crust. It was easy to make and tasted fabulous! I will definitely be making this crust recipe in the future!

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tsp yeast (active dry yeast)
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3c whole wheat flour
• tomato sauce
• grated mozzarella cheese
• cooking oil spray
• other desired toppings such as sausage, mushrooms, vegetables, Parmesan cheese, etc.

Directions

1. Drop the yeast into the 1-cup of warm water and let it go to work for a few minutes. It should foam up a little bit. Stir the salt and olive oil into the yeast mixture.
2. Pour the flour and yeast mixture into a food processor with a dough blade or a mixer with a dough hook and turn on the machine. (You can also mix up this dough by hand.)
3. You should end up with a ball chasing itself around the food processor. If the dough is too dry add warm water a teaspoon at a time and if it is too wet add flour 1 teaspoon at a time.
4. Remove the ball from your food processor and knead into a smooth ball. Put the dough into a large ziplock bag or bowl covered with plastic wrap (put a touch of olive oil in and coat the inside of the bag/bowl first) then leave it in fridge for as little as 1 hour or overnight depending on how much time you have. It will rise on it’s own in the fridge.
5. When ready to make the pizza preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Use a rolling pin to roll it out into the desired shape. Put the flat pizza dough on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking oil. Top the dough with homemade or organic tomato sauce, cheese and other toppings of your choice. Bake in a oven for about 8 – 10 min. or until crust and cheese are golden brown.

I do not have a food processor, and made this in my stand mixer. It was just fine. I also found that it took about 20 minutes to bake in my oven. Definitely a keeper for a recipe!