Homemade Half-Wheat Pizza Dough

This recipe is foolproof, truly. If you are afraid of baking, or bread, or anything: fear not! Also, there is only 1 hour total rising time, which I think is pretty reasonable.


This is not a whole-wheat pizza. It is a half-wheat pizza. I used half whole-wheat flour, and half white flour, because that is what I have available!

Makes 2 Pizza Crusts!

Ingredients

1 1/4 c warm water

1 T yeast (about 1 individual packet)

1 t sugar

1 t salt

3 c flour (1.5 white, 1.5 wheat)

oil

 Add sugar and water in bowl.  Mix, and continue mixing while slowly adding the yeast. This prevents it from clumping! Let this mixture sit for 10 minutes so the yeast has time to react and get nice and fluffy. I recommend sitting down and watching the yeast bloom in the bowl. It's strange and beautiful. 


Once mixture looks reasonably...mixed, add salt,  and one cup of flour. Mix it in thoroughly.

Add 2 more cups of flour, and stir for 2 - 3 minutes. It might not look completely mixed in, but that is okay.

Dump the mixture on the counter, and knead 6 - 8 min. If you don't know how to knead, this explains it, both verbally and pictorally! Kneading is a very important step, do not skimp or over-knead. Also, if the dough feels too sticky to knead comfortably, rub flour on your hands (or put a sprinkle on the counter) as needed and proceed. For beginners weary of using too much flour, err on the side of less: about 1 Tb on the counter as needed, and repeat as little as possible.

Continue kneading until dough is smooth & firm. Place the ball of dough in a lightly oiled (this is where the oil comes in!) bowl. Cover the bowl with a white kitchen towel and set it in a warm, but not hot, place. (this is what I was always taught -- I am not entirely sure why).

Let sit for 45 minutes. I let it sit for an hour, actually, because it just feels right, but I guarantee that if you're short on time, 45 is absolutely adequate.

Once the 45 minutes pass, it's a good time to preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Next, rip the ball of dough in half, and get ready to knead again. Don't worry -- just for 3 minutes (per dough-half). Put back in oiled bowl (no need to re-oil), and let rest for 15 more minutes.

Take two cookie sheets out (or pizza stones!), lightly oil (with PAM or whatever you prefer) and roll each dough half out, respectively.  You will want to make two pizzas when you realize how delicious this is, so just do it. Once rolled out, I like to rub it down with olive oil (thoroughly, in all the cracks and creases) and top it with fresh minced garlic, dried basil, oregano, chili powder, etc. Then, poke holes in the crust and bake it f0r 6 minutes. This firms up the crust, so you don't get soggy pizza.

Remove the crust from the oven, add toppings (mozzarella! mushrooms! sauce (have an almost empty jar of spaghetti sauce in the fridge? use it! especially if it's alfredo...) spinach! pepperoni! be adventurous!), and bake around 12 minutes, at the same temperature.  Slice with a pizza cutter, and EAT!