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!

Fresh Bruschetta!

I technically used this recipe, although it's pretty self-explanatory if you're familiar with bruschetta! Also, my listed ingredients will be slightly different than the ingredients on the linked recipe. I'd follow mine if I were you, because I can confirm that it was excellent.

Cinnamon-Pumpkin-Pecan Pancakes!

Vegetarian Tacos, with Caramelized Onions, Sweet Corn, & Curly Kale!

Kale, Mushroom, & Pepperoni Pizza!

Chicken Salad Melts

So, this is just a tiny cooking adventure. More like a cooking jaunt? On this day, the first day of the year that truly feels like fall, we opened our windows (all two of them) wide and let the air that so immediately reminds me of apples into this little apartment. I cut myself some blunt straight-across bangs, and then remembered how limited our food options were because of the bullshit electrocuting stove we have. Last night I all but touched the burner, and I got electrocuted. It's a wiring problem and it'll get fixed, but until then, no stove. No range, no oven, no nothing! Luckily, we have a toaster oven, so that's how the chicken sandwiches got melt-y. If you don't have a toaster oven, AND if you have a broken bullshit stove like we do, then you'll have to eat these sandwiches cold. Pretty sure they're good that way too, just forget the cheese and pile on more crunchy vegetables, like cucumbers, peppers (I like that in some places outside of the U.S., the kind of peppers that you eat plain or in dip are called "capsicums" because I hate not having a way to verbally distinguish between the type of spicy peppers you add to things and the kind that you eat plain), or avocado! Next time I should mix avocado into the chicken salad mix -- you should, too. See, we're learning and growing together, I think.

Chicken Salad Melts

About 15 minutes to make

Makes 3 sandwiches

1 can of fully cooked chunk chicken breast (10 oz)

1/2 cup of Hellmann's Olive Oil mayonnaise (I would recommend using however much floats your boat, though, people are picky about mayonnaise)

2 t. basil (fresh, if you can!)

1 t. dried onion

1 t. oregano

1 pinch of garlic powder

1 T. yellow mustard

some ground black peppercorn

one shake of Lawry's (optional)

two shakes of red pepper flakes

Oroweat Oatnut bread (found at Target or any typical chain grocery)

Pepperjack cheese

Drain the can, mix all of it together. Mash up the chicken a little so you don't get huge, unmixed chunks of dry chicken. It's unpleasant. Spread this on a slice of bread, thickly if you're like me (I made more like 2.25 sandwiches out of the mix), and put relatively thin slices of Pepperjack (melts better) on top of the mixture that's on top of the bread (it's like Inception, in case you need clarification). Put the top slice of bread on, and put on toast setting in your toaster oven for about 5 minutes, or on your functioning stove low-and-slow for about 10, with a cover so everything melts and heats properly. When it's all finished, add tomatoes and lettuce and maybe an avocado slice or two.

If you'd like to be fancy, cook a fancy chicken breast and then put it in your fancy food processor. Really, go for it! But I don't have thawed out chicken (it's the last break before school! As if I'm going to have the foresight required to do that for a meal in the middle of the goddamn day, come on) or a food processor, so eat me.

Also, substitute mayonnaise for whatever sort of -naise you eat. Veganaise? Miracle whip (may the good Lord help you)? Whatever you prefer, but I can't vouch for anything flavorwise unless you use Hellmann's Olive Oil Mayonnaise. Same goes for the Oroweat Oatnut bread, which I highly recommend, for reasons both financial ($2.99 at Target!) and flavorful.

We ate these tasty sandwiches in bed while watching Netflix (King of the Hill!), and then had Door County peaches from this Saturday's Farmer's Market for dessert, and some pretzel M&M's. Overall, a really relaxing Labor Day.