Who loves PIZZA?????
Well, this girl does, and so does her entire family! I’ve done lots of searching for the perfect pizza dough that doesn’t take forever, and is relatively easy. The longest parts are while you’re letting the dough rise. But I try to make the most of it, and use that down time to get a few more things done around the house. So this recipe for homemade Whole-Wheat pizza dough and pizza sauce is a two-parter…ready?!
Homemade Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough (yields 2 large pizzas)
What you need:
- 1 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 3 3/4 cups whole-wheat flour (I used King Arthur’s White Whole-Wheat flour)
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Directions:
Step 1: Combine water, honey, and yeast in a small bowl. Let sit 5 minutes. Mix flour and salt together in the bowl of a heavy duty mixer fitted with dough hook. Add oil to yeast mixture. Pour yeast mixture into flour mixture and knead on low speed for 10 minutes. (If mixing by hand, knead dough for same amount of time.) Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat. cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
Step 2: Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape into 2 balls. lightly brush dough balls with olive oil and cover completely with plastic wrap. Let rise another 45 minutes.
Step 3: While dough is rising for the last 45 minutes, work on the sauce….
Homemade Pizza Sauce
(yields approximately 2 cups, but you can double it and have some to freeze for later!)
What you need:
- 1 (15 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil (or 1 drop Basil essential oil)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1 drop Oregano essential oil)
- 3 medium garlic cloves grated on a microplane
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (don’t leave this out…I’ve done that before and it’s just not as good!)
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper (or 1 drop Black Pepper essential oil)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
Directions:
Step 1: In a medium bowl, stir together all ingredients until well combined. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.
Let’s put it all together!!!
– Preheat oven to 450 degrees…gently spread dough out from center of dough ball, into a large circle, leaving it slightly thicker around the edges.
– Put about 3/4 – 1 cup sauce on pizza and spread evenly
– Add your cheese…we used fresh mozzarella and sliced it into thin pieces and spread them out evenly across the pizza. But you can also use freshly grated mozzarella if you like!
– Top with any “real food” toppings you like!
(We used Applegate Naturals Uncured pepperoni, organic green olives, black olives, fresh pineapple, and mushrooms)
Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the outer crust JUST starts to brown.
Let cool. Serve. Enjoy, and be so spoiled that you’ll never want delivery pizza again!
