Comfort Food: Homemade Pizza

This was my 5th attempt at a whole wheat pizza crust, and I have to say, success!  When using whole wheat, it is easy to have a crust that resembles something closer to the sole of a shoe rather than a crust.   But this recipe produced a fluffier crust with just the right amount of chewiness. I added toppings from what was leftover in my refrigerator, and voila, pizza. 


First step was to mix and knead the dough.  Then, let it rise; I did this while our family went on a walk to enjoy the Arizona sunshine. 

Once it rose, I formed it and put it in a pan, and baked it for about 10 minutes before I put the toppings on.  After I put the toppings on, I baked it again for another 10 minutes or so.  The result, was a delicious, nutritious weeknight dinner that only took 20 minutes of on-hand prep and about an hour total from start to finish.

I found this recipe at A Sweet Pea Chef. 

Honey Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

yields 2 medium-large pizza doughs

Adapted from A Sweet Pea Chef

1 cup lukewarm water
3 cups whole wheat flour
3 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 tbsp. olive oil plus extra for spreading on dough
2 tsp. yeast
1-2 tsp. cornmeal

Directions

Place the ingredients into your bread machine, starting with the wet ingredients, followed by the dry and then the yeast. Follow the instructions for your bread machine.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place the pizza stone in the oven while it’s preheating.
Once the dough is ready, split it into two pieces and roll each out separately on a lightly-floured surface until it’s the right size to fit on the pizza stone. Sprinkle some cornmeal, about 1 teaspoon, over the stone once it’s hot to keep the pizza from sticking. I also put some cornmeal on the peel so the dough doesn’t stick when I transfer it to the oven.
I pre-bake my pizza dough a little before I put any toppings on it. I find this makes the dough nice and crunchy with a good chewiness to it. Just place each dough, separately, on the stone. Spread the dough evenly over the stone. Make several puncture holes with a fork to help keep the bubbling down. Brush the entire surface of the dough with a light layer of olive oil. This will help keep the dough chewy and not brittle. As it bakes, check on it to make sure its not bubbling. If it is, just press down any large bubbles with a spatula. Once the dough starts to become golden, take it out of the oven and place your favorite toppings on it. Then, just place back in the oven to finish cooking the toppings.

Enjoy!

How about you, do you have any tricks to adapting recipes from all-purpose to whole-wheat flour?

Shared at: Day 2 Day Joys