Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

I started making my own pizzas sometime last year when I realized how easy they were. I have my Pampered Chef Pizza Stone but you could also make this on a cookie sheet. The recipe I use for my pizza crust is from You: On a Diet. It is really easy to make even if you aren’t used to making bread and it is so much better for you than those pre-packaged tubes of pizza dough.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon dry yeast
1/8 teaspoon of sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (about the temperature you’d do for a baby bottle)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat four
1 1/2 cups all purpose enriched flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

In a small bowl, mix the 1 tablespoon of dry yeast with 1/8 teaspoon of sugar and 1 1/2 cups of warm water and let it sit for 10 minutes. In a separate bowl combine 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour. You can gradually increase the whole wheat flour as your family gets used to this recipe to 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour. Add 1 teaspoon salt to the flour mixture and stir. Add the yeast mixture and mix by hand. This is very easy to knead because it is such a soft dough but I have made it in my mixer before. If you are making it in a mixer you will want to take it out before you add the olive oil or it will make the dough too slippery for the dough hook. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and knead for about 2 minutes until the dough is smooth. Cover the bowl and let it rise until the dough has doubled in size (about 20-60 minutes). Punch down the dough after it has risen and knead for 1 – 2 minutes. Divide into 2 portions. I store the extra portion in a plastic container in my fridge for several days and then use it for a second pizza later in the week.

Roll the portion you are using into a ball and roll it into a pizza shape on your pizza stone or baking sheet. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Poke the unbaked pizza crust with a fork to prevent it from developing air bubbles. Bake for 5 minutes and remove from the oven. Add your ingredients and then return to the oven until they are heated.

This may see like a lot of work if you aren’t used to making bread but it really is so easy and I always have the ingredients on hand so I don’t have to worry about anything going bad in my fridge. The prepackaged pizza crusts have so much junk in them that I hate to use them. With this, I know the crust is healthy and a little portion control on the cheese and some fresh veggies as toppings makes it a very healthy and easy dinner.