when the moon hits your eye...

...like a big pizza pie!

this is a newly found staple of mine.

a MUST have in my pantry.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

-adapted from stephanie nielson's whole wheat pizza dough recipe-

2c whole-wheat flour

1 c white flour

3 tbls olive oil

1-tsp salt

1 packet yeast or 2 and 1/4 tsp

 1 tsp sugar
1tsp oregano

1tsp basil

1/2tsp red pepper flakes

1tsp garlic salt
1 stick butter {to spread on crust before baking--
sprinkle with garlic salt--makes your crust into garlic bread, amaaaaazing!}

1. Dissolve packet of yeast {or 2 and 1/4tsp} into 1 cup warm water with 1 tsp sugar. 

let sit for about 10 minutes in the microwave. DO NOT COOK.
(it will rise and look yellow and puffy, 

sometimes making little air bubbles)

2. Mix flour, salt, olive oil, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, garlic salt, 

and yeast mixture with dough hook for 5 minutes. 

Add about 1/2-1 cup water to it while it is mixing, 

so the dough sticks to the side of the mixing bowl like "spiderwebs". See picture below:

 {see elastic "spiderwebs" shown in the above picture and the below left hand picture}

Add flour if you've added too much water to get the right consistency. 

It will cook even if you don't get this step right, so don't stress about this, 

The dough will be more soft and fluffy if you get the right moisture.

when it comes to bread it's all about moisture, moisture, moisture!

3. Place in an oiled bowl, i use PAM.
Cover a towel in a warm spot for about 1 hour (i like my microwave best.)

DO NOT COOK. just let it sit in there. small warm spot=happy rising dough.

4. Roll out on a well floured counter top, and add toppings

some of our toppings are: 

garlic, fresh veggies {zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers, purple onions}, and sliced tomatoes that i put on AFTER the pizza is already cooked. the garlic is by far the ingredient that i never leave off. if you love garlic you will LOVE 2-3 cloves chopped up and sprinkled over your pizza--put the garlic on before you cook the pizza, but the tomato AFTER. the pizza will warm it up as it cools down from cooking.

or put them on before and have warm tomatoes.

whichever you fancy.

i do both ways.
you can use this recipe for 2 pizzas or 1. if you're only making ONE PIZZA, put half of the dough into a ziploc freezer bag BEFORE IT RISES {i like to spray PAM inside the bag before i put the dough in, and then i FREEZE IT. that way you can put the frozen dough out on your counter 3-4 hours before 

the next time you want to make pizza, so it can thaw and rise 

without you having to do the work of making your own dough. 

GENIUS, i know:)
i also like to do a stuffed crust and then i put butter and garlic salt on it before baking so it turns it into a garlic cheese bread around the crust. click here to see images.

5. Cook for 15-18 minutes on 425-450* on lowest rack. 450* will make the crust crispier so watch it closely around the 15 minute mark to make sure it doesn't burn.

image 1                           image 2                              image 3

image 1: yeast, sugar, warm water after 8 min. 
image 2: all ingredients mixing for 5 min. with bread hook

image 3: dough rising in microwave, it was dry in this picture, 
i usually make it much more runny. it will turn out either way.

(microwave & sugar with yeast=secret trick to ALWAYS get your bread to rise!)

...

the finished masterpiece!

our dinner was sooooooo good,

what did you make?!