Homemade Thin-Crust Wheat Pizza

Yes, 100% homemade pizza! Made the pizza dough and sauce from scratch and topped them ourselves :) ...obviously!

Pizza Dough (adapted from Oprah):

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 package dry active yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoon (tablespoon??) lukewarm water from tap
• 1/4 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of flax
• flour for work surface

1. Place flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a mixer (YOU better have a kitchenaid mixer - like ME!) fitted with a dough hook. While mixer is running, gradually add water and knead on low speed until dough is firm and smooth, about ten minutes. FLAX TIME! Sprinkle some flax in the dough, it adds a little extra kick. Add any extra spices you want! We put in some oregano, thyme, parsley? Shoot, I don't really remember. Turn machine off.

2. Pour oil down inside of bowl. Turn on low for 15 seconds, coating inside of bowl and all surfaces of dough with the oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm spot until doubled in bulk, about two hours. (We turned the thermostat to 68° and then went to the grocery store for a while!)

3. Preheat oven to highest setting, 500° or 550°F. I think we eventually turned it down to 450°? Punch dough down, cut in half. On generously floured work surface, place one half of dough.

4. By hand, form dough loosely into a ball, stretch into a circle. Using a floured rolling pin, roll dough into large circle until very thin. Don't worry if your circle isn't perfect and if you get a hole; just pinch edges back together. (We didn't have a rolling pin, so I used my Pizza My Heart skills to tap out the dough - working from the center out. Then I attempted to use my Woodstock's Pizza skills, but our dough was too thin to be properly tossed.)

5. To prevent dough from sticking to counter, turn dough over, add flour to dough, counter and rolling pin as needed. If you can, sprinkle pizza peel or cookie sheet generously with cornmeal. Kyle mentioned about three times that he wished we had cornmeal. It does make things more yummy... Anyways, next transfer the dough to pizza peel or cookie sheet with no lip. Add toppings.

6. Slide dough onto pizza stone or place cookie sheet with pizza on bottom rack. Bake 10–12 minutes or until golden. To remove pizza from oven stone, slide cookie sheet under dough onto another cookie sheet, slice and serve immediately.

Pizza Sauce (from Judy's Kitchen):

• 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil (I use Carapelli first-cold pressed)
• 1 small onion, chopped (about 3/4 cup)
• 1 Tbsp. finely chopped garlic
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 lbs. Roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded, diced (All I did was seeded and diced, peeling was too much work ha!)
• 2 cups chicken broth (I suggest using less - our sauce ended up too liquidy)
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
• Sea Salt and black pepper to taste -- use sparingly and taste first

In 2-quart heavy saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Saute the onions till soft, about 5 minutes, lowering heat if necessary to keep from burning the onions. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Kyle did this part, I was busy making our pizza's into beautiful circles! Add the tomato paste and tomatoes; stir and cook for about 3 minutes. Add chicken broth, basil, salt and pepper and simmer for 30-45 minutes, or till sauce thickens, stirring as needed. When sauce is thickened nicely, taste to adjust seasonings, adding more salt and pepper if needed. Refrigerate or freeze till needed. Yield: about 1 quart. (I still have some in my fridge! Shoot - must remember to use it!)

Kyle's pizza:

My pizza:

Toppings we used:

• Chunks of Mozzarella (my tiny food processor wouldn't shred the block I had, instead it made strange tiny clumps - oh well, it still worked out)
• Shredded Asiago cheese
• Jalapeno slices
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Artichoke hearts
• Mushrooms
• Basil leaves

As you can see, Kyle left the basil leaves whole, whereas I put mine on smaller. He also crammed a bajillion toppings on his, whereas I put the appropriate number of toppings on to ensure it would hold up and not be all wobbly. Kyle's wasn't firm - let's put it that way. Both were really good!!

It was soooo much fun to use my new stand mixer :) I highly recommend making your own pizzas. It's a long process but so fulfilling. Or maybe I have a fascination with pizza creation? Back in the day I used to seek out pizza parlors for employment...