Homemade Whole Wheat Vegetable Pizza

Photo by Gym. Flickr

Most of us are all aware that Whole grain products are much healthier for us to consume, than foods containing white enriched flour. Baking with whole grain flour is no more difficult, than baking with enriched flour. Pizza is especially healthy and tasty made with wheat flour. It gives a whole new twist to the taste of pizza. Even though I'll be listing the toppings I like to put on my pizza in the recipe below, you can improvise and add your own favorite toppings.

Ingredients for your dough;

1 1/2 cups of warm water

2 tbsp sugar

1 envelope yeast

2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

4 cups of whole wheat flour ( you can do 2 cups of wheat flour and 2 cups of white flour, instead of the 4 cups of wheat flour if you prefer.)

Toppings;

Olive Oil

6 cloves of minced garlic

1 thinly sliced large tomato

1 thinly sliced onion

1 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms

Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp fresh chopped basil

1 tbsp fresh oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Crushed red pepper (optional)

Pour the warm water in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar until it's dissolved. Add one packet of yeast and let it set for 15 minutes. When the 15 minutes are up, add the olive oil and salt. Stir it all together. Start adding your flour, 1 cup at a time, stirring in between cups. A wire whisk is ideal to start out with. When the dough starts to thicken, switch to a large spoon, until you can start using your hands. Once all four cups of flour have been added, you should be able to start kneading your dough. You'll need to keep adding small amounts of flour to the dough and the surface your working on, while you are kneading. It's very simple to knead dough. All you have to do is keep folding your dough in half, while placing pressure on it for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the dough no longer sticks to your hands and your able to form a ball with it. Once you've formed a ball and your done kneading, lightly grease the ball with olive oil. Grease a large bowl with olive oil and place the dough in the bowl. Cover with a cloth that's large enough to cover the top of the bowl and set the bowl aside away from any drafts. Rising time is usually 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

When the dough has risen, preheat your oven to 425 and cut the ball into equal halves. This recipe will make two medium pizzas, so you'll need to go and gather two pizza pans. Grease and flour both pans, then slowly and carefully, spread each half onto the pans. The dough should be spread evenly, covering the whole width and length of each pan. Once you've formed your pizzas, place them in the oven for five minutes. Remove them from the oven after the five minutes are up and add all of the toppings. Start by spreading the olive oil over each pizza with a spoon. Generously sprinkle the minced garlic evenly over both. Continue placing the thinly sliced tomatoes, sliced onions, bella mushrooms, basil, salt and pepper, oregano, parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper if desired, on your pizzas. Place the pans back in the oven, turning every five minutes, for another twenty to twenty five minutes, or until the bottom of the pizzas are a golden brown. Five minutes before removing the pizzas from the oven, sprinkle mozzarella cheese over top of both and let the cheese melt. Remove them from the oven. It's best to let pizza set for 10 minutes before cutting and serving it.