Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

So if you're like me you love pizza and get a craving for pizza at least every other week, and also like me you probably are dirt poor and can't afford to actually order pizza. So what to do? Make pizza with ingredients you already have! When you think about it in order to make pizza dough you really only need flour, water, and yeast (I added sugar to mine as well as whole wheat flour both of which I already had).  I make my own pizza sauce however most people already have jars of marinara laying around (I really could have stolen some from my sister if I felt like it, don't worry, Mary, I'd let you have some pizza!), so really you only have to buy some cheese which I bought the good stuff enough for two really big pizzas for $6 today (can't beat fresh mozzarella!). You may ask, "But Kat, what about other toppings!?" Well again you can raid your fridge and cupboards for those as well. I made Hawaiian pizza because I had a can of pineapple chunks and leftover ham from my Split Pea Soup on Chef on a Diet Blog Post. However I could have also made spinach and feta pizza with frozen spinach and leftover feta that keeps staring at me to use, I have plenty of venison and moose sausage in my freezer that I could cook up, hell I could even steal more things from my sister's cupboard like olives and god only knows what else! (I didn't steal anything so I don't what she actually has) And just remember folks, if you steal from someone else's cupboard to make this pizza let them have some too, because if they live with you they probably have no money either! (And crave pizza)

Before the Oven

So this Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Recipe I modified from a recipe my lovely boyfriend uses, I'm not sure where exactly he got it from, but it comes out great when he makes it so I "borrowed" it and modified it slightly. I was also debating whether to put this recipe on this blog or my more healthy blog Chef on a Diet but with how much cheese I put on it I decided it probably wasn't as healthy as my mind wants to pretend it is. "It's Whole Wheat Pizza Dough so obviously its healthy!" If you don't have any whole wheat flour just use all AP Flour instead and it'll be fine.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

1 packet Yeast
1 3/4 cups Lukewarm Water
1 TBSP Sugar
1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Salt

Starting to Rise!

Combine the yeast, water, and sugar in your mixer with a dough hook. (If you don't have a mixer just put it in a large bowl) Wait five plus minutes while the yeast begins to foam. Once its nice and foamy add the flour and salt and mix away until it forms a ball. Pull it out and on a floured surface roll it into a ball and cut it in half, then roll each half up into a ball again. Cover with wax paper or plastic wrap and let rise until it doubles in size. (30 minutes to an hour depending on how cold your house is) Now you can either make TWO pizzas, or just wrap one up in a ziploc bag and freeze it to use later. Either way you want to roll out the dough with a rolling pin to the size of your pizza pan. I have a commercial pizza pan that has holes all through it which makes it cook really nicely, I also have a pizza stone which also comes out great, if you don't have either just throw it on a sheet pan that you have sprayed with pan spray. Then put your sauce, cheese, and toppings on it.

My Commercial Pizza Pan on my Cutting board

Though if you use a pizza stone you are supposed to heat the stone up first in the oven before putting the dough on it, that's part of the reason I like my commercial pizza pan because you can put the pizza directly on it and then put it on the heated stone with a whole lot less aggravation. I usually start off cooking it at 425 degrees (preheated) for 20 minutes, and depending on how many toppings you put on you may need to go a little more, I usually just lift up a corner to see if the crust looks all the way cooked. And viola! you have the miracle of pizza on the cheap!

Please note that I made the Pizza Dough the night before I actually made the pizza. Since the dough can take a good hour or more to make I decided that in order for me to have instant gratification, aka pizza, I should make it early so all I have to do is roll out the dough, top, and bake when I get done work for the day.


Kat's Pizza Sauce (for two pizzas)

1 can Crushed Tomatoes (the big can)
1 TBSP Sugar
1 TBSP Italian Herbs
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

Mix all ingredients and you are good to go. This is enough for two pizzas using the pizza dough recipe above.

I ate too much of this...