« previous post

next post »

extra cheese, hold the anchovies

April 18th, 2007 @ 9:59 am | food | Post a Comment

Cooking can be intimidating. Half the battle in the kitchen is just having enough courage to put ingredients together and go with the flow until you get a meal you like. For me, watching zillions of hours of the Food Network has helped build my confidence in the kitchen. “Chefebrities” like Rachael Ray (who can be totally annoying, I know) make food so much more approachable and fun.

This weekend I had a craving for pizza, so I suggested to Andrew that we make it homemade. (God knows I love the greasy stuff, but I’m trying to be semi-healthy here.) A friend once gave me a whole wheat dough recipe that has proven to be easy and delicious. I figured I’ve made it a dozen times before so I didn’t need to look up the recipe again. I dissolved the yeast, blended the whole wheat with the white flour, mixed it all with olive oil, and kneaded.

Side note: The kneading part means that making pizza is like eating celery - it BURNS calories!

Unfortunately, my confidence got the best of me. When I sat down to type up the recipe for the blog (mostly at the request of Elise, who always makes me feel so smart and talented when I post my edible creations) I realized that I had left out the salt! Whoops!

Luckily, Andrew claims he didn’t notice. Probably because he put 29 different toppings on his side. Which reminds me that this is a great recipe for couples because you can have a “boy half” with jalepenos and other gross things and a “girl half” with sauteed mushrooms and black olives.

The recipe is below the photos. Don’t forget to save a few nibbles of the dough to make breadsticks as an appetizer!

Quick Whole Wheat Pizza

  1. Mix 1 C wheat and 1 C white flour with 1 tsp salt in a medium-sized bowl
  2. In a small bowl or pyrex thing, dissolve 1 package or 1 tbsp yeast in 1 C warm water
  3. When dissolved, add 1 tbsp olive oil to the yeast mixture
  4. Mix the liquid into the flour, which will be pretty sticky (you could also add a drizzle of honey here, for a honey wheat crust)
  5. Flour up your hands and the counter and knead the dough for a few minutes, until it’s not too sticky and/or you get bored
  6. Let dough rest, covered with a clean towel, for 20 minutes
  7. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425
  8. After 20 minutes, press or roll out dough onto cookie/pizza/jelly roll pan that has been sprayed with Pam
  9. I like to put a little olive oil, salt and pepper on the dough here just for more flavor
  10. Also, here is where I set whatever dough doesn’t fit on the pan aside and make breadsticks with it. Just lay the dough scraps on another pan, brush with olive oil and sprinkle salt/pepper/parmesan cheese and bake until golden. I find that if I twist the dough they look extra-fancy.
  11. Prick the crust with a fork and bake at 425 for 10 minutes. During this 10 minutes, get out all of your toppings and cook any that need it (we like turkey sausage and carmelized onions)
  12. Take out the half-baked crust, slather on marinana sauce, cheese and desired toppings, and bake the whole thing at 425 for 12-17 minutes
  13. While the pizza cooks, eat your breadsticks with some marinara sauce. Yum!
  14. The pizza should be crispy and risen and yummy and ready to eat.

comments

  1. Awesome! Thanks!

    written by Janet

    April 18th, 2007 @ 10:42 am

  2. Oooh! Pizza! I am such a sucker for it, and making it means that it’s healthier, right? And particularly this whole-wheat version. That means I can eat half of it for dinner and have no regrets or qualms; after all, I DID knead it (burns calories) and it’s whole-wheat-healthy…right? Does anyone else agree with this logic? :)
    I’m excited to try this! xox

    written by heidikins

    April 18th, 2007 @ 11:03 am

  3. Yum! That looks delicious!

    written by Audrey

    April 18th, 2007 @ 11:03 am

  4. You know I love pizza. And homemade pizza is even better.

    YUMMY!

    written by Isabel

    April 18th, 2007 @ 11:04 am

  5. This looks awesome!!

    I’m making it tonight, for dinner-and-LOST date night! For real! Excellent recommendation.

    written by Laurel

    April 18th, 2007 @ 12:28 pm

  6. mmmm

    I love black olives!!!!

    I recently had the girls over for dinner and we did make your own pizzas. They turned out so yummy. Although I didn’t make the dough I bought it from Bertuccis.
    :)

    written by Julie

    April 18th, 2007 @ 12:30 pm

  7. Oh my goodness, that looks soooooo delicious!!! I LOVE pizza, especially non traditional pizzas. My favorite is one with a pesto sauce, sundried tomotoes, fresh diced tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and white cheese. Mmmmm, tasty. I think I’m going to have to get a personal pizza for lunch today.

    written by Chiada

    April 18th, 2007 @ 12:31 pm

  8. Look at you, getting all domestic! :)

    written by Zandria

    April 18th, 2007 @ 12:47 pm

  9. Sounds so yummy! Can’t wait to try it.

    written by JP

    April 18th, 2007 @ 1:24 pm

  10. mmm…that sounds so good! we love making pizza, so we’re going to have to try this recipe.

    written by cady

    April 18th, 2007 @ 2:00 pm

  11. Ooh…that looks so yummy! I’m definitely going to have to try this! :)
    Thanks for the recipe!

    written by Jenni

    April 18th, 2007 @ 2:41 pm

  12. Yum! YUM!

    written by E :)

    April 18th, 2007 @ 5:27 pm

  13. That looks amazing! I love your breadsticks!

    written by Lauren

    April 18th, 2007 @ 7:56 pm

  14. That looks SO good! Can’t wait to try it!

    written by B

    April 18th, 2007 @ 8:18 pm

  15. I allowed myself pizza a couple times last year while I was pregnant, but haven’t had it in over a year now… this will be a great healthy solution when I crave it! Thanks for posting this!

    written by Melissa

    April 18th, 2007 @ 9:58 pm

  16. Yay, a yummy new recipe I can try! I already told you that yours are the only ones I am brave enough to do :) Double yay for the link!! Thanks!

    written by elise

    April 18th, 2007 @ 10:30 pm

  17. thanks for the words of encouragement on my blog. In the next few days you’ll learn why I wrote what I wrote.

    Meanwhile, I’m starving. Could you bring me some pizza?! =)

    written by beakerz

    April 18th, 2007 @ 11:56 pm

  18. Oh that looks YUM! Must try!

    written by alyndabear

    April 19th, 2007 @ 1:19 am

  19. Drooling! My favorite Foodnetwork Star is Paula Dean. I just finished her memoir, which was very entertaining.

    written by webcowgirl

    April 19th, 2007 @ 1:47 pm

  20. THAT LOOK SOOOOO GOOD!

    written by Lindsey

    April 20th, 2007 @ 7:19 pm

  21. I made a homemade whole-wheat pizza last night too! It was delish - although nobody told me that rolling out the dough was going to be one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever done. I was aiming for a thin crust pizza…..but I ended up with what you might call ‘extra thick and oddly shaped’. Hmph.

    written by alana

    April 21st, 2007 @ 12:54 pm