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Friday night in our home is pizza night.  Not the delivery kind, although, sometimes it would be nice if we lived close enough to the light of civilization to have a pizza delivered here!  Nope, the homemade kind – the much better tasting kind. Some in our home prefer thin, some thick, but they all LOVE pizza.  

Whole Wheat Pizza from scratch:

Ingredients:

Crust

• 1-1/2 c. warm water
• 2-1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 T. yeast
• 1 t. salt
• 3 T. olive oil
• 3 T. sugar
• 2 (more or less) c. AP flour

Sauce

• 6 oz. of tomato paste
• 1/3 c. olive oil
• 3/4 c. water
• ½ t. each of oregano, crushed rosemary, thyme, basil and sugar
  
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Other

• Mozzarella cheese, italian seasoning and toppings (Italian sausage, green peppers, pepperoni, onion, etc)
• Cheese sticks if you want stuffed crust
  

Grease your pans.  For Thick crust – one 12x17” jelly roll pan.  For thin crust – two 14” pizza trays.  

For Sauce: Mix together all of the ingredients for sauce and let stand for an hour or so (I have used this straight away with no problem, but the longer it stands the more flavor the sauce develops)

For crust: in a large bowl, mix together warm water, whole wheat flour, yeast, salt, olive oil and sugar.  Mix well.  Add most of the AP flour and beginning kneading, adding more flour if necessary.  Knead until smooth and elastic (6-10 minutes) or in your KitchenAid for 5 minutes.  If you are using regular yeast, let rise for about 45 minutes in a lightly oiled bowl.  If you are using commercial yeast (like the stuff in 2 lb. blocks at Sams), let rest for 10-15 minutes. (if doing thin crust stop here and follow thin crust directions at the end of the blog) After that time, punch down and roll out to the shape of a 12x17 jelly roll pan. 

Place in pan and work dough up the sides. 

{half of us like stuffed crust and half don't so we only stuff half of the pizza dough edge with cheese}

Place cheese sticks (like the snack kind) and roll dough around if you want stuffed crust. 

Spread sauce over dough, reserving any extra (we usually have about a ½ cup left over) for dipping the crust into. 

Add toppings. (Winter months it is usually boring - just meat, but in summer everything from the garden gets put to GOOD use!)

I always cook up 1 lb. of italian sausage whether I need that much or not and freeze the remaining for our pizza the next week.

Sprinkle evenly with mozzarella cheese (and a little italian seasoning).  Cover with towel and place in a warm spot to let rise about 20-30 minutes.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Yummy!!!!

See how nice and thick that crust is?

Everybody LOVES pizza night!

For Thin Crust: Punch dough down and divide in half.  Roll out into two 14 inch circles.  Bake right away at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and top with sauce, topping and cheese.  Return to oven at 425 and bake for another 15 minutes.