Whole Wheat Pizza Crust |

My twin sister and her family surprised us recently with an impromptu trip to visit us here at the farm. Normally, it is at least a 9 hour trip by car to travel to see each other {sometimes longer, depending on how many stops we have to make for kids}. They happened to be about 3 hours away and decided to pop in on us for a short visit…so fun! I was trying to figure out what we were going to make for dinner, and decided on homemade pizza. It had been a while since I had made it, and now that my daughter no longer has a dairy allergy pizza was sounding good for our whole family to eat!

I have been using this pizza dough recipe, or at least different variations of it, for about 10 years now. A few years ago I learned a few tips to help make the crust crispier on the bottom – which improved the end product dramatically. I also started using whole wheat flour a few years ago, which turns out an excellent crust as well. With as “bad” as pizza is to eat, I figure adding a little bit of healthy from the whole grains isn’t going to hurt! So, whether you use all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, or a combination of the two…I hope you enjoy this pizza crust recipe as much as our whole family does now! Enjoy! -Shelley

Pizza Crust Recipe
Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees
Makes approximately 4-5 medium-sized pizzas, depending on thickness of crust

2 packages active dry yeast {or 4 1/2 t bulk yeast}
2 c warm water
5 T sugar
6 T olive oil
1 to 1 1/2 t salt
5 1/2 – 6 c whole wheat white flour {I used my WonderMill Grain Mill to grind fresh flour}
1 T gluten, optional {omit gluten if using all-purpose flour}
Variation: can add 3 cloves of crushed garlic to dough

1-2 sticks of melted butter {for bottom of pizza pans}
Cornmeal {for sprinkling in bottom of pizza pans}

Pizza sauce
Toppings
Cheese

Start off by combining the sugar in the water and sprinkling the yeast over the top. Allow this to proof for about 10 minutes, or until it becomes bubbly.

If you are grinding your own flour, go ahead and do this while the yeast is proofing. I find that the freshly ground, warm flour mixed with the proofed yeast makes for a bread dough that rises much more quickly than the average non-freshly-ground-flour dough.

Once the yeast is proofed add salt, oil, gluten {if using}, and crushed garlic {if using} to the water/yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add flour a cup at a time, stirring to combine until dough pulls away from sides of bowl and doesn’t stick to hands. I used a mixer to do this, but it can be done by hand as well. Once it gets to this point knead for 8-10 minutes with a kneader attachment in a mixer or 10-15 minutes by hand.

Place kneaded dough ball in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until double in size.

Once doubled in size, punch down and turn out onto a clean surface and divide into portions for how many pizzas you will need. I figure it makes about 4-5 medium-sized pizzas {depending on how thick you make the crust}.

Melt butter and pour enough in each pizza pan to cover the bottom. Sprinkle a little bit of cornmeal evenly over melted butter.

Still with oiled hands, start pressing out dough to the edges of pan and up the side a little bit to form the edge crust area.

It was great being able to have my sister and daughter help with the pizza making!

Allow to rise for about 10-15 minutes. Place pizza pan in pre-heated 425 degree oven and bake for about 12 minutes to allow crust to set up and start to brown.

Take crust out of oven and place a layer of pizza sauce…

Whatever toppings you desire…

And last, but not least…CHEESE….and then a bit more CHEESE!

Place back in oven for approximately 10 minutes, or until cheese is thoroughly melted.

I took this pizza pie out if it’s cast iron home just to get a good picture of the side of the crust. This was buttery, crispy and oh-so-good! I don’t know about you, but I’d take this homemade pizza any day of the week over a pricey restaurant!