For Kitchen Tip Tuesday, I thought I would share a guest post from my friend, Lindsay from Passionate Homemaking. I asked Lindsay to be a part of my series called “My Favorite Dinner” because I knew that she was a great cook who focused on whole food cooking. I loved the recipe she has shared for homemade pizza. It’s an example of taking a familiar food that tends to be unhealthy and making it into a healthy dinner treat. Not only was she able to adapt her recipe to be a whole grain recipe, but she even soaked her flour! Now if only I could make my pizza crust look so beautiful……
My husband, Aaron, loves pizza (and so do I for that matter)! It is something I try to make twice a month to serve and bless him! Lately, I have been trying to figure out how to make a good crust that is all whole wheat and soaked, and I have finally figured it out! In the past, I tried it with all whole wheat pastry flour and it was extremely crumbly and unsuccessful. Now, I have tried all whole wheat flour (hard red or white wheat), and it works wonderfully, due to the high gluten content, which makes it very elastic. This crust is very tasty! As we only eat one pizza crust at a time, this recipe works well to freeze the remaining unbaked pizza dough (divided into individual portions) in ziploc bags in the freezer until ready to use. Freezing the dough will result in thinner crusts, I have found. Using whole wheat flour makes a more filling and satisfying meal!
Homemade Pizza Crust
3 cups water 110F
8-10 cups whole wheat flour
1-2 Tbls whey, kefir or cultured buttermilk
¼ cup honey
2 Tbls active dry yeast
1/2 cup water 110F
1 tsp honey
1 Tbls salt
To receive the full nutrients and break down the phytates, try soaking the whole wheat flour in advance.
1. Soaking: Combine 8 cups of flour, 3 cups of water, 1 Tbls whey or kefir, and 1/4 cup honey (adding the honey at this step helps keep the dough moist). Cover and leave on counter for 12-24 hours.
2. After soaking, activate the yeast in the remaining 1/2 cup of water and 1 tsp of honey.
3. Combine activated yeast, salt and soaked mixture. You may need to add more flour to make a moist but firm dough.
4. Knead for 5-10 minutes. Let rise for thicker pizza dough.
5. Divide into four sections for four crusts (each will make a 15in crust).
6. Turn oven on to 500 degrees (if you are baking right away). Bake for 10-15 minutes.
Here are some topping recommendations (these are my hubby’s favorities!): Pepperoni, cheese, Italian sausage, green peppers, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, Parmesan cheese
Enjoy!
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oh this blog are really wonder!
lovely pizza!
kisses,
vivi
I have also used my sourdough starter to make pizza crust and it was the best ever! It really had a good flavor without being sour tasting. I generally use 2/3 whole wheat flour (not pastry) and 1/3 unbleached all purpose. To me it is more palatable for the littles and dh and I’m fine with it being partially ‘white’.
Anneatheart,
Thanks for sharing what you do! I was wondering about using sourdough because I am trying to avoid yeast right now. I shall have to try that! Thanks!
Is it alright to use yogurt to soak? Or does that not do anything?
His,
Mrs. U
Mrs. U,
Yogurt works great! Feel free to use that instead of the other options. 🙂
Thank you!! Pizza is on our menu for this week, so I think I will try the crust this way! Thank you for sharing this!
His,
Mrs. U
Thank you for this recipe! I’ve been looking for a whole wheat crust that didn’t end up being cardboard… This was perfect. I also modified it to make calzones (with homemade mozzarella, ricotta, with homecanned tomato sauce on the side!) which were also delicious.
I’m so grateful to have found your site – I am very, very new to the idea of NT, but I love everything I’ve learned so far. Thank you!
i’ve never made pizza crust before but this one turned out pretty good!
i used fresh spelt flour (grind my own) and soaked it over night and i wanted to test the recipe so i only made one crust. i think because it worked really well i’ll make 4x as much next week.
anyway..tasted great!!
just had it stick to the pizza stone pretty bad, so i think next time i’ll use some flour or coconut oil….
Do you have any suggestions for a cheese alternative or how to replace that yummy cheesey taste on pizza?
I would really appreciate some ideas.
Maybe this is a silly questions…but do you pre cook the pizza crust for a while before putting on the toppings? It isn’t clear in the instructions and I have had many homemade doughy pizzas in the middle? 15 mins doesn’t seem long enough to cook through with toppings? I am making this tonight so I hope i get it right
The other 3 sections that aren’t used; can I put those in the freezer or ? Thanks. 🙂
Billie,
I haven’t tried Lindsay’s recipe, but I am sure you could. 🙂
Interesting! The pizza dough I have been making of late has you rest it at room temperature for 16-24 hours, and it tastes wonderful! I even tossed all my other pizza dough recipes. First I tried it with half white and half whole wheat, then all whole wheat, which was of course better nutritionally, but as far as the taste buds we preferred the half and half. So now I want to try this recipe, always attempting to feed folks healthier, but without sacrificing taste! Now I am wondering if part of the reason that it was so good was because the flour does actually get soaked that way. This version has you add the yeast when you are ready to make it; I wonder how the two would compare. As an answer to Barb–I have found that precooking pizza dough until it just begins to brown, then adding toppings (but not anything raw or too crunchy, meaning precook meat, dryfry onions and green peppers, etc.) works much better. You avoid that gumminess that happens when you don’t precook.
Yay! I was hoping you had a soaked flour crust recipe. I am VERY excited to try this.
I was going to ask the same question about pre-baking. I’m assuming that it would be a good idea.
I know you’re out of town right now. Enjoy your time with your family!
This pizza was fantastic! I made it today and my husband said he’d eat it over bought pizza any day! and we love pizza! Thank you so much!
P.S. I also soaked it in yogurt fearful of a sour taste but I didn’t notice it!
Is a pizza stone a must here? I used this tonight and used regular metal type pizza pans with olive oil. The dough was cooked but felt oil soaked then still stuck to the pan a little. I cooked them about 5 minutes before adding toppings too. Should I get a stone? Then use something like cornmeal to stop the stick?
Thanks!
This looks wonderful! We have not had pizza in a while because of its infamous nature…and because I was sure whole wheat crust would be a flop. But this has given me the courage to try, and soaked, too! I also was wondering about cheese “replacements”? Lately I have been doing hummus, which I truly do enjoy, or just skipping it altogether…
I tried this recipe for our dinner tonight and it was excellent. I’ve tried a lot of different recipes (soaked & unsoaked) and this is the first one my husband has enjoyed! It was also a lovely dough to work with. Very impressed!
I’m just wondering if it has to soak for 12- 24 hours? I’ve had other recipes for wheat products say 7 hours or more. I was hoping to make this for dinner tonight but started it too late for 12 hours…I was thinking it was like the other recipes I’ve used.:( Darn. Can’t wait to try it! Thank you!
A great way to reheat pizza is to drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil in a frying pan. Put pizza in CHEESE side down first, No, it doesn’t stick if you do it right. Once top is heated well and is a little crispy, flip and cook the bottom. Great way to reheat any pizza, but especially a deep dish!
I love this recipe. I’ve used the last several times we’ve made pizza, which is about every week. What I do is make all the dough into pizza crusts and prebake each about 3-4min. Whatever don’t use I freeze. Turns out wonderfully and saves time!