August 17, 2010

Homemade Pizza

Just because we cook from scratch and eat healthy foods doesn't mean we have to give up delicious favorites; we have pizza night once a week! We have been having weekly pizzas for a while now, but the recipes have slowly changed and we have finally settled on a pizza that is healthy and delicious! The recipes for both sauce and crust are found below. Use your favorite toppings or whatever is left over in your fridge. It's great to get everyone together in the kitchen to make their pizzas!

Lets start with the pizza crust. Don't plan this on a night when you have 30 minutes to get dinner on the table. This crust isn't very time intensive but needs to be started early so the dough can rise. I know that you can freeze dough but I have never tried it- let me know if you have!

We used to buy canned pizza sauce until about two weeks ago when I discovered the best pizza sauce ever! I have no idea where I found the recipe (somewhere on the internet) but I will share it with you. My house smelled like Olive Garden for the rest of the night and we went back to the store a few days later and bought all the Roma tomatoes they had to make sauce and freeze it.
Amazing Whole Wheat Pizza Crust at allrecipes.com
  • 1 teaspoon white sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
  • 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour*
  1. In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.
  2. Stir the olive oil and salt into the yeast mixture, then mix in the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour until dough starts to come together. Tip dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining all-purpose flour, and knead until all of the flour has been absorbed, and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
  3. When the dough is doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 pieces for 2 thin crust, or leave whole to make one thick crust.** Form into a tight ball. Let rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled.
  4. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Roll a ball of dough with a rolling pin until it will not stretch any further. Then, drape it over both of your fists, and gently pull the edges outward, while rotating the crust. When the circle has reached the desired size, place on a well oiled pizza pan. Top pizza with your favorite toppings, such as sauce, cheese, meats, or vegetables.
  5. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes (depending on thickness) in the preheated oven, until the crust is crisp and golden at the edges, and cheese is melted on the top.
My notes:
*We still use white flour but try to find recipes that are at least half and half white and wheat. I love that this is more wheat than white but the crust isn't dense like most wheat crusts are. Don't buy any flour that says enriched. For white flour we like the King Arthur Brand because it is unbleached and unbromated. You don't have to shop a health food store to get it either, they sell it at Walmart.
** We normally split the dough into 6 balls. For our family of two, we each make a personal size pizza because our taste are very different, as well as two calzones each to have for lunch the coming week. To make the calzones, roll dough into more of an oval than a circle and dress it like a pizza on one end. Fold the other end over and seal the seems. I usually leave the calzones in the oven for 5-10 minutes longer.

Pizza Sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
7 Roma Tomatoes, cored and diced
1 tbls Basil

1/2 tsp Oregano

1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

6 oz can tomato paste


In saucepan, heat olive oil. Stir in garlic and cook until just lightly browned (This is where it starts to smell really good in your house and you can't keep your family out of the kitchen)! Add tomatoes, basil, oregano, salt, and red pepper flakes. Simmer until juices have started to evaporate slightly, about 10 minutes.
Blend in tomato paste and cook 3 minutes more. Cool slightly before using on pizzas. I found that this makes enough for two pizza nights so stick 1/2 in the freezer and have it ready for the next pizza night.

Enjoy!!

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