Often we food bloggers forget how to do simple we start caramelising our pears and over egging the omelette. Sometimes simple is just as good as our over the top attempts at chef quality food, sometimes simple can be even be better.
Way back in the mists of time before I created this food blog, before I started getting my weekly organic vegetables delivered and most notably before I first had my cholesterol measured. We used to have pizza every week. Usually a frozen one that cost astronomic amounts of money for what is essentially some bread dough and some toppings, but sometimes worse, we got Dominoes.
While we still do those things occasionally, I cut way back after I was told that despite all outward signs that I was healthy, my cholesterol was above average. I’ll have to admit it was a shock, suddenly I looked at the world differently, the traffic light colours on boxes meant something to me. Unfortunately for the Other Half pizza was one of the first things to go, unless you count the tasteless healthier options we tried for a while.
Considering at this point I started my wonderful journey into learning about food and how to make it myself, it is surprising it never dawned on me to make my own pizza. Even when I started Bread Bakers Apprentice, I still never tried making my own pizza dough.
Making your own dough is super simple, I make mine leave it to rise for an hour or so before putting in the fridge overnight. An hour or two before I want dinner I take it out of the fridge and leave to return to room temperature.
Choose your own fillings, and make the perfect pizza for you!
Wholewheat Pizza Dough
~ makes 1 medium sized pizza, we split between 2.
This recipe is loosely based off of this New York Times recipe for healthier pizza. It uses both plain (all-purpose) flour and whole wheat bread flour. I opted to just use whole wheat flour in my version. I don’t believe it turned out any-the-worse for it.
- 1 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups stone ground whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
Add the warm water, yeast and sugar to a bowl and leave until it starts to go cloudy.
Mix the olive oil with the water and yeast. Using a wooden spoon at first stir the whole wheat flour in bit by bit, until you have added all the flour.
Using your hands start to pull the mixture into a dough, I usually knead my dough in the bowl, as it saves clean up time. It also means you rarely have to add more flour to the dough – don’t ask me why but my dough sticks less to the bowl than it does my work surface.
Knead for around 5 minutes until you have a smooth dough. Then form into a boule shape, pull the corners of the dough underneath and pinch together to form a rough sphere. Place in a clean slightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film or a damp kitchen towel.
Leave for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. After the rise I pop my dough into a food grade quality plastic bag and pop in the fridge, until an hour before I want to use it.
Preheat the oven to 220oC.
Prepare a baking sheet with a little cornmeal (or semolina flour). Then beginning to stretch the dough out, from the centre outwards. Place the flattened dough on to the baking tray, load with toppings, then place in the oven for around 15 minutes.