Awesome, Easy (and Healthy, too!) Pizza Dough

I know why the pioneer women weren’t fat.  They had to make their own bread.  And they didn’t have a wheat grinder or a KitchenAid to do all the manual labor for them.  Come to think of it, most of them didn’t even have a husband or teenage son to help them, because the men-folk would be away all day doing other manual labor/chores around the farm.

Sunday night for the Superbowl, we made homemade pizza.  I usually make 2 large thick crust pizzas with this recipe, but this time I split it into 6 small balls and let each member of the family make their own.   

Since I like to use white wheat in my recipe, I needed some boys men to grind it up for me.  I’ve thought about buying an electric wheat grinder, but my kids LOVE doing this.  Yes, they are weird, but I’m going to milk the free child labor out of them as long as I possibly can!  I would also never do this if I had to knead my dough by hand, even though hand-kneading would be a great way for me to get some much needed arm muscle.

 

Here’s how I make my dough:

First proof the yeast:  2 T yeast, mixed into 2 c. very warm water.  While the yeast is doing it’s magic, mix the dry ingredients into the mixer bowl:  3 cups white flour, 1 cup red (traditional) wheat flour, 2 cups white wheat flour.  (If you don’t have both types of wheat, I would do 4 c. white and 2 c. wheat).  Then add 3 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons garlic powder, and 1 teaspoon dried basil.   Mix all dry ingredients in bowl well and then add yeast/water mixture, plus 1/4 cup olive oil. 

Turn on the mixer and let it work for 3-5 minutes.  If the dough is too dry, add water a tablespoon at a time until it is just moist enough to stick together.  You can immediately roll out the dough and top it, but because it has wheat in it, I find it’s better to let it raise for 20-30 minutes before rolling it out.  It will taste lighter and less dense once it cooks that way.  (And it’s easier to roll out after it’s raised a little bit.)

After it raises a bit, roll out and put on pizza pans.  I have two round large pans that I normally use, but this time, we grouped them onto cookie sheets.  Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.  If you have two pans in the oven, make sure they both get equal time on the top and bottom.  (In my oven, that makes a difference.)  My kids know they are ready to take out once the cheese starts to brown and the pepperoni curls up and shrinks a bit.  (Nothing is less appetizing than undercooked pepperoni, IMHO.)

 

There are very few (like less than 5) meals I make in our household that everyone actually likes, but everyone LOVES homemade pizza.  If you know how picky my kids are, you will definitely want to give this one a try soon!