Pizza

Ah the universally pleasing food - PIZZA! Endless combinations and customizations, that is my favorite part about making pizza. You can make several dough balls and pop them in the freezer, then pull one out and thaw it a few hours before you're ready to get baking! My daughter Olive has a bit of an acid sensitivity so we tend to make a lot of white pizzas with a homemade oil sauce. My favorite white pizza is mozzarella cheese, pine nuts, tomato, and spinach. The below pictured pizza is half pepperoni/cheese, half red onion/tomato/pepperoni



Pizza

dough-

* 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


Dissolve sugar in the water and sprinkle with yeast. Set aside for 10 minutes to get frothy.

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.

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.

Roll out to desired thinness. This recipe makes two thin crust pizzas or one thick. Top as desired.

Bake at 425 15-20 minutes. For extra crispiness put the dough onto the rack while baking.


Pizza Oil-

1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil
1-2 tsp each basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary
1 tsp salt

Store in an airtight jar, let flavors infuse together for several hours. The longer the better! Refrigerate any leftovers.