I’ve been pretty religious about my love for no knead bread, but I haven’t yet ventured out into other types of bread products.  It was time.  I opened to the chapter on flatbreads and pizza.  Bring it on.

Actually, I guess I kinda did it backwards, because pizza dough is really much easier to make than full-on bread.  Or at least, you would think, right?  When we make homemade pizzas, I usually Trader Joe it up: TJs whole wheat pizza dough, pizza sauce, pre-sliced mushrooms, and pre-shredded mozzarella.

This time I decided to make my own dough with the help of Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  All you really have to do is make one of a number of bread doughs (you choose your favorite!) and then use it for pizza.  Who knew?  No difference, apparently, between bread dough and pizza dough.  At least in this system.

So I made the dough for whole wheat olive oil bread, since I’d made it before and olive oil seems to go nicely with pizza.  Here’s the dough pre- and post-rise:

all bubbled up, post-rise, on the right

From there, it’s as easy as making pizza with pre-made dough.  I still bought the TJs pizza sauce, and I got a bunch of veggies, including some exotic ones that I knew the kids would love (enoki mushrooms, anyone?).  I’m including all the goodies we put on our pizza in the recipe, but you can really put whatever you want.  Including meat products, if that’s what you like.

Whole Wheat Vegetable Pizza

• 1 recipe pizza dough
• 2 cups pizza sauce (marinara will work in a pinch, although it’s waterier)
• 1 cup sliced cremini mushrooms
• 1 cup enoki mushrooms
• 1 small can sliced olives, drained
• 1/2 small zucchini, sliced thin
• 1 cup baby spinach, washed and dried
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup fresh mozzarella

Preheat oven with pizza stone placed in lower third to 500º.

Divide the dough in half.  On a floured pizza peel (or a cutting board, if you don’t have a peel), flatten each piece into a round disk about 1/8″ thick and 12″ in diameter.  To flatten, use a combination of a rolling pin, your hands, and any other means necessary.  Cover each round of dough with 1 cup pizza sauce, leaving a 1/2″ crust around the border without sauce.  Sprinkle 1/2 of your toppings on top of the sauce (it’s best, if you are using spinach, to put the spinach first; the moisture from the other vegetables will help steam it).  Cover all with 1 cup shredded mozzarella.  Dice 1/4 cup fresh mozzarella into small cubes, and sprinkle over top.  Drizzle with olive oil.

Slide each pizza onto the hot stone in the oven using the peel or your cutting board (I baked one pizza and topped the other while the first baked, so I didn’t have 2 pizzas cooking at once).  Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, checking after 10 minutes to make sure your toppings aren’t getting too brown.  Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes before cutting.

download and print this recipe

I did notice one major difference between the homemade dough and the store-bought.  I always have trouble with my pizza dough turning out raw when I don’t pre-bake them.  Alternately, sometimes the water from the veggies pools in the center of the pizza.  With this homemade dough, I didn’t have a problem.  It was cooked perfectly after only 12 minutes, and there wasn’t any extra moisture on top, as you can see.  I suspect, though, that this change might be from cooking the pizza at such a high temp, which Healthy Bread recommended.  So, thanks Healthy Bread!

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