Whole wheat Pizza dough and sauce

COURSE Lunch or Dinner, Kids Friendly

SERVES Dough 32 slices (4 pizzas), Sauce and Topping 8 slices (1 pizza)

TIME Dough 24 - 72 hours (10 mins active time), Sauce and Topping 30 mins

Cooking Tips: I normally have whole wheat flour in my pantry, so the pizza dough is whole wheat, modified from the original recipe using all purpose flour. We eat pizza almost weekly, making a batch of dough for 4 pizzas and defrost as needed is the easies way, because of the time the dough needs to raise. Many pizza dough recipes recommend to use a scale to measure at least the flour and water rather cups because of the precision provided by the scale.

Dough Ingredients:

• 796 Grams of whole wheat flour (about 6 cups)

• 500 Gram of water (about 2¼ Cups and 1Tbsp)

• 1¼ Tsp fast acting dry yeast

• 2.5 Tsp salt

• 2 Tsp sugar

• 2 Tbsp olive oil

Dough Directions:

1. Mix the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast together in a large mixing bowl.

2. Add water slowly, knead to combine. The whole wheat flour takes longer to absorb water. As a result this process will take a little longer than using the all purpose flour.

3. Add olive oil after all the water has been mixed in evenly. Knead to combine the olive oil, takes about 4 - 5 mins.

4. Place the mixing bowl in the fridge for at least 24 hours (up to 72 hours).

5. To freeze unused - after the dough have rested in the fridge for at least 24 hours, divide the dough in 4 equal portions, wrap the unused ones separately in parchment paper and freezer bags for up to 3 months.

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes

• 1 Tbsp olive oil

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• ¼ Cup grated onions (or finely minced)

• ½ Tsp dried oregano

• 1 Tsp dried basil

• ¼ Tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

• 1 Tsp sugar

Sauce Directions:

1. Pour diced tomatoes into a bowl and use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. This gives the sauce a even smooth consistency.

2. Heat olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat.

3. Add onions, garlic, oregano, basil, and red pepper flakes (if using). Stir for 3 - 4 mins until aromatic.

4. Add tomatoes and stir until evenly combined.

5. Let the sauce reach a simmer and lower the heat to reduce the sauce. Stir occasionally to avoid burning. It takes about 15 mins. Less concentrated sauce will take less time.

6. Remove from heat and spread on the pizza dough.

Topping suggestions:

• Shredded cheese - any kind, no judgement zone.

• Sautéed onion, bell pepper, and mushroom: slice all the vegetables and quickly sautéed with a tablespoon of olive oil

• Thin sliced ham or other deli meats

• Pineapple chucks

Assembling and Baking Pizza:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 475 degrees.

2. Generously grease a large full size baking sheet (26" x 18"). Whole wheat pizza dough sticks easily to the baking sheet.

3. Rollout the pizza dough to cover the baking sheet. My pizza is rectangular shaped, same as the baking sheet. 1 portion of the dough can be spread very thin to cover the full size baking sheet.

1. Spread the sauce onto the crust.

2. Evenly spread shredded cheese to cover the crust.

3. Cover with ham or other deli meats.

4. Distribute sautéed vegies and pineapple evenly onto the crust.

5. Bake for 8 mins.

Recipe Inspiration:

• The dough recipe is modified based on the "The Best New York Style Pizza Dough and 14 Tips for Success!!" from FeelingFoodish. This is a very good blog with a lot of tips on dough making.

• The sauce recipe is modified based on the "Homemade Pizza Sauce" from Little Spice Jar.

The Back Story:

Pizza is a weekly affair in my household. That has been the tradition for quite some time now. My children would want to come home right away voluntarily when you tell them that we are having pizza for dinner. We used to buy the frozen pizza from our local grocery store, but we have grown tired of the offerings. Pizza is a great way to introducing cooking to kids. My preschool aged children love to help spread the pizza sauce and putting the toppings. It's always something they look forward to.

I made the original recipe from FeelingFoodish, which was fantastic and well received. However, since we are eating pizza so frequently, I started to look for ways to make it slightly healthier. So far, replacing the crust to whole wheat is all I can find. Given that pizza unites the family, it's definitely a dish we will continue to make.