Whole Wheat Vegetable Pizza

After church one Sunday William and I went to Whole Foods market with his parents Lisa and James Crouch. We picked up a lot of yummy stuff there and I (Samantha) was absolutely mesmerized the entire time. I felt like a kid in a candy store, except this one was healthy and would not amount to cavities. William's dad got a slice of spinach pizza, which we sampled, and really liked. I had not had pizza in such a long time and and it reminded me of the times when I would go to CiCi's and eat all the spinach pizza I could. I guess that sample of the pizza from Whole Foods sparked a craving for pizza in us and we decided to make our own. However, I wanted to make a whole wheat crust and since it was during Christmas break, we had plenty of time to make the dough for the crust from scratch. The first time we made it at my house, we were so surprised at how amazing it tasted! I mean, we knew it was going to be good, but we never expected it to be that good. So we made it the very next day at Will's house for his family and they raved over it as well! It truly is one of our favorite things to do, not only because it tastes so amazing, but because the process of making it is a lot of fun.


Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 Tablespoon yeast
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose (unbleached) flour

1. Dissolve sugar in warm water. (only takes a few seconds)
2. Once sugar is dissolved, sprinkle yeast over the warm water and wait ten minutes. (The yeast will look foamy at the end of the ten minutes)
3. Stir in the olive oil and salt.
4. Mix in the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all purpose flour (saving the 1/2 cup of all purpose for later) until it comes together.
   
5. Spread the 1/2 cup of all purpose flour on a hard, clean surface and knead it into the whole wheat dough (about ten minutes).
6. Once all of the all purpose flour has been incorporated into the whole wheat and yeast dough mixture, place the dough in an oiled bowl and rotate the dough to oil on all sides.
7. Cover bowl loosely with a towel for 1 hour in a warm place.
8. Once the dough has doubled in size, form dough into a tight ball and let it rise for another 45 minutes without being covered.
9. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
10. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface until it cannot be rolled out anymore.
    
11. Place rolled out dough onto an oiled pizza pan.
12. Fold excess dough that hangs over the side of the pan to create a desired crust.

Once you have done this the dough is ready to be cooked and you can assemble the pizza. We took some olive oil and a bread dipping blend made of garlic, salt, black pepper, red pepper, rosemary, basil, oregano, and parsely and brushed the entire crust before adding the rest of the ingredients. This gave the crust a crunchy texture and flavorful taste.

Next we added a marinara sauce (not homemade, although we will probably do that one day too).
Then a layer of low-moisture part skim mozzarella cheese and topped it with roma tomato slices, spinach, and sliced mushrooms (you can add any vegetables you like). Of course we had to top that with some more mozzarella cheese (and why not when it is part skim....it's practically no calories, right?) Sprinkle a little parmesan and herbs on top and pop that baby in the oven. You got yourself a delicious and nutritious pizza. I do not hope, but KNOW, you will enjoy :)