Herbed Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

This is a best-of-both-worlds pizza dough recipe.  It's basically Neal Barnard's whole wheat pizza dough recipe with herbs in it for flavor, kneaded and cooked thin like NY style pizza.

Ingredients
2 tsp agave nectar
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup bread flour
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp salt
vegetable oil cooking spray
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

Directions

1.  In a measuring cup, dissolve the agave nectar and yeast in 3/4 cup warm water (100 - 110 degrees F).  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine flours, dried herbs, and salt.  Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until a soft dough forms.  Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead until smooth and elastic.  Dough should be slightly sticky.  If it's too dry, add tiny amounts of water; if it's too sticky, add tiny amounts of flour.  Pinch off a small piece of dough and work it into a thin sheet through which you can see light.  You'll know it's ready when you can do this without tearing a hole in it.

2.  Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat the top.  Cover plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 40 minutes (or do it for a couple hours like me).  If making in advance, put the dough in a ziploc bag and refrigerate until a couple hours before you plan to use it.  If making farther in advance, freeze until the day before you plan to use it.

3. Place pizza stone in middle of the oven.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit an hour in advance so pizza stone can heat through.

4.  Punch down the dough and roll into a 10- or 11-inch circle (or divide the dough by however many people you're feeding and do small personal pizzas) on a lightly floured surface.  Sprinkle pizza peel thoroughly with corn meal to prevent sticking, place pizza dough on top of corn meal, and arrange sauce and toppings.  Sprinkle pizza stone thoroughly with corn meal, slide pizza from pizza peel onto pizza stone in the oven, and cook pizza for about 13 minutes.  

5. Allow pizza to cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

This half-whole wheat pizza dough recipe has no oil and comes from Neal Barnard's The Get Healthy, Go Vegan Cookbook.  I made personal pizzas with it last week for my family, and they didn't seem to notice it was whole wheat OR no oil.  The pizza was all gone very quickly.  I made mine vegan, and it was still pretty good.  I ate the whole thing.

Ingredients
2 tsp agave nectar
2 1/4 tsp yeast (recipe calls for active dry, I use instant because it's what I keep on hand for my bread machine)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached AP flour
1 tsp salt
vegetable oil cooking spray
2 tbs yellow cornmeal

Directions

1.  In a measuring cup, dissolve the agave nectar and yeast in 3/4 cup warm water (100 - 110 degrees F).  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine flours and salt.  Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until a soft dough forms.  Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if necessary to prevent sticking.  Dough will feel slightly sticky.

2.  Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat the top.  Cover with a towel (I use plastic wrap) and let rise in a draft-free place until doubled in size, about 40 minutes.

3.  Punch down the dough and roll into a 10- or 11-inch circle (or divide the dough by however many people you're feeding and do small personal pizzas like I did) on a lightly floured surface.  Place dough on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and sprinkled with cornmeal (I put the dough on a pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal and move it to the pizza stone in the over, also covered in cornmeal -- no baking sheet or parchment paper).  Crimp the edges to form a rim.  Lightly spray the surface of the dough with cooking spray.  (I don't do either of these things.  I stretch the dough as thin as possible without breaking it, leaving it just slightly thicker around crust.  No extra spray or "crimping.")  Add sauce and toppings as you see fit.  Bake at 500 degrees F for 8 to 12 minutes.

Easy Healthy Veggie Pizza

This recipe is not going to be the most delicious pizza you've ever eaten or something you'll crave when you want lots of cheese.  But it is vegan, quick, pleasant-to-eat, and made up entirely of whole, plant-based, nutrient-dense ingredients.  Pizza is one of the few things Simran scarfs down under any circumstances, including as leftovers, and I'm happy to report this pizza was no exception.  Since it's cheese-free, tastes good, and is so healthy, I think it will be a weekly dish for at least awhile at our house.

Please note that I don't know exactly what I'm doing yet with the sauce.  This recipe is still a work in progress, but I wanted to jot down how I made it this past week so I don't forget by next week.

Ingredients
For sauce:
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked in water for at least 1 hour, then drained and rinsed
1 tbs nutritional yeast
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup pizza sauce (My favorite is Trader Joe's fat free pizza sauce.  It tastes really good.)
Try including fresh basil, dried basil and oregano, roasted garlic, roasted red peppers, and/or sun-dried tomatoes.  The original recipe I based this on used tomatoes roasted in olive oil.  Last time I threw in some leftover sun-dried tomato pesto from my fridge.  Adjust to taste, and thin with more pizza sauce until spreadable.

For pizza:
2 large whole-grain tortillas (I like Food 4 Life brand, sold at Whole Foods, because it is so ridiculously healthy.)
Sauce, as made from ingredients listed above
1 cup baby arugula
1 cup Roma tomatoes, chopped
1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tbs raw cashews, ground
1/4 tsp garlic salt
Alternately, top with pretty much any vegetables you like.

Directions

1. Make the sauce by grinding the cashews and then mixing with the other sauce ingredients in a food processor.  Make sure it tastes good and is thin enough to spread, sort of like a hummus consistency or thinner.  If you don't have pizza sauce on hand, try marinara, tomato sauce, or a little tomato paste.  Adjust seasonings to taste.  (I always prefer to err on the side of too much oregano and garlic.)

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (I think 375 might make for better, crispier crusts, but I'll try that next time).  Place tortillas on an ungreased baking sheet.  Spread a thin layer sauce over each tortilla (a little goes a long way with the cashews), and if you tend to like saucier pizza, add more of the 'normal' pizza sauce on top of that.

3. Pile tortillas with as much arugula and chopped tomato as will fit.  Grind black pepper over the top of the pizzas.  Mix the tablespoon of ground cashews and the garlic salt, and sprinkle on top of the pizzas, a la Parmesan cheese.  Put pizzas in the oven and cook for 13-15 minutes.

New York Style Pizza

 The addition of cheddar cheese makes it look oilier than it was.

I looked around online trying to figure out how to make thin, floppy New York-style pizza, and the most comprehensive advice I've seen so far comes from Serious Eats.  To start with, I needed to use a pizza stone instead of the pan I've been using, and in order to get my pizza on and off of the pizza stone, I needed a pizza peel.  Those items arrived from Amazon two days ago, and I'm making pizza today.  Since I already have a dough I like that sort of resembles the one in this recipe and a store-bought sauce I like enough that I don't care to make my own from scratch, I'm only making certain changes to my regular pizza recipe today to see what happens.  If it doesn't turn out like I want, I'll actually bother following the directions properly next time.  The real directions are below.  Notes of my changes are in italics.

Ingredients

• 22 1/2 ounces (about 4 1/2 cups) bread flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• .35 ounces kosher salt (about 3 teaspoons)
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 15 ounces lukewarm water (I'm using Herbed Pizza Dough instead of these first six ingredients this time around.  If the texture isn't right, I'll follow the directions properly next time.)
• 1 batch New York Style Pizza Sauce (I'm just using store-bought organic pizza sauce this time.)
• 1 pound grated full-fat dry mozzarella cheese (about 4 cups), placed in freezer for at least 15 minutes (I had to buy this from the deli section at the store in order to find a brick of mozzarella that wasn't either "fresh" or part-skim.  According to Serious Eats' Pizza Lab, full-fat cheese that wasn't bought already grated is necessary for the gooey quality of a pizzeria pizza.)
• Whatever other toppings you choose -- I like onions, black olives, and additional cheeses such as sprinklings of Parmesan and Cheddar.

Directions

1. Combine flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in bowl of food processor. Pulse 3 to 4 times until incorporated. Add olive oil and water. Run food processor until mixture forms ball that rides around the bowl above the blade, about 15 seconds. Continue processing 15 seconds longer.
   
   
2. Transfer dough ball to lightly floured surface and knead once or twice by hand until smooth ball is formed. It should pass the windowpane test. Divide dough into three even parts and place each in a covered quart-sized deli container or in a (gallon-sized) zipper-lock freezer bag. Place in refrigerator and allow to rise at least one day, and up to 5.  (Hands down the best dough I've ever made -- thin, floppy, and delicious -- came from the portions I threw into gallon ziplock bags and the freezer directly after passing the windowpane test.  I let them thaw in the fridge for 24 hours before using them, then 2 hours at room temperature before stretching out the dough and making it into pizza.  I didn't do step 3 at all in those cases, and the dough was glorious.)
   
   
   
3. At least two hours before baking, remove dough from refrigerator and shape into balls by gathering dough towards bottom and pinching shut. Flour well and place each one in a separate medium mixing bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise at warm room temperature until roughly doubled in volume.
   
   
4. 1 hour before baking, adjust oven rack with pizza stone to middle position and preheat oven to 500°F. (15-30 minutes before baking, move grated cheese to freezer to get extra cold.) Turn single dough ball out onto lightly flour surface. Gently press out dough into rough 8-inch circle, leaving outer 1-inch higher than the rest. Gently stretch dough by draping over knuckles into a 12 to 14-inch circle about 1/4-inch thick. Transfer to pizza peel.
   
   
5. Spread approximately 2/3 cup of sauce evenly over surface of crust, leaving 1/2 to 1-inch border along edge. Evenly spread 1/3 of cheese over sauce. Slide pizza onto baking stone and bake until cheese is melted with some browned spots and crust is golden brown and puffed, 12 to 15 minutes total. Transfer to cutting board, slice, and serve immediately. Repeat with remaining two dough balls, remaining sauce, and remaining cheese.

[Edited 3/2/13: Serious Eats was dead-on about the cheese.  I had forgotten how it can actually leave pools of oil on top of the pizza.  My dough was still too thick, albeit floppier than before thanks to the pizza stone, so I'll be following the entire recipe next time to try to get the full New York Style effect.]
[Edited 5/20/13: The last time I made this pizza I followed the directions for the dough exactly.  It was EXPONENTIALLY better than before.  The windowpane test is important and does take a few minutes of kneading.  I only used one of the three pizza doughs immediately and put the other two in the freezer, and the ones from the freezer turned out even better.  See my bold-face notes above about that.  I will make NY-Style pizza this way forevermore.]

Black Bean Nacho Pizza

This recipe is from EatingWell.com.  I've made some changes below, such as using a slightly different whole wheat pizza dough recipe and using an oven instead of a grill.

Ingredients

• 1 cup canned black beans, rinsed (I have dried black beans cooking in the slow-cooker today instead.)
• 1/2 cup chopped jarred roasted red peppers
• 1 medium clove garlic, quartered
• 1 tablespoon chili powder (This amount made me choke and cough.  I had to add a lot more beans to counteract it. Next time I'll use 1 tsp to start and add more to taste.)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Yellow cornmeal, for dusting
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I'll be using a mixture of pepper jack and cheddar.)
• 2 medium plum tomatoes, diced
• 4 medium scallions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup chopped pitted ripe black olives
• 2 tablespoons chopped pickled jalapeños
• Whole wheat pizza dough

Directions

1. Prepare Whole Wheat Pizza Dough up to a day in advance (it takes over an hour to prepare, including rising time).

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).  Roll out prepared dough on a lightly floured surface.  Sprinkle cornmeal on a pizza pan (to create a non-stick surface) and lay dough on top of it.

3. Place beans, peppers, garlic, chili powder and salt in a food processor and process until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed.

4. Apply the mixture from the food processor like a sauce. Add cheese, tomatoes, scallions, olives and pickled jalapeños. Bake in preheated oven 16-20 minutes, depending on thickness of crust (I prefer a thin crust, using half the dough and putting the other half in the freezer for a later date).

Classic Veggie Pizza

In honor of Sameer's birthday today, I told him he could have whatever he wanted for dinner.  He chose homemade veggie pizza with herbed crust.  I'm not sure if it's true or he's just being nice, but I still feel honored that he claims his favorite pizza is the kind I make at home. 

Ingredients 
1 herbed pizza dough
1 cup mozzarella or Italian cheese blend, grated (the higher number of cheeses in a pizza, the more Sameer seems to like it -- I'm not sure if he's aware of that, but I've noticed when he comments)
2 tbs fresh grated Parmesan (you can omit this if it's already part of the Italian cheese blend)
1/4 cup cheddar, grated
2 cups pizza sauce (This is an approximation. I use about 2/3 of a jar of the store brand organic sauce, and I don't know how big the jar is. 10 oz? 12?)
1/4 cup green and red bell peppers, chopped
2 tbs yellow onion, chopped
4 oz sliced black olives
any other vegetables of your choosing (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.  Roll out the pizza dough as described in the herbed pizza dough recipe and place it on a round pizza pan sprinkled lightly with corn meal (to avoid sticking).

2. Add pizza sauce, vegetables, and cheeses, in that order.  Cook pizza in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes.

Herbed Pizza Dough

Tonight we're having pizzeria-style pizza for dinner.  I made pizza dough last night and put it in the refrigerator since it tastes better when it's been sitting for at least 8-12 hours before cooking.  I found the original recipe on AllRecipes.  The one below has minor changes, mostly because I'm too lazy to mince garlic for this.

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

Directions

1. Combine ingredients in bread machine pan according to your bread machine's instructions.  (For mine, this means wet ingredients, flour and dry stuff on top of that, then yeast in a little concave in the flour.  If you aren't using a bread machine, combine your sugar, warm water, and yeast.  Then while it's blooming for about 10 minutes, put together your dry ingredients.  Then combine your wet and dry ingredients.)
2. Turn machine on dough cycle.  (If you aren't using a bread machine, knead the dough for 15-30 minutes, then cover it with a cloth and let it rise for half an hour.)  Punch the dough back down and put it in a sealed plastic bag and store it in the refrigerator for up to three days.  It can sit in the freezer for even longer.
3. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
4. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface. Don't bother with a rolling pin; use your hands and it'll be easier.  Spray a large pizza pan with nonstick cooking spray, or better yet, sprinkle the pizza pan with corn meal instead. Place dough on pan and add your choice of pizza toppings.
5. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com.

Ingredients
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

Directions

1. Put all ingredients in a bread machine according to machine instructions and set to "dough."  Alternately, if you don't have a bread machine:

In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.
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.

2.  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.

3.  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.

4.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Roll a ball of dough with a rolling pin until it will not stretch any further. Then, drape it over both of your fists, and gently pull the edges outward, while rotating the crust. When the circle has reached the desired size, place on a well oiled pizza pan. Top pizza with your favorite toppings, such as sauce, cheese, meats, or vegetables.

5.  Bake for 16 to 20 minutes (depending on thickness) in the preheated oven, until the crust is crisp and golden at the edges, and cheese is melted on the top.  (I prefer to divide the dough in half to make two thin crust pizzas.  Put one of the balls of dough in a ziploc bag and throw it in the freezer for up to 6 weeks or so.)

Tostada Pizza

Tonight, in honor of Sameer's return from NYC, I'm making this tostada pizza recipe loosely based the tostada pizza served at California Pizza Kitchen.

Ingredients:
1 pizza crust
3/4 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup mozzarella, shredded
1/2 cup cheddar/pepper jack cheese blend, shredded
1 (15 oz) can refried black beans
1/2 cup salsa
4 oz black olives, sliced
1/2 cup fresh tomatoes, diced
2 tbs scallions, chopped
2 tbs tortilla strips
1/2 cup chilled iceberg or romaine lettuce, chopped (I use romaine since it has more nutritional value)
1 cup chicken strips, cooked (optional -- I use Morningstar chik'n strip meal starters, sautéed in olive oil.)

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Prepare your pizza crust and stretch it over a pizza pan or stone.  I made a whole wheat pizza crust for this (recipe to follow), but any dough (e.g., Pillsbury premade pizza dough) also works.  Top with ranch dressing.  I use the ranch dip I make (recipe to follow), but any bottled ranch dressing also works.  Mix refried black beans with salsa.  If you cannot find refried black beans, use a regular drained can of black beans and mix it in a food processor with the salsa.  Top pizza with the black bean mixture -- it will likely mix with the ranch dressing and that is okay.  Top with mozzarella, cheddar/jack cheese mixture, tomato, black olives, scallions, and chicken strips.  Cook in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes (or however long your pizza crust packaging dictates to make crust golden and slightly crispy).  Remove cooked pizza from the oven, top with tortilla strips (I just break up some yellow corn tortilla chips by hand) and chopped lettuce, and serve.

Spinach and Feta Pita Bake

I'm making these little pita pizzas for dinner tonight instead of on Pizza Thursday because they are quick and easy and I don't feel like doing much.  The recipe is originally from AllRecipes.com -- my version below has my notes and a couple minor alterations.

Ingredients
2 - 4 (6 inch) whole wheat pita breads
1 (6 ounce) tub sun-dried tomato pesto (Fresh made-from-scratch sun-dried tomato pesto can be even better, but I find it twice as expensive to make as it is to buy ready made.)
2 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch spinach, rinsed and chopped
4 fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (I'm not supposed to have feta while pregnant, so I'm using shredded mozzarella tonight.)
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 pinch ground black pepper to taste


Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Spread tomato pesto onto one side of each pita bread, and place them pesto side up on a baking sheet. Top with tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, feta cheese, and Parmesan cheese. Season with fresh ground pepper.
Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven or until pita breads are crisp. Cut into quarters and serve.