Wheat Bread Pizza and flour power

(Follow-up: remember how I was going to do the Callanetics every night and report back? Yeah, about that ... I totally skipped it last night because BlueRidgeBlog and another friend made me run with them and it practically killed me. I could barely move last night, much less work out. I plan to give it a go tonight after I this post and a few cups of coffee. "Coffee: Gatorade for lazy, unathletic people.")

So yesterday I posted a recipe for cookies, and someone asked me why there wasn't any white flour in them. I'll fess up: I've cut out white flour for my family, except on special occasions. It offers no nutritional benefits, it's bleached all to hell and there isn't any reason to use it for most things. Now I'm not saying that I'm one of these people who tries to make birthday cakes out of wheat flour and applesauce and dirt and pass it off as the Real Thing. No, you know me and my confections: it's the Real Thing or nothing. But for everyday use? Wheat flour or other alternatives offer nutritious and interesting results. *The line to call me a Crunchy Earth Mama Hippie forms to the right.

One thing Pookie loves is pizza. Most kids (heck, most people) love pizza. Specifically she loves Mellow Mushroom house pesto, but in a pinch any pie will do. So I experimented with lots of different things. Bought store dough (too HCFC-y!), made regular dough (too time-consuming, flour-y), made whole wheat dough (too wheat-y!), nothing worked. But then I found a recipe that combines wheat flour and unbleached flour in the proper ratios to be healthy and yummy. This isn't my recipe (although I've tweaked it some), and I found it online, but I've had it for a while now and I cannot remember where it came from.
Here 'tis:

Note: A stand mixer is important, one with a dough hook. Otherwise it makes the "quick preparing" part
a big lie. You can have my Kitchenaid when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Crust:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour (unbleached)
1 pkg. active yeast
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar (you can omit this)
1 tsbp oregano (you can omit if you hate oregano)
1 tbsp garlic powder (you can omit if you hate, or add fresh chopped if you love)
3/4 cup HOT water (I usually nuke it for a minute)
1 tbsp olive oil

Mix the flours, yeast, salt, sugar, oregano and garlic. Mix the oil into the hot water and pour it into the flour mixture with the mixer running on low. When it forms a warm ball, continue to knead for about another minute.
Remove the dough to a floured surface and split it in half (skip the halving if you like an extra thick crust, otherwise this is enough dough for 2 pizzas). Cover the dough in plastic wrap you've sprayed with cooking spray for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 500.

While the dough is rising I prepare the topping. You can put anything on this of course, but I usually default to 93/7 ground turkey (or TVP if I don't have any turkey handy - no one ever notices the difference), chopped onion, stoplight pepper slices, mushrooms, and marinara sauce. I sautee them together in a bit of olive oil and use half for each pizza.
(Pesto sauce is a nice alternative to marinara - try making it with spinach, almonds and garlic for a lighter, healthier version. I'm making myself hungry writing this out.)

Take half the dough (mmm, warm) and roll it out onto a floured pizza stone (or use your hands to stretch it for the pizzeria experience), then put half the topping mixture on it. Sprinkle with as much, and whatever kind, of cheese you wish. Pookie helps with this part, so our cheese distribution is decidedly uneven. Then I let her shake on more oregano and long bits of parmesan.

Pop it into the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the crust is crispy and darkening. If it isn't cooked enought it will taste rather wheaty and yeasty.
Make the 2nd pizza immediately, or wrap it in the plastic and refrigerate for tomorrow's dinner.

I love this recipe because in 30 minutes you knock out healthy, homemade dinners for 2 nights. I work full-time, so I prefer to dedicate as much hometime as I possible to being with Pookie. Yeah, yeah, she's in daycare. *The line to call me a Detached Yuppie Asshole forms to the left. (The first people in the Yuppie line and the Hippie line have to leg wrestle each other to determine the flavor of my "Bad parenting" label)

For Pooks I just cut it into small pieces and let her have at it. For adults you can pair it with a nice baby spinach salad with a vinaigrette dressing, cranberries, almonds and feta and a glass or two of vino and it can pass as a "gourmet" pizza (even though it's rather thrown together). I think of it as the shabby chic of easy dinners.

Comments

[Marie]

You are such a dirty hippie!