Recipe of the Week - Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Pizza is somewhat of a staple in our house. Shocked? Actually pizza can be a very quick, easy and HEALTHY meal when not loaded down with a lot of unhealthy ingredients. We always have the ingredients to make a very basic cheese pizza in the house because most ingredients are relatively non-perishable (if stored in the right way).

The recipe for the dough came from a good friend of mine (Greta). 

Ingredients
2 packages rapid rise yeast
2 cups warm water
~2 cups all purpose flour
~2 cups whole wheat flour
~1.5 Tbs. sugar

Instructions
Dissolve sugar in water and sprinkle yeast on sugar water mixture. Let sit for ~20 minutes (the mixture will foam and look frothy). Slowly mix in equal parts all purpose and whole wheat flour until a nice dough forms (you want it to not be sticky). Coat a clean bowl with cooking spray and let the dough rise for an hour (if time, punch the dough down and let it rise a second time).

Note: You CAN make the dough with all whole wheat flour if you prefer but the taste and texture are considerably different.

Once the dough has risen at least once roll out the dough on the counter. We usually brush the dough with an olive oil mixture containing the oil, garlic, oregano, basil and a pinch of salt.  Top the pizza with a think layer of sauce (if you prefer) and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese (add some parm if you prefer). We usually top ours with lots of fresh veggies (frozen veggies work well also) or add fresh basil and tomato. I made a pizza recently with goat cheese, arugula and pears so you can mix it up. The one below is a basic tomato with mushrooms (one of my favorites). Enjoy!