I didn't have high expectations from a half-whole wheat, half-all purpose flour crust. But this was a revelation, it was crispy and satisfying in every bite.
A few lessons learned from this outing:
1. Season at every step, especially if you're making a vegetarian pizza. Season the flour mixture, season the olive oil that coats the crust, season the tomato sauce base. And finally season the oil that's drizzled over the toppings.
2. A well-preheated oven (at 450 degrees) is optimal for making the crust crispy. I don't much like doughy/yeasty crusts though I love chewy, doughy bread.
3. See, I made two pizzas, one with ham and salami toppings plus veg, and a second that omitted the hams. Olives would have boosted the flavour of the vegetarian pizza.
This is what it looked like before baking:
And now the nitty gritty:
1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1 1/3 cups warm water
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups AP flour
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs sugar for the yeast
Optional: A pinch of sea salt for the yeast
Your choice of herbs for the crust (thyme, oregano, chili flakes etc)
In a small bowl combine yeast and the warm water and bit of sugar. Let stand for 5 - 10 minutes until yeast is dissolved and is starting to bubble.
In a large bowl, combine flours and seasoning herbs. Pour in the yeast mixture and mix until everything’s holding together. Knead for 10 minutes (I used the same bowl that held the flour mixture). The dough should be smooth, elastic and tacky (not sticky) when you’re done.
Now transfer the dough over to a bowl that you’ve lightly coated with additional olive oil. Turn the dough over to coat completely. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean and floured dishtowel and let rise in a warm place. You can use a warm oven for this. Let rise for 1 or 2 hours or until doubled in volume.
Punch the dough down and divide it in half. At this point, you can freeze half by wrapping it tightly in saran wrap.*
Roll the dough into a ball and let it rest, loosely covered, for about 10-15 minutes. While it’s resting, preheat the oven to 450F. Grease and Ssprinkle cornmeal over your baking stone or baking sheet. Flatten the dough straight on the sheet and roll it out flat.
Now comes the fun part: laying on the toppings. Brush the top of the dough with a bit of additional, seasoned if possible, olive oil. Next comes a thin smear of tomato sauce thickened with a little tomato paste. Ham and salami slices went on next for the meat pizza. For both meat and vegetarian pizzas I used mushrooms, green peppers, jalapenos, thinly sliced onions and steak tomatoes. Over all that came two different cheeses.
Stick your magnificent creation in the oven and bake 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of your crust.
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Storing pizza dough
* Shape it into a disk, coat with little oil, saran wrap it and then throw it into a ziplock. When you want to use it, take it out the night before and put it (still wrapped) into the fridge. Three to four hours before you plan to use it, unwrap and oil it, put it in a big bowl and leave covered in a warm place to rise. After it has risen it is ready to use.
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