The best 100% whole wheat pizza crust EVER!

I have been making this recipe for awhile now, and have yet to share it. But the secret has been kept long enough!

Making your own pizza from scratch is cheap, allows you to connect with the food you are eating, and is also a great way to get several of the food groups into one meal-grains, milk (cheese), veggies, meats and sometimes fruits. Plus, it's a lot of fun and is much easier than you might think!

I adapted this recipe from Vegetarian Planet, by Didi Emmons. When I make pizza crust, I always sub all of the white flour for whole wheat. Although this substitution sometimes makes things dense and unexciting, I have found that this recipe results in a hearty product that is still light and airy-not to mention irresistible! Sure, it might take much longer than picking up the phone and dialing for delivery-but some things are worth waiting for!

Ingredients:
2/3 cup hot, but not boiling, water
1 pinch (about 1/8 teaspoon) sugar
1 ½ teaspoons or 1 package dry active yeast
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat flour, plus more as needed

1. Stir together 1/3 cup of water and the sugar in a large bowl.
2. Sprinkle the yeast over the mixture, and let stand until foamy-about 10 minutes.
3. Stir in the remaining 1/3 cup of water, the olive oil, salt, and enough flour (by ½ cup portions) to make a soft dough.
4. Knead on a floured surface, incorporating more flour, if necessary, to keep the dough from sticking. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5-10 minutes.
5. Place the dough in a deep, oiled bowl (I use about 1/2 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil) and turn over to coat with the oil.
6. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size; about 1 hour.
7. Punch down the dough, and allow to rise for 20-30 minutes more.
8. Remove dough from bowl and flatten onto a large pizza pan sprayed well with cooking spray, spreading out by pulling the dough toward the edges. Or, make personal sized pizzas by dividing the dough into four equal portions.
8. Top with your favorite toppings, and bake at 425◦ F for 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Tonight I'm topping my pizza with pesto sauce, sauteed garlic and herb chicken, canned no-salt-added tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese. Here are some of our other favorite pizza toppings:
*Brushed olive oil with lightly steamed spinach, tomatoes (canned or fresh, depending on the season), chicken sausage (TJ’s!), and feta
*Marinara sauce with prosciutto ham and goat cheese
*Herb olive oil, asparagus, and Italian cheese blend

Side note: sadly, I cannot currently post pictures of my culinary creations as my camera has apparently "checked out". I will be bringing it to a repair shop soon, to see if it's worth fixing - otherwise a new purchase will most likely be in order.

Until then, I will have to tempt you with words rather than visuals!