Woznation

We loves us some pizza in woznation.  We use to use boboli crust, then this adorable gay couple started selling pre-made raw dough at the farmers market in memphis.  But unfortunately they never made a whole wheat variety and I started looking into making it at home.  Too bad for them, because they were charging us $5 a pop for each pre-made dough – but as soon as I looked into making it at home, I realized they were robbing us blind.  Homemade pizza dough is so easy and cheap!

Here is my go to recipe:

I use a mix of whole wheat and all-purpose flour.  Then some water, yeast, salt, sugar and oil.  Now I normally do not include salt and oil in the list of ingredients since they are used according to each individual’s personal taste.  But in this case, I measured them out since we are more-or-less ‘baking’ (vs. cooking).  And I never guess with baking.

So first mix 2.25 teaspoons of yeast into 1 cup of warm water (ive heard water temperatures ranging from 85 – 115 degrees.  Warm enough to ‘wake up’ the yeast, but not hot enough to kill it.  I go by my own personal ‘bath water’ gauge.)  So mix those two together and let sit while you assemble the other ingredients.

I use 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, .75 tsp salt, 1.5 tsp sugar, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

If you dont like whole wheat, you could use all regular flour, but you might want to lower your water liquid to .75 cups.  From what I have read, the whole wheat flour sucks up more water, so that is why I use a bit more than what some other recipes call for.  So far it was worked for me.  After you have assembled your dry ingredients + oil, your yeast and water have probably mixed to a nice frothy consistency.

You can mix your water+yeast with your dry + oil now.  I use a spatula to get it to come together some and then dump to a floured  board to finish the job.  You’ll probably use .25 cups (or less?) of extra all-purpose flour for kneading.

Then you’ll knead the bread, sprinkling in the extra flour, as needed, so that the dough doesnt stick to your hands.  Knead for 3-4 minutes.  If you have a stand mixer with all the fancy attachments, that would work great, too.  The dough will quickly come together.

Then youll want to put it in a clean, pam-sprayed bowl to rise for an hour. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap.

After an hour it will have doubled in size:

Then is my favorite part – punching it down!  And you’re ready to make your pizza.  I preheat my oven to about 415 and I use parchment paper and cornmeal to prevent the pizza dough from sticking onto my pan.

Then just spread it all out and you’re ready to go!

After I add the sauce, cheese and topping – it generally bakes for 15 – 18 minutes depending on how hot your oven is.

Next monday is PI DAY so make sure you celebrate accordingly!!!! We will for sure be making a pizza piiiiiiiii!

Here is an easy copy/paste version of the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water

2.25 teaspoons (1 packet) of yeast

1 cup plus .25 cups of all-purpose flour

1 cup wheat flour

.75 teaspoons of salt

1.5 teaspoons of sugar

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Mix together yeast and warm water; set aside.  Add 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup wheat flour, .75 tsp salt and 1.5 tsp sugar mix together, then add 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Add water+yeast mixture to flour mixture and mix together.  Dump dough onto floured surface and knead for 3-4 minutes, adding more flour as necessary to keep dough from sticking to your hands.  Then transfer to a pam-sprayed bowl.  Cover and let rise for 1 hour.  Punch down and make your pizza!!