I asked my lovely wife, Tina, to do a guest post for me on this amazing pizza crust she makes for us. Just by virtue of it being homemade, I know it’s going to be healthier than a store bought (or delivery) pizza, and we make a few substitutions that make it healthier yet. (And of course – always everything in moderation.) Let me turn it over to Tina!

Hi ya’ll! Tina from Martha Wannabe here, aka Jeremy’s wife. I believe Jeremy has mentioned something about our homemade pizza Fridays; it’s a favorite in our house. I found a website called Perfect Planner Meals; there aren’t a great deal of recipes on there, as this is fairly new I believe, but the recipes I’ve tried have been great! Today I’m going to share with you the recipe of pizza dough, which was made with half white flour half wheat flour; it came out really nice! We’ve also had this dough made with all white flour, also excellent! It takes a little bit of time, but little effort… unless you have to knead by hand.

First, combine warm water, yeast, and sugar; this sits for about 5 minutes until it gets foamy.

Then comes the time consuming part; we add in half the flour, ½ cup oil, salt, and spices. There are no specific spices in the ingredients; just use whatever you want. I use about a tablespoon or so of basil, oregano, generic Italian spice, and garlic powder, whatever floats your boat; it can be trial and error for you! Mix that up until it’s smooth. I switch out the paddle for the dough hook at this point — much easier this way. Add the remaining 2 cups of flour ¼ cup at a time until incorporated; the dough should still be slightly tacky.

Hand knead the dough for a few minutes until smooth. In a medium sized bowl, add one tablespoon of oil and swirl around the bottom and sides. Add the dough and turn until fully coated in oil. Cover with a clean towel and allow to rise for 1 – 1 ½ hours or until double in size. This will make 2 crusts or 1 gigantic thick crust.

Tonight when I looked up the dough recipe, she had put up a new recipe for Pizza Bites. Start by spraying a muffin pans with nonstick spray, and then take the prepared dough, pinch off a small amount and press into the muffin pan, on the bottom and up the sides. Put in a spoonful of sauce and whatever toppings you want; we used spinach, beef, and mushrooms, and then added a little bit of cheese on top. Put in a 350º oven and bake for approximately 12 minutes; I think ours took about 15 minutes. It just depends on your oven! They were delicious and a nice change from the normal pizza. If you made just regular dough with no spices, you could fill this with some fruit and nuts, or chocolate and make a delicious dessert… now I wish I hadn’t put all the spices in mine!

The sauce I use is a recipe from this site as well; it’s delicious. Just don’t let your husband put entirely too much salt in it *ahem* even being too salty for my taste, the sauce was delicious, and it makes a ton. We’ve used it 3 times now and still have a lot left.

Enjoy your week! Happy pizzaing!

The actual recipes are below.

Deep Dish Pizza Crust

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
Spices

Preparation:

In a large mixer bowl, combine the water, yeast, and sugar and stir to combine. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.

Add 2 cups of the flour, 1/2 cup oil, and the salt, mixing by hand until it is all incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Continue adding the flour, along with herbs and garlic (I use basil, oregano, thyme, and garlic powder–just small palm-fulls of each.) 1/4 cup at a time, working the dough after each addition, until all the flour is incorporated but the dough is srill slightly sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth but still slightly tacky., 3-5 minutes. Oil a large mixing bowl with the remaining 2 tsp. oil.
Place the dough in the bowl and turn to oil all sides. Cover the bowl with a towel and set in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Divide into 2 equal portions and it’s ready to use!

Pizza Bites

Added toppings:
Mini pepperoni bites
Ground Italian sausage, sweet or hot, depends on you taste. I used spicy in my recipe. Brown the Italian sausage before assembling.
Hand shredded mozzarella. About 3 cups.
Assembly:
Spray a mini muffin tin with a non-stick spray. Tear off a small piece of dough, roll in the palm of your hand and stretch to line the muffin tin up to the lip, creating the shape of the muffin. Add about a tsp. of pizza sauce, Italian sausage, a small dollop of cheese and the tiny pepperoni.

Bake in a 350 degree F oven for about 12 minutes until golden brown. Pop out of the tins, place on platter and watch them disappear!

Old World Style Pizza Sauce:
Ingredients:
6 ounces tomato paste
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 can tomato sauce (29 ounces)
1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. rosemary
1-3 tsp. dried red pepper flakes–to taste
2 cups water
salt to taste

Directions:
In a large saucepan over medium heat, stir the tomato paste and olive oil together, then stir in the tomato sauce.
Add all of the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Cook, uncovered for 3 hours, stirring frequently. Add water if sauce gets too thick, but it should reduce down to a thick paste that has enough body to cover a pizza.
Makes 3 cups, enough for 2-3 pizzas

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