Pizza, the guiltless way

Thanks to Jordan for the dough inspiration!!

so there are three basic parts to this recipe; the dough, the sauce, and the toppings...

Dough: This is kind of like any bread recipe, except it matters less how long you rise it. It seems to be that you let it rise as little or much as you like depending on how thick you want the crust. I kind of went in the middle

Makes one 18 inch pizza:
3/4 c warm water
1/2 t brown sugar
1 spoonful yeast
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c whole wheat flour (I suggest King Arthur, as always)

1 1/2 c all purpose flour
3/4 t salt
fresh herbs

*Stir together first 3 ingredients until the water gets foamy
*Pour into second 2 ingredients and stir some more.
- this will be a brown watery mixture, yummy : /
*Sift all purpose flour and add the salt and herbs
*mix!

At this point you have a bread dough, so you need to knead it, rise it, and make it into a pizza shape!

*Knead the dough on a floured surface until it starts feeling less sticky and less like a dense, elasticy mass. about 5-10 minutes?
* Rise the dough by covering it and setting it in a room temp to warm area for about 45 minutes
*Punch down the dough and rise for about 10 more minutes
** At this point you can freeze it for later if you want to make large amounts of dough, divide it and make smaller pizzas throughout the next week or two
*spray some cooking spray on a clean surface and place the dough on the surface, turning it once so its covered in oil.
*use your hands to work it out into the size pizza you want to make and place it on the pizza sheet/baking sheet - my mom happens to have a round, 18 inch pizza pan that has holes around the bottom; this makes the bottom of the pizza crunchier

Sauce:
This was really thrown together, don't feel stuck to this recipe

8oz can tomato sauce
1 spoonful garlic paste
1 spoonful minced garlic - or your favorite garlic varieties... garlic salt, powdered garlic...
1 t salt
1/4 - 1/2 c chopped onion
1-2 tomatoes, peeled and diced - for a great 'how to' on peeling tomatoes, see this salsa recipe on youtube
chopped fresh herbs - I used Basil and oregano from my mom's garden
Italian spices to taste

*MIX! and let sit a little for the flavors to mix
- you know how leftover stuff is better the next day?

Toppings:
whatever you want...


We used pepperoni, green pepper, chopped onion, Italian blend cheese, some cheddar cheese, and maybe something else I am forgetting... you've seen pizza menus - experiment!

**Assemble and bake at 400 degrees until it looks done! Ours went for about 17 minutes...