Whole-Wheat Crust Veggie Pizza

I was craving pizza all week, and in attempt to avoid eating lots of empty calories, I made this veggie pizza with low-fat cheese and whole-wheat flour.


Ingredients:

Crust:
1-1.5 cups warm water
1 packet active dry yeast (I used Hodgson Mill)
3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt

Toppings:
Olive Oil (approximately 1 tsp)
Oregano
Fennel Seed
Salt & Pepper
2-4 cloves fresh garlic, minced (depending on how much you like garlic)
1/3-1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese, such as Kraft
Various vegetables, chopped into small pieces. (This pizza has sliced mushrooms, cubed orange bell pepper, sliced green olives with pimentos, chopped red onion, and thin slices of tomatoes placed on top.)

Directions:

Crust:
In a medium size bowl, mix 1 cup warm water with whole packet of yeast and 1.5 cups wheat flour. Let sit 1-2 minutes. Add the rest of the flour, the olive oil, and the salt, and mix with spoon. Once the mixture starts to become crumbly, mix ingredients with hands. If mixture feels dry or all the flour is not becoming incorporated, add more warm water (approximately 1/4 cup at a time), until the dough is moist but not sticky. Form dough into a ball, transfer to a lightly floured surface, and continue to kneed until the dough is smooth and pliable, about 10 minutes.

Place dough in a lightly oiled large bowl (app. 2 quart), cover the opening of the bowl with plastic wrap, and allow dough to sit in a warm area for about an hour or more, until risen.

*Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit*

Remove dough, and stretch out on a lightly oiled 8-9 inch pizza pan.

Once dough is stretched out, rub about 1 tsp olive oil over surface with hands to prevent drying. Sprinkle 2-3 pinches of spices (oregano, fennel seed, salt, and pepper) over surface. Add 1/3-1/2 cup tomato sauce, depending on how much you would like on your finished pizza. Place minced garlic over pizza, and evenly spread garlic over surface of pizza with the back of a spoon. Add desired amount of cheese (about 1/2 cup), and top with desired toppings.

Place pizza in 400 degree oven for 8 minutes. Increase temperature to 450 degrees, and bake pizza for an additional 10 minutes. If a more crispy crust is desired, leave pizza in oven a little longer, but check the texture of the crust every couple minutes.

Remove, let sit for about 5 minutes, and then slice four ways to make 8 pieces.

Enjoy! :)



Servings: 8
Calories: Approximately 240 per piece