Pizza dough is the best when it comes to stretching your food dollar and its a lot of fun too! Making your own pizza is great because you can put pretty much any kind of topping you want on there and experiment with other ingredients or leftovers that you need to get rid of. All you need is a little time to let the dough rise. I encourage you to give it a try! Even if you don’t have a stand mixer you can use the best tool in the kitchen . . . your hands! It may take a little elbow grease, but it is well worth it. It’s important to watch the dough, and if it’s too wet, you can add more flour, or if it’s too dry it needs more liquid. A lot of times it depends on the atmosphere and the amount of humidity in the air that day. With this one recipe there will be many yummy opportunities in your kitchen!
Whole Wheat Pizza & Calzone Dough
Yield: Approximately 10 calzones or 5 medium pizzas
- 1 packet instant yeast
- 1 heaping tbsp honey
- 1 cup lukewarm water (about 110 degrees-this is important!) with 1/2 cup water to add if needed
- 2 cups AP flour (reserve 1/2 – 3/4 cup of flour to add if needed)
- 1 cup whole-wheat flour
- good sprinkling of garlic powder
- 1 tbsp Italian seasonings
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Dissolve the honey into the lukewarm water (make sure you get the water no hotter than about 115 degrees because this will kill the little yeasties). Add the packet of yeast and stir gently. Watch the bubbles begin! This should take about 5 minutes.
While the yeast are getting happy, place the rest of the ingredients into a stand mixing bowl with a paddle attachment; mix. Add the bubbly yeast to the flour mixture. Mix with the paddle attachment 
until everything is incorporated. Switch to a dough hook attachment. Mix for approximately 20 minutes on speed 2. Watch the dough and make sure it forms a nice ball; add additional flour if needed. I had to add about 1/4 cup, but it depends on your climate.
Once it’s done mixing, remove the dough hook and place a damp towel over the bowl. Place in a warm, draft free place and let the dough rise for about 1 hour (you can also let the dough rise in the fridge overnight and take out about an hour before to let it warm up). Punch dough down and let rise again for about 1/2 hour. This step is optional, but gives a really tender dough.
Once you make the calzones, make sure to cut a few slits on top and spray lightly with olive oil (I use a misto). I like to bake them at at least 450 degrees on a pizza stone because it gives an optimal texture.
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And there you have it! Here are some of my other encounters with the mighty pizza dough . . . Enjoy!
You can stuff them with roasted veggies, chicken sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, part-skim ricotta, mozzarella, herbed brie and some fresh basil. Oh my goodness, this dough is sooo good and tender.
But first, nothing like some candlelight to get us in the mood . . .
For these 4 of the pizzas we used:
- pasta sauce from TJ’s
- sautéed in a pan until golden – 3 chicken sausage links, 2 small cartons of crimini mushrooms, 8 oz of chopped spinach (about half a bag), 2 shredded carrots, garlic powder, and italian seasoning.
- Couple of handfuls of mozzarella cheese and sprinkling of Parmesan
For the last pizza we used:
Leftover lentil daal from this recipe as the sauce
- Leftover falafel patties from this recipe
Shredded mozzarella and a sprinkling of garam masala
This last one may sound weird, but it tasted really good! Any variation of pizza is only limited by your imagination and the ingredients you have on hand. I did have some canned pumpkin in the fridge, but decided I might try that one next time.
Chris is brave when it comes to throwing the pizza dough in the air. I’m too scared I’m going to drop it!
This dough is also great for making calzones!!
Happy buns in the oven! The pizza stone gives them an optimal texture.
This one recipe makes a whole lotta dough (wish it was the green kind), so be prepared to make a lot for leftovers!
Ok, best pizza topping invention!!!! Have you ever tried fresh figs on your pizza? Sounds kinda weird, but it works so well. I like to use a balsamic reduction as the ‘sauce’, top it with some spinach, fresh figs, crispy prosciutto and fontina cheese, yum!
Another great pizza topping is grilled peaches, I love the combination of salty sweet things and these also pair well with the salty prosciutto.
I make thin crust pizzas most of the time, but every once in awhile I do like a Chicago deep dish from a place called BJ’s. It’s to-die for! And also their pizookies are a big weakness 🙂
Why not have a calzone or pizza making party for your next get-together? I’ve done this a couple times with some friends and we’ve had an absolute blast (of course an addition of wine makes it fun too). Just have all the ingredients and dough ready to go and get your guests working in the kitchen! Nice!
