The World's Best Pizza - and You Made it Yourself!

We just love pizza, but all the fat and calories and just all the wonderful tasting goodies we put on pizzas usually just add to our waistlines.  We thought that you may like to know how to make your own pizzas with a healthier crust, better toppings and less calories and fat.  Mind you we will use some skim milk mozzarella cheese but there are other things that go great on pizza too.  We were amazed at the Eastern European pizzas that were so inexpensive but were very thin and had some interesting topping like corn.  It just goes to show you can put anything on a pizza.  A pizza made at home should be better than a commercial pizza. You get it fresh from the oven made with fresh ingredients and the combination of ingredients that you want, on a homemade crust, and with the care that is not possible commercially.

Let's Start at the Bottom - The Crust -  We always make our crust our of fresh ground whole wheat flour but many other kinds of grain can be used to make the crust.  The fresh milled flour give the crust more flavour and lots of fibre and nutrition.   We mill the flour fresh with the Nutrimill grain mill and then use the Bosch Universal Plus with the dough hook to do the kneading.  If you are doing a small amount of dough you can also use the Bosch Mini-dough hook in your Slicer/Shredder Bowl to knead it.   Here is our favorite Whole Wheat Pizza Dough recipe that makes a nice chewy crust if you make it roll it thick or a crisper crust if you roll it thinner.  You could also try this really quick pizza dough made with yogurt.

Quick and Easy Pizza Dough - In the Bosch mixer with the dough hook, mix 1 cup of flour with 2 tsp. baking powder and 1 cup of plain yogurt.  Knead on speed one for 5 min.  Once the dough is prepared, roll out thinly ( use the flour on the counter and the rolling pin) and let rest for 15 min.  Top with your favorite topping and bake for 15 to 20 min. at 425 degrees F.   You can make this recipe with all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour or 50/50 mix of both.

More about the Pizza Dough - We wanted a nice crisp pizza crust, one that would almost melt in our mouths—crisp almost like a nice cracker.  We knew that would take a thin crust and high heat with very little rising of the dough once the crust was formed.  We would have liked to have loaded the crust with toppings before baking; to bake the crust and cook the toppings together.  We couldn’t.  We found that baking the crust with the toppings always compromised the crust; it was never as crispy as we liked.  So we like to  prebake the crust and cook the toppings separately.  We added the toppings to the crust and returned the pizza to the oven for only five minutes, just long enough to melt the cheese.  Then we had a pizza with a nice crispy crust.    We found that if you put some corn meal on your pan before you put the prepared dough, that your pizza will have more crisp as well. 

To form a uniform, thin pizza crust, the dough must be soft and pliable with minimal spring back.  Commercial pizzas are made with a dough relaxer to reduce spring back but to make a thin crust in your kitchen, you can make do with a relatively low protein flour—it’s the protein that forms the gluten which creates elasticity.  If you want you pizza to be thicker and more airy, then use you hands to stretch the dough out on your pan.  Your fingers don't press the dough as thin as a roller and will leave the dough puffier.  

Pizza Crust Tricks and Tips

But there are tricks to the technique that will make that pizza truly wonderful.

• A great pizza must have a great crust. A soggy crust will never do. Instead of piling the goodies on the uncooked dough, partially bake it first. Usually about eight minutes will do. Then pull it out of the oven, put the toppings on, and finish baking.  If you have a hole-y pizza pan that lets the heat through you can roll the dough right out on it and add the topping immediately.

• Don’t under bake the crust. The crust is done when the bottom is partially browned. Use a spatula or tongs to lift one edge and peek at the crust.

• Never use a light-coloured pan for baking a pizza. It will reflect the heat and you will have a hard time baking the crust thoroughly.

• A baking stone will help bake the crust. Put the baking stone in the oven at least fifteen minutes ahead of the pizza. We like to bake our pizzas on a dark baking pan placed on top of the hot stone.

• Place the pizza low in the oven where radiant heat from the heating elements will help bake the crust.

• If you have trouble forming the pizza crust, the gluten may be the problem. Gluten gives the dough elasticity and a tight dough wants to spring back into shape. Partially shape the crust then let it rest and  walk away for five to ten minutes. When you get back, the dough will have relaxed and you can finish the crust.

• A pizza crust of uniform thickness is a better crust. If you are not adept at spinning the crust, roll it to a uniform thickness of about 1/4 inch with a rolling pin. You can do that on a peel dusted with cornmeal or semolina flour so that the crust will slip off easily onto the stone or pan. If you don’t have a peel, a sheet of heavy cardboard or even a wooden cutting board will do. You can also form the crust in your pan. The lips on the pan will preclude a rolling pin, but you can purchase a little rolling pin meant for the task (and for rolling pasta) that will work within the rims. If all else fails, grab a small jar and use it as a rolling pin.  Some people prefer tender crusts; we prefer chewy. For a tender crust, you can add a little all-purpose flour. Our favorite crusts are made with high gluten whole wheat bread flour tempered just a bit with rye, or all-purpose flours.

For a really great pizza crust, once the dough is kneaded, cover it and place it in the refrigerator over night. The next day, remove the dough and let it rise on the counter. Allow plenty of time for the dough to come to room temperature and rise. At lower temperatures, the yeast produces a complex yeasty flavor that is very good.

• Pizza dough that is just a bit on the wet side is easier to work with and makes a nicer crust.

• • Olive oil makes a much nicer pizza crust than vegetable oil.

• If you are having trouble cutting your pizza with a knife or pizza wheel, grab the kitchen shears.

Our next post will feature how to get some great tasting toppings without all the calories and fat.