Whole Wheat Garlic Bread Crust Pizza

Who doesn't love pizza AND breadsticks all in one delicious slice? The crust on this pizza is ideal for dipping or just tearing off and enjoying all by itself. The last time we made it, I put garlic butter and marinara out for dipping and even the kiddos ate their pizza crust! Seriously, this pizza crust recipe is a crowd pleaser and is pretty easy to throw together. Warning though, I'd make a double batch. Not only did the first large pizza go pretty stinking quickly, leftover pizza is a must!

Whole Wheat Garlic Bread Crust Pizza

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups warm water

2 tsp active dry yeast (or one envelope)

2 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 cup AP Flour

1 cup Bread Flour

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried basil

Garlic Butter for brushing crust

1/2 stick of butter, melted

2 tsp granulated or freshly minced garlic

In a measuring cup, sprinkle your yeast over the warm water and add the honey. Stir to combine. Let this mixture sit for 10-15 minutes and make sure it gets foamy. If not, your yeast may be bad or your water may be too hot and you need to start over.

In the bowl of your mixer, place all the other ingredients, but keep some extra AP flour out in case your dough is too sticky. Also note, if you don't have any bread flour, you can definitely make this recipe with just AP and whole wheat. 

Add in your yeast mixture and using the dough hook attachment, combine and knead the dough on medium for 5-8 minutes. After the dough has kneaded, it should feel soft, but not sticky when you press it with your finger. Place the dough in a bowl lightly coated with olive oil and turn to coat all surfaces. Cover with plastic wrap and stash it somewhere to rise for about an hour (or until it doubles in size). 

When the dough has risen, take it out of the bowl and kneaded it lightly to remove any big air bubbles. 

Now your ready to roll it out. Shape the dough into a ball because it's so much easier to roll a circle out of something that's already round and lightly flour your counter top with AP flour. I've had fine luck just using my hands, but feel free to bust out the rolling pin if you want to. When you've gotten close to the shape and size you're looking for, transfer the crust to your pizza pan. This recipe works just fine for a square pizza on a cookie sheet, too, if you don't want to bother with all this round business. Just lightly grease a cookie sheet and press the dough into the cookie sheet, making sure to leave it thicker around the edges.

Cover the crust with plastic wrap and leave it somewhere warm for 20 minutes or so and preheat your oven to 425 degrees. 

When your dough has had a chance to relax from all the rolling and stretching, its time for the toppings! 

When your pizza is topped and ready to go, brush it around the edges with garlic butter before you place it int he oven. You can also cover the garlic butter in freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese in the center begins to bubble. 

After you take your pizza out of the oven, brush the crust with garlic butter again. If you can stand the suspense, let the pizza rest for 10 minutes after its bakes. That way all of your carefully placed pizza toppings won't run off as soon as you cut a slice.

Note on toppings: Use whole milk mozzarella.....you know, the kind that comes in blocks and is all soft and buttery....yep, that kind. Slice it thinly or pop it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to grate it. The difference over that part skim crap is amazing. You'll thank me, I promise.

We've made all kinds of pizza with this recipe, but our favorite so far has been white pizza. I brushed the pizza with olive oil and then covered it with 3 cloves of very finely mined garlic. I grated some fresh parmesan cheese over that, sprinkled it lightly with crushed red pepper, then piled on cooked spinach, sliced fresh tomatoes, sliced portabella mushrooms, dollops of ricotta cheese and mozzarella slices. Then continued with garlic butter brushing around the crust It was stinking amazing!

Enjoy! And be sure and leave me comments with what you put on your pizza!