This is a continuation of a previous post I did about making Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes.  This is the bread that we eat every day, for sandwiches, with soup, and for snacks.  I’ve been wanting to do a follow up post with some of the other bread recipes I use.  Making this dough is one of my favorite things I’ve started doing in the past year.  I like knowing where my pizza dough is coming from and what’s in it.  This is a nutritious option, plus it’s delicious and easy.

This dough comes from the second book on artisan bread, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  I use their 100% Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil recipe.  I’ve tweaked it a bit and use it as a frozen bread dough to have on hand whenever pizza is on the menu.  It’s really no more work than buying frozen bread dough from the store, but it’s much more nutritious and only has 5 ingredients, 1 of them being water!

First measure dry ingredients into a bowl – flour, yeast, and salt.

and whisk together

Next add the water and olive oil to the dry ingredients

Mix everything together.  It will look like this at first

but keep going and it will look like this

 

Move to a location away from drafts and cover with a lid, but leave a space for gases to escape

Let dough rise for 2 hours and it will then look like this

Moisten hands with water and divide dough onto three pieces of plastic wrap.  I typically divide a batch of dough into three sections to freeze, but you can divide it into whatever portions work for your family or size pizza you want to make.  Using a third of this dough makes a pizza approximately the size of a cookie sheet.

Wrap up the dough securely in the plastic wrap (ignore my red plastic left over from Christmas 🙂 ) and then place in a freezer bag.  Place in freezer until ready to use.

The night before I want to use the dough, I place it in the refrigerator to thaw.  When I’m ready to make the pizza I dump out the dough onto a floured surface and incorporate more flour into the dough to make it easier to handle.  Then just pat the dough into the pan.  Bake the crust for about 10 minutes at 425 degrees before adding sauce and toppings.  Add your favorite toppings and bake until cheese is melted and slightly golden.  (I believe you could also use this for stromboli or calzone, just incorporate more flour into the dough after it’s thawed and then roll out with a rolling pin.  If you want the dough to rise a bit more, as for a stromboli, add 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten to the dry ingredients when mixing dough)

Here is one of my favorites, tomato and feta pizza: pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, diced tomatoes and feta cheese.

Homemade (frozen) Bread Dough

7 cups flour (3 1/2 whole wheat, 3 1/2 all purpose)

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

1 tablespoon kosher salt (or 1/2 tablespoon table salt)

3 1/2 cups lukewarm water

1/2 cup olive oil

Whisk together flour, yeast, and salt.  Add the water and olive oil to the dry ingredients.  Mix with a spoon until combined.  Cover (not airtight) and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and flattens on top, approximately 2 hours.

Divide dough onto pieces of plastic wrap.  Wrap securely and place in freezer bags.  Freeze until ready to use.  Thaw in refrigerator.