A soft, healthy, delicious pizza crust that can be made at a moments notice when the craving for pizza hits.
Unprepared for Dinner Guests
Tonight we were having some missionaries over for dinner. I had completely forgotten until about 3:00 in the afternoon.
My house was a mess. I was in the middle of helping a daughter with an essay. I had already been to the store once because I was out of cocoa and needed it to finish a cake for a friend. What to make?
That was the question on my mind. I should just order pizza. That would be easy and wouldn’t make a big mess. But then I reminded myself that I would regret it and I decided to make pizza instead.
Pizza for the win
I had all the ingredients for a super fast, healthier, whole grain pizza. Watermelon and a veggie tray completed the meal.
It was a delicious dinner and the star of the show was the multigrain pizza crust.
This recipe is not gluten free and not sourdough but it is a great recipe to include whole grains into your diet and if you don’t want to include whole grains and you just want a regular ol’ white flour pizza this recipe is perfect for that as well.
Typically in our home we use gluten free flours or sourdough for all our baking needs. Every once in a while I pull out the bakers yeast from the freezer and tonight was just one of those nights.
The history of yeast
Why do we typically avoid conventional yeast? Well, if you don’t know the history of yeast, let me enlighten you.
In the mid 1800’s Louis Pasteur first saw yeast under a microscope. At that time, all the bread was made from wild yeast, commonly referred to as sourdough or natural yeast. Wild yeast is a single–celled fungi, living to eat the simple sugars in flour.
As they eat, they produce carbon dioxide that creates the bubbles in their environment and rises bread beautifully. This amazing process fascinated Louis Pasteur as it took place before his eyes.
Yeast was already a thriving business at that time but no one actually knew exactly how it worked until that microscopic vision of Pasteur’s. With this newfound information the transformation of yeast began.
Right at the end of the 1800’s, a centrifuge was used to concentrate yeast, this made modern commercial yeast a possibility. First it was cream yeast and then compressed yeast and then fresh cake yeast, all requiring refrigeration and still piggy backing off the value of the wild yeasts.
In the 1940’s a granulated dry yeast was created that did not require refrigeration and finally in the 1970’s instant yeast was born. This instant yeast was made in a laboratory and did not carry with it all the benefits of the wild yeast.
How does it affect us
I am sure that there were some instances of gluten allergies and celiac before the 1970’s but I am also sure that the numbers have drastically increased since that time. Part of the problem is this change in yeast.
The natural wild yeast rose bread beautifully but it took much longer, especially in cold months. That long rise was where the magic happened. The long rise time essentially “pre-digested” the grains; breaking down harmful phytic acids and increasing good enzymes, creating a healthy form of gluten that was gentler for digestion.
Commercializing the yeast brought the speed people longed for but also removed that ever-important process that prepared the grains for healthier digestion.
Balance
Why do I tell you all this and then give you a recipe that uses modern conventional yeast? I believe in balance. I believe that there is a place for convenience. It was a wiser choice for me to make pizza at home with the conventional yeast than to order pizza from the pizza shop down the street.
When I make food at home, I control it. So wherever you are in your food journey, give yourself lots of love and patience. If you order pizza this time, try to make a crust next time at home. If you make a white crust this time, try some whole grain next time. If you make a whole grain crust this time, try sourdough next. Take one step in the right direction and be patient as your process unfolds.
Food allergies sometimes require complete strict obedience and that makes “the process” a little more demanding. In such situations, a little prep ahead of time goes a long way. My kids gluten allergy is not so very strict, so at times they are able to choose what they eat even if it is gluten. They know the consequences and are at an age where they know if it is worth it.
I understand that everyone does not have this same situation. When we were more strict with our diet I always tried to keep frozen gluten free pizza crusts in the freezer. I would make them, parbake them and then stack them with wax paper in a freezer ziploc bag. This allowed me to pull them out when what we were eating wasn’t gluten free. It helped in situations like this where I was dealing with speed over allergies.
This recipe is from a friend in my neighborhood growing up. She was famous for her pizza. Lots of neighborhood swim parties began and ended with Debbie’s Pizza. I will give you her exact recipe and then I will show you how I tweak it. You are going to love it. Thanks Debbie, you are awesome!
Debbie’s Pizza Crust
Makes 2 cookie sheets of crust
2 tablespoons yeast
2 ½ cups warm water
4 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons salt
7 cups all purpose flour
Mix all ingredients in a mixer with dough hooks for 10 minutes or knead by hand. Let sit for 10 minutes. Remove dough from mixer and roll out or spread it with your fingers in 2 cookie sheets, or on 4 pizza rounds. Top the dough with favorite sauce (here is our favorite pizza sauce recipe) and toppings. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 min.
Tweak It Version
2 tablespoons yeast
2½ cups warm water
4 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons good quality salt
6-8 cups of flour – this is the fun part…
I say 6-8 cups because whole grains measure and absorb differently than 100% white flour. It stays right around 7 cups for me every time but freshly ground flour will measure slightly different than other flours. After it is all mixed, you want to be able to softly touch the dough without having it stick to your finger.
Ok, on to the good stuff. I usually do at least 4 cups of whole grain flours. In my pantry I have a mix I made that has Kamut, whole wheat, spelt, and rye. I also have a tub of Einkorn (I keep it separate because I use it on its own more often than the other grains).
When I made this recipe tonight I put 2 cups of Einkorn, 2 cups of the multigrain flour and about 3 cups of organic all-purpose flour. It was so delicious. You could absolutely do 100% whole grain. I often do. But because we were having guests, I opted for a small amount of white flour because it does make the end result slightly fluffier.
Halving and/or Freezing the Dough
This recipe can be halved so you only make one cookies sheet at a time but you can also keep it as is and freeze one sheet dough to use for later. I follow the directions above for the dough, spread it in the pan, and bake it for 10-12 minutes.
I let it sit and cool and then pull the par-baked crust out of the pan, wrap it in saran wrap and freeze it. It lasts about a month in the freezer and it is so easy to pull out on those nights that you need a quick dinner. Place the frozen crust in a pan, put on your sauce and toppings and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees.
Tweak It Notes
- SOURDOUGH – This dough can be made sourdough by replacing the 2 tablespoons of yeast with 1-2 cups of active bubbly sourdough starter. If you are short on time and need it to rise faster than 8 hours you can add 1/8 teaspoon of yeast in addition to the sourdough starter and you can have sourdough pizza ready in 4-6 hours (depending on the temperature of your kitchen) instead of 10-15 hours.
