Table Talk: Multi-grain Pizza Dough

This is the last post for Table Talk!  It's flown by.  There would be one more post this year but it happens to fall on Christmas and let's face it, a healthy dinner option won't be my priority Christmas morning, or probably even Christmas Eve.  And I expect it won't be yours either so this is it!  

I have loved cooking from the The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook.  I have learned new techniques and found new foods that I didn't know I liked.  I think I've gotten a little better in the kitchen with every recipe and maybe a little healthier. :)  I'm going to include a link to a couple of my favorite recipes from the series at the end of this post.  But for now, let's talk about pizza dough.  We eat a lot of pizza at our house.  Is there a kid alive that doesn't love pizza?  My kids are in love with it anyway.  I think we could eat pizza every night and they would never get sick of it.  I wanted to try this recipe to see if there was a healthier alternative that my kids (and Tyler) would still love.  

Remember the Multigrain Bread from Bake 52?  I loved that recipe so much, I thought this one would be up there with it.  And it was.  My family still loved their pizza and I felt a little bit better about feeding them glorified bread with cheese on it for dinner. :)  The dough came together easily and it was also easy to shape.  I had a few things to do in between the rise time and the baking so it got more of a rise than the recipe called for but it still worked beautifully.  My only complaint was that the crust didn't brown up as nicely as I would have liked but that's completely a cosmetic issue.  I might try a few things in the future to make that happen.

Multi-grain Pizza Dough

1 cup Bob's Red Mill 5 grain hot cereal mix

1 3/4 cups boiling water

1 T active dry yeast

2-2 14 cups bread flour

1 cup whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 T canola oil

Mix hot cereal mix and boiling water, cover and let sit, stirring occasionally until mixture is just warm and most of the water is absorbed. 

 Add yeast and stir.  Let sit until yeast is dissolved, about 5 mintes.  Combine flours, and salt in food processor with steel blade or dough blade attached.  Process briefly to combine.  Cover with cereal mixture and oil.  

 Process until mixture forms a rough ball, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.  If mixture seems too sticky, you can add the additional 1/4 cup of flour a tablespoon at a time processing to combine until it's the right consistency.  You could also add a tablespoon or two more water if it's too dry.  (I didn't need to do either.)  Let sit for 2 minutes.

 Process again for 30 seconds.  The dough will be smoother and more cohesive.

Form dough into a ball and transfer to a greased bowl or dough bucket to rise.  Let rise 1-1 1/2 hours or until double in size.  Dump out onto lightly floured surface and divide into 2 balls of dough.  Use as specified in recipe. 

(What I did---preheat baking stone and oven to 500 degrees.  Roll dough or press into 12-14 inch circle. Brush edges with canola oil and add pizza sauce and cheese to 1/2 inch of edges.  Bake on stone for 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly all over.  I didn't have parchment paper this time so I used a lot of cornmeal and flour to be able to transfer it to my stone but you can shape the dough on sprayed and cornmeal dusted parchment paper and then transfer the pizza with the paper to the stone.  It's a bit easier.)

Makes 2 lbs of dough or enough for 2-14 inch pizzas.

Source:  Adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook

Some of my other favorites from Table Talk:

Spice-Rubbed Flank Steak with Toasted Corn and Black Bean Salsa

Buffalo Chicken (Sticky Finger) Salad

Chickpea Cakes with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce (Sandwiches)

Chicken Parmesan

Southwestern Black Bean Salad