Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

This is the last recipe I have marked to try from $5 Dinner Mom!  This might be a new record for me, finishing a Christmas cookbook from my mom by July instead of into the next year...this sounded yummy, and easy to make by hand or in the bread machine (which is what I did).  For a while I was keeping the Boboli pizza crusts in my freezer, after buying them very cheaply at the bread store.  But I realize that I just don't like them.  They are cardboardy if you buy the wheat ones, and just not that good.  So I decided to try this one.  We had this with shredded pork, pineapple, red onion, and mozzarella on top (Big Kahuna Pizza, which you can find if you're interested by searching for the name in the search box at the top of this page).

Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
 1 cup lukewarm water
2 cups white flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 packet yeast (2 1/4 tsp if you buy in bulk)
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
additonal olive oil and garlic salt, if desired

By hand:
In mixing bowl, combine water and 1 cup of the white flour.  Add the yeast, sugar, salt, and oil.  Whisk together to make a "spongy" dough.  Let sit for 10-15 minutes.

Add remaining 2 cups flour to the sponge and stir with a wooden spoon.  When the dough becomes thick enough, knead it by hand for 6-8 minutes on a floured surface or in a floured bowl until it reaches the consistency of soft baby skin (I have never heard it described like that, and frankly I find it a bit disturbing).  Knead the seasonings and cheese into the dough.  Place in a greased bowl and let rise 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Once the dough has doubled in size, place it on a lightly floured work surface.  Sprinkle flour over the dough and on the rolling pin.  Roll out the dough to desired size.  Brush edges of dough with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt if desired.

Bake crust for 8 minutes (what temperature, she does not say...I did 400).  Remove from oven and load with toppings.  Bake full pizza 8-10 minutes more.  Slice and serve.

Bread machine:
Add water and olive oil to bread machine pan.  Add the flours.  Create a well in the center for the yeast and add the yeast.  Add sugar, Italian seasoning, and salt.  Set the machine to dough cycle and proceed as above.

Makes 1 16" thick-crust pizza or 2 8" thin-crust pizzas or 4 4" deep-dish pizzas.

I made this on my round pizza stone at it totally covered it.  This makes a lot of crust.  Steve said he thought it tasted better than he expected, especially knowing that it had whole wheat flour in it.  The kids all liked it, too.  So I think this is my new pizza crust.  Steve's only complaint was that it had "not enough toppings," but my pizza recipe was for a 12" and this was a 16" crust.  Ooops.