Whole-Wheat Vegetable Pizza | from Scratch | with Homemade Pizza Crust & Homemade Pizza Sauce

 

Pizza is a lovely savoury with the perfect crust at the bottom topped with the tomato-based sauce and veggies or meat which are covered by a lip-smacking cheese. The dough usually is made with the all-purpose flour which is kneaded perfectly to get the perfect crust. But, once you get used to the habit of making pizza dough with whole wheat flour (atta), you would just stick to the taste of the whole-wheat pizza.

Here is the recipe of Whole wheat pizza from scratch. Perfect dough kneading for the crust, pursued by the pizza-sauce making, arranging the pizza, and baking the pizza (both in the oven and on stove-top), everything is explained in a step-by-step manner with the snaps, and obviously, the visual treat (video) is what we include in this post to make you confident to try and get the fail-proof whole-wheat pizza.

So, What could you possibly get?

1. Whole-wheat, healthy crust without any taste compromisation.
2. Homemade Pizza-sauce (tomato-based sauce) with a handful of finely-chopped veggies like carrot, bell peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, paneer, and corn to make it more healthy.
3. Veggies again, but this time with big-chopped veggies while arranging the pizza to make this even more healthy.
4. And finally, any good branded pizza cheese as a final touch. (less cheese or more cheese is completely up to you).
5. So, a very healthy option of pizza, perfect for the kids.

Can I store the pizza-dough in the refrigerator?

1. Yes, you can. Make the dough ahead and store it with the plastic wrap or store in the air-tight container or you could even store it in the zip-lock bag. 
2. The kneaded dough stays good for a week if stored perfectly as said above.
3. Also, making the dough ahead lessens the time taken to prepare your own pizza. (but, I prepare pizzas with the freshly kneaded dough).

Thick crust, Medium crust or Thin crust? What could I possibly prepare with this pizza-dough?

1. You could prepare all kinds of the crust using this pizza-dough with little variations in baking.
2. For Thick crust: Bake the crust alone as the first step (for about 7 to 10 minutes or until it is half-done). Do the pizza arrangements, and bake for a little longer until the pizza is completely done.
3. For Medium crust: Do the whole pizza arrangements and then, bake until the pizza is fully-done. This one is the easiest (which I have shown in this post!) as we bake the crust and toppings together.
4. For Thin crust: Bake the crust and toppings together and bake for less time when compared to the medium crust pizza. Longer it bakes, lending more chances to get the crust burnt.

What's wrong, my crust is out of perfect texture and chewy too?

• Oh, it's the problem in the kneading part. Knead the dough well.
• Cooking Science behind:

• The individual gluten (that naturally occurs in the wheat flour), ties with each other and form a knotted network of strong bonds when the atta (wheat flour) comes in contact with the water (or any liquid).
• What happens when you knead the dough slowly? Yes, you are aligning the long gluten strings (unknot the network) in a layered web, and so, the resulted in the more stretchable, elastic dough perfect for baking the crust.

• So, knead the dough well and slowly, until the gluten strings are aligned perfectly to give you an elastic, stretchable dough. If you miss this step, perhaps, your crust could be chewy or, possible couldn't get the perfect texture.

• Also, don't forget to add some salt while kneading, it helps in neutralizing the negative charge of gluten, hence helps in the stretchy layer of the web. 
• Best kneaded dough traps the air resulting from the leavening agent (like yeast) and results in the perfect texture of the crust (this applies to all pastries!)

Instant yeast or Dry yeast, what to Use?

1. Use what you have in your hands. But, how to use is really matters.
2. Instant yeast users: You can mix it along with wheat flour and start to knead the pizza-dough (no waiting required!).
3. Dry yeast users: 

• Mix dry yeast, salt, honey (or sugar that I don't prefer!) in a lukewarm water (not more than 42-degree celcius) and wait for 10 minutes. The yeast would get activated which is known to us by the bubbles forming at the surface.

• Wait for few more minutes, if no bubbles are formed. Have had seen no changes yet? Just dispose of and make use of the good dry yeast. (I use dry yeast in this recipe!)

Pizza-sauce when adding veggies would impact the usual taste of the sauce?

1. Obviously, no. But, in turn, we get the exact tasting pizza sauce with the health benefits of the vegetables.
2. Nevertheless, adding more veggies to the sauce would enhance the taste.

Can I store the pizza-sauce in the fridge?

1. Yes, you can store. Pizza-sauce stores well in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
2. As making pizza-sauce is just a 15 to 20 minutes process, I suggest to make use of the freshly prepared sauce.

Can I do this on stove-top or Tawa?

1. Yes, you can.
2. Both microwave pizza and the stove-top pizza-making procedure are explained in this post with clear and detailed steps. 
3. If you have a plan to do this on Tawa, make sure to prepare thick or medium-crust pizza. As the base would get crisper soon, thin-crust may not be friendly to Tawa pizza makers. Another trick is to cook the pizza on a very low flame.

Okay, off to the information part. This is the long yet worthy recipe loved by almost everyone despite any age groups (not to mention the kids!).

⏲ Preparation Time: 2 hours (dough-making, sauce-making, veggies chopping, pizza-arranging time included)
⏲ Cooking Time: 15 to 20 minutes
🍴 Yields: 4  medium-crust, medium-sized pizzas

What to Use? (1 cup = 250 ml)
For the Pizza-dough:

• Whole wheat flour (atta) - 2 cup
• Water- 2/3 cup + 2 tablespoons extra if needed
• Olive oil - 1 tbsp for kneading + 1 tsp for brushing on top
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• Dry yeast - 2 tsp
• Honey - 1 tsp

For the Pizza-Sauce:

• Ripe tomatoes - 6 to 7
• Salt - as needed
• Olive oil - 1 tbsp
• Onion - 1 small
• Finely chopped vegetables - 1/2 cup
• Mixed herbs - 1 tsp (or dry oregano - 1 tsp)
• Black pepper powder - 1 1/2 tsp
• Honey - 1 tsp
• Homemade Red chilli flakes - 1 1/2 tsp + 1 tsp for sprinkling on top 

For Arranging the Pizza:

• Pizza dough - for the crust
• Pizza sauce - 3 tbsp
• Pizza cheese /mozzarella cheese
• Chopped vegetables (Carrot, Bell peppers, Mushroom, Corn, Paneer)
• Red chilli flakes - 1/4 tsp (to sprinkle on top)

Whole-Wheat Vegetable Pizza

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Pizza with whole-wheat flour crust as the base, homemade tomato-based pizza sauce and chopped vegetables topped with the pizza (mozzarella) cheese.

Steps Involved:

Mix the dry yeast and honey in 1/3 cup of lukewarm water (42-degree Celcius). Wait for the dry yeast to get activated. It takes about 10 minutes and you would get to see the bubbles formed on the surface. Add 2 cups of wheat flour, salt, and olive oil to the yeast mixture. Add water little by little and knead the dough slowly and gently until the dough is stretchy enough to make a thin layer. Brush the kneaded dough with some oil and rest it closed for about 2 hours. After 2 hours, you could see the dough double in the size. If you press it, it should bounce back. (Bouncing back? yes, your dough is perfect!). Knead the dough again and partition it into four or five compartments. Make each portion into a small round and start pressing gently to form the medium crust pizza. Blanch the ripe tomatoes. Once blanched, peel-off the skins and blend them in a mixer to get a tomato puree. In a pan, add some olive oil and add minced garlic to it. Add chopped onions and saute well. Add the finely chopped veggies of your choice. (carrot, bell peppers, corn, paneer, broccoli, mushroom and whatever you like!). More veggies, more healthy the pizza. ;-) Add the tomato puree and cook for 10 minutes on a low flame. Add the required salt to the pizza sauce. Now, time to add the honey, black pepper powder, dry oregano (or mixed herbs) and the red chilli flakes. Switch off the stove as our pizza sauce is ready. Keep some pizza sauce over the medium crust (I have added more!). Sprinkle some grated pizza cheese over the pizza sauce. Arrange the chopped veggies of your choice over the pizza cheese. Yes, cover the veggies again with the grated pizza cheese (Go cheesy! or Go less cheesy!). Preheat the oven at 220-degree Celcius for 15 minutes. Bake the medium-sized medium-crust whole-wheat pizza in the oven at the same temperature for about 10 to 12 minutes or until the cheese melts and the brown crest has seen on the surface. For baking on stove-top, pre-heat the sand in a heavy-bottomed utensil for 10 minutes and bake the medium-crust pizza for about 12 to 15 minutes on a medium flame. Step-by-Step Procedure with Pictures How to Make?

To Make Pizza Dough:

• Take dry yeast in a bowl.

• Add honey and 1/3 cup of lukewarm water (about 42-degree Celcius) to the dry yeast and mix well.

• Rest the dry yeast mixture undisturbed for about 10 minutes.

• Proof the activated yeast by the bubbles formed on the top of the surface. If nothing (no bubbling) has seen, just dispose of the old one and start proofing with the new dry yeast since the activated yeast only could act as a leavening agent.

• Add 2 cups of wheat flour to the yeast mixture.

• Add salt and olive oil to the wheat flour and mix well.

• Knead the dough with the remaining water (1/3 cup) to form a soft dough. (careful, not to add whole water at a time!). Knead softly and gently with your hands as proper kneading is the only means of getting perfect pizza crust.

• Brush the kneaded dough with olive oil and keep it covered with a lid (or plastic wrap) for about 2 hours. Keep the dough in a large bowl as the size of the dough would get doubled because of the beautiful cooking science happening inside the dough (leavened gas by the activated yeast got trapped by the gluten network of the dough, allowing the dough to rise and double in size).

To Make Pizza Sauce:

• Meanwhile, we could start working on the pizza sauce. Choose best ripen tomatoes for the perfect tanginess of the sauce.

• Blanch the tomatoes (place the tomatoes in the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes or extra until the wrinkles have started to show on the skin part) with enough water. Once done, cool the tomatoes and peel off the skin completely. 

• Transfer the tomatoes to a mixer jar and grind to get a smooth tomato puree.

• In a pan, add a tablespoon of olive oil, and add minced garlic cloves to the shimmering oil. Saute them for a little while.

• Add chopped onions and saute it with the sauteed garlic. 

• Add finely chopped vegetables and saute them for a while.

• Now, add the tomato puree to the sauteed vegetables and cook for 10 minutes.

• Add required salt to the pizza sauce.

• Add little honey to enhance the taste. 

• Add black pepper powder to the boiling sauce. 

• Add red chilli flakes to the sauce.

• Add mixed herbs (or dry oregano) to the pizza-sauce and mix well.

• Turn off the flame and yes, our tangy, healthy and tasty pizza sauce is ready!

To Make Pizza Arrangement:

• Check the kneaded dough after 2 hours. It should have doubled its size by then. Just press the dough gently and the dough should bounce back. (Perfect!).

• Cut the dough into four portions (if doing four 12-inch medium-crust pizzas). Or, you can make 2 medium-crust and 3 thin-crust pizzas with this dough measurement. Or, 1 thick-crust, 2 medium-crust and 1 thin-crust could be possible. One more choice is there! Store half of the dough in the fridge for later use. The decision is totally up-to-you!

• Round the portions and press them gently to form a medium-crust pizza (about 1/4-inch thick). Make sure, the edges are slightly elevated when compared to the centre part (my personal suggestion!). This ensures the gooey cheese running away while baking and yup, could fence the pizza-sauce from going out.

• Place the pizza-sauce over the pizza crust. I have added more pizza-sauce as it packs a lot of healthy stuff (yes, I meant veggies!) with it.

• Sprinkle some grated pizza cheese (mozzarella cheese) over the pizza sauce. 

• Add sliced vegetables over the grated cheese. What I have done is arranged coloured bell peppers (green and yellow), grated carrots, sliced mushrooms, steamed corn kernels, chopped broccoli and grated paneer. Do add more, if you want more. What's wrong in adding goodness to the diet?!

• Cover the veggies with the grated pizza/ mozzarella cheese (wanna go cheesy? Just add more & more).

To Bake the Whole-wheat Vegetable Pizza:
For Microwave oven bakers:

• Preheat the oven at 220-degree Celcius for 15 minutes.
• Grease the baking tray with a little oil and dust the plate with whole wheat flour. This ceases the pizza from sticking to the plate.
• Place the pizza in the baking tray and bake for 10 to 12 minutes (approx) at 220-degree Celcius. Each oven is different and just keep an eye on the pizza while baking. The edges would start to show brownish colour and some brown crest may start to form over the gooey cheese surface when the pizza is supposed to get plated.

For Stove-top Bakers:

• Preheat sand/salt in a heavy-bottomed utensil for 10 minutes on a medium flame.
• Place the pizza in the idiyappam plate and bake for about 12 to 15 minutes on a medium flame.

• Again, brownish crust and the brown cheese crest are the symptoms for the perfectly cooked pizza.

Visual Treat:

 

Tips:

• Don't make things complicated. This is a homemade pizza and nothing would go wrong with whatever size you do. Make your own-sized pizza, but make sure you roll them into 1/4 inch thickness to best bake the crust along with the pizza sauce.
• Each oven is different and the above-mentioned timings worked perfectly for me. Know your oven and keep an eye on the pizza while baking it.
  

 Surprise your little ones with this Perfect Healthy Pizza!