Homemade Whole Wheat Veggie Lover’s Pizza

For the dough:

In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a hook attachment, combine the sugar, yeast and warm water. Stir it around and let it sit for 5 minutes or until the yeast is foamy and dissolved. This is called “proofing” the yeast. If the yeast doesn’t dissolve, your yeast is dead. If that happens, you’ll need to start again with active yeast.

Add the olive oil and salt and mix with the dough hook on low speed for 30 seconds. Add 3 cups of whole wheat flour and mix with the dough hook on low speed or with a large rubber spatula until dough starts to come together. The dough should not stick to the sides of the pan. If it does, add up to 1/2 cup more flour.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading.

Shape the dough into a ball and place in a large mixing bowl that has been coated lightly with olive oil. Turn it over to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm environment until it has doubled in size, about 1-2 hours (about 75 F to 80 F). For the warm environment, I heat up my oven to 200 F. Then, I turn the oven off and keep the door slightly open and put the dough in there. This will be a warm environment for your dough to rise. After about 30 minutes, I close the oven door to trap the warm-ish air inside with the rising dough.

Then cut the ball of dough in half. Roll each half into a ball and let it rest in two separate bowls that you’ve lightly covered with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Let it rest for at least 20 minutes. You may freeze one of the dough balls at this point to use at a later time. Read the related blog post about freezing and thawing.

For the pizza toppings:

Note: The pizza toppings are enough for one pizza. If you wish to make both pizzas, double the topping ingredients.

Preheat oven to 475 F with a pizza stone inside. If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can use a pan. Grease a baking sheet or pizza pan with non-stick spray and dust with cornmeal. Set pan aside.

After 20 minutes, flatten the ball of dough on a lightly floured surface and flatten into a 12-inch round circle. If you are using a pizza stone, place the dough directly on a baker’s peel that you have dusted with cornmeal. If you are using pans place the dough onto the pans. Create a thick outer edge by lifting the edge of the dough up and pinching the edges up. To prevent the filling from making your pizza crust soggy, brush the top lightly with olive oil.

Coat a large saute pan with the virgin olive oil and set over high heat. Add the mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, garlic, red bell pepper, orange bell pepper and onion and saute until the veggies begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Lower to medium heat, add the sun-dried tomatoes and capers and saute for another 2 minutes.

Spread the dough evenly with the pesto, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edges. Distribute the sautéed veggies evenly over the pesto. Scatter the mozzarella over the veggies.

Bake until the crust is nicely browned and the cheese has melted, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Garnish with basil leaves, then cut into wedges. Serve sprinkled with red pepper flakes, garlic powder and dried oregano.

Slice hot pizza and serve immediately. Store leftover pizza covered tightly in the refrigerator and reheat as you prefer. Baked pizza slices may be frozen up to 1 month.