Easy Whole-Wheat Pizza Crust

Larkin's Note:

I modified a recipe from the Williams-Sonoma Complete Entertaining Cookbook. It makes enough dough for 3 large pizzas or 12 small personal pizzas. I just freeze the left-overs. This is the delicious result that I got!

• Total Time: 2 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 2 hrs
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 12

Yield: 3.0 pizza c ...

For the sponge

• 3 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

For the dough

• 2 1/4 cups warm water
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 6 cups whole wheat flour (plus additional flour as needed)
• 3 tablespoons rosemary

Directions:

1. Combine sponge ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
2. Stir with a wooden spoon until sponge is smooth.
3. Cover sponge with a warm, damp towel and let it rest in a warm draft-free place for 30 minutes.
4. After the 30 minutes, add the dough ingredients to the sponge.
5. Beat ingredients with a wooden spoon until the dough is well mixed.
6. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead the dough until it is smooth (about 15 to 20 minutes).
7. After kneading, place the dough into a lightly-oiled bowl and turn the dough to make sure that it is covered with the oil.
8. As with the sponge, cover the dough with a warm, damp towel and allow it to rise for 1 hour.
9. After the dough is finished rising, it should be ready to turn into pizza! I usually cut the dough into 3 equal portions, freeze 2 for later, and use one for a large pizza.
10. PIZZA BAKING INSTRUCTIONS:.
11. Preheat your oven to 475 degrees.
12. To ensure tastiness and nonstickiness, cover your pizza pan with cornmeal before working the dough on the pan.
13. After adding your favorite toppings to the crust, bake the pizza for 12 to 15 minutes or until the crusts have browned a bit and your toppings look delicious.