New Pizza Recipe and Pumphouse- Yum!

My friend and I had an impromptu pizza night last night, before going out to Pumphouse Creamery, which has local, organic ice cream in phenomenal flavors, like Local Red Raspberry, Oatmeal Cookie, Cardamom, Hispaniola Cocoa, Sea Salt Caramel/Praline-Pecan Cream, and Buckwheat Honey.  I had a hard time deciding which flavors to try, but settled on Raspberry and Cardamom.  Overall, I thought the flavors were delectable, but the texture was slightly on the grainy side for the Cardamom.  This place is defnitely somewhere I'll return to, simply because it's local, and the flavors are one-of-a-kind.

And back to the pizza:

Honey Wheat Pizza Dough
 Makes 8 individual crusts


Ingredients:

2 1/4 tsp dry active yeast, or one envelope
1 1/4 warm water (not too hot, or it will kill the yeast)


2 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt 

2 T honey
2 T olive oil, plus more for greasing the bowl


Stir the yeast into the warm water.   Once dissolved, let stand for 5-10 minutes while preparing other ingredients.  Mix together the flours and salt in a large bowl.  Pour yeast into center of flour and stir together with a wooden spoon.  Finish mixing with hands, adding honey and oil once flour and water-yeast mixture and almost completely incorporated.  Knead dough for a minute or two on a floured surface and give the empty bowl a light coating of olive oil.  Replace the dough in the bowl, turning over a few times to coat it with the oil.  Cover with a thin dish towel and place in a warm (dog-proof!) space for 45 minutes-2 hours to let rise.


Once dough has doubled in size (it was summer and took only 35 minutes for us), punch it down before turning it back out onto the floured surface.  Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces, shaping each one into a round ball.  Let stand, covered by the cloth, for 10-15 minutes.


Preheat oven to 500 degrees (broil setting).  Stretch crusts thinly into round shapes, being careful not to overwork the dough or tear it.  Optional: dust the bottoms with cornmeal to prevent sticking. Top with whatever you want, then bake on a cookie sheet or pizza stone until crust is slightly browned, crispy, and the cheese is browned and bubbly, about 8-12 minutes.


Enjoy!