Easy As Pie: 100% Whole Grain Pizza Dough

Happy Labour Day Monday!

It's hard to believe it's already here. I don't know why but I still get those back to school jitters around this time of year.

My plans for the weekend? I hope to get a nice game of golf in with my family and just generally some good relaxing. Maybe even a fire on the back deck.

Today, I wanted to share with you a recipe/ tutorial for making pizza dough. Clearly I'm trying to use up as many tomatoes as I can. Remember last weeks post for marinara sauce. Well it's to die for on pizza. I only have pictures of the dough, but don't worry the pizza is still to come!

I've been making my own pizza for a few years now, and it sure beats most pizza places that I've been to. The one thing that's changed though is how I make my pizza dough. Well actually, we never really made our own dough in my house before. But now that I do I will never go back to store bought dough again. And more importantly it's healthier for you and it couldn't be easier.

Get it? Easy as pie? I know, bad pun.

My favourite flour to use is whole grain red fife, a Canadian heritage flour. The dough comes out super light and rolls out very nicely. However, if you can't find red fife you can substitute either 100% whole wheat flour or mix 1 cup of all-purpose white flour with 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour if you like, but the whole grain is healthier, less processed and 10X more delicious. It also makes for an awesome thin crust pizza!

If you are looking for that go to recipe that you make over and over again then this is it. It's an easy no-fuss dough that can also be made ahead of time. You can freeze it or make it the day before and put it in the fridge until you're ready to roll! It keeps beautifully.

It's also a great weeknight meal when you've mad the dough ahead of time. All you have to do is roll it out and top it and it's ready in under 15 minutes. That will keep the kids happy. Pizza night! And you'll be happy it's not swimming in grease.

100% Whole Grain Pizza Dough (makes 2 thin crust pizza's)

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Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup luke warm water (105* F)

• 2 1/4 tsp instant dry yeast (1 packet)

• 2 cups red fife flour

• 1 tsp fine sea salt

• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, stir together the water and yeast until dissolved.

2. Mix the flour and sea salt in a separate medium sized bowl, then slowly add to the water and yeast, while stirring. Now add the olive oil and keep stirring until the dough becomes hard to work.

3. Knead in your stand mixer or by hand on a lightly floured surface for 1-3 minutes until the dough looks and feels elastic. (flours will be fully incorporated and the dough should stretch a little when pulled).

4. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 30-40 minutes.

5. Deflate and divide the dough in 2: If using right away, on a lightly floured surface, roll out each piece to fit your your pre-heated baking stone/ tray and bake at 500*F for 12-15 minutes.

Note: *If you'd like to use the dough the next day simple wrap each piece in some plastic wrap and store in

           the fridge until you're ready to roll it out. Its normal for the dough to expand a bit.

         *You may also freeze the plastic wrapped pieces of dough by placing them in freezer bags. They keep

           fresh for up to a week.

Did you have any fun adventures or plans this labour day weekend, before the kiddies go back to school?

Updated: As per request, this is a picture of the crust after baking. Enjoy!

Tomato Harvest & Clean Marinara Sauce

Lately my garden has been overflowing with tomatoes.

With the recent rise in temperature they have been ripening left and right. Now I have more tomatoes than I know what to do with. My local grocery store is also selling roma tomatoes by the bushel now. I'm so sad that this probably means the end of summer is coming, but I do admit that fall is my favourite time of year. The produce is the best, you get to drink hot chocolate, bundle up in cozy sweaters, jump into piles of leaves, carve pumpkins and go on fall walks! Fall is aweseome.

Sorry, too soon to talk about autumn? Let's get back to those tomatoes.

Want to know something funny? Just the other day I was picking some of these gorgeous beauties, and as I was reaching into the jungle of vines my arm grazed the plant at the front of the garden, causing at least 5 tomatoes to all fall off at the same time. How weird is that? My tomatoes have never fallen off the vines by themselves before.

Seriously. They're just crying to be used..pick me. Pick me! Sort of like my basil plant.

And...there's still more coming.

Time to make a little somethin' somethin' with 'em.

If you've never made your own marinara sauce before, then you're missing out. There's nothing better than fresh and homemade. Plus, it's one of the easiest things in the world to make. This smelt soooooo good while it was cooking. It was like bottling summer in a jar. So warm and robust. The whole house smelt like this all day. You can enjoy this fresh, store it in the fridge for a week, or freeze for a few months.

You could also easily can this and keep it stashed in your pantry for one of those gloomy overcast winter days when you need a bit of warmth from summer.

Marinara Sauce (makes 3 cups)

(adapted from the Eat Clean Diet Cookbook 2)

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Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 large yellow onion, diced
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 heaping Tbsp tomato paste
• 2 1/2 cups fresh roma tomatoes, diced
• 2 cups clean low sodium tomato sauce
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large sauce pan or stock pot over medium heat. Add onion and red pepper flakes, and saute until onion is translucent.
2. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 1 minute longer.
3. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and oregano. Bring to a low boil and reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Using a hand-held immersion blender, blend sauce until desired smoothness. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve this with fresh with pasta, vegetables, fish or grains. It also makes an amazing pizza sauce.