Whole Grain Pizza Crust

Lets talk about pizza. If you forced me to pick a food I had to eat everyday for the rest of my life it would without-a-doubt be pizza. Sauce, cheese, delicious crust. You really can’t go wrong and the topping possibilities are truly endless!

When it came to our recent lifestyle change we weren’t willing to give it up.  I was determined to find a way. Certainly others who love pizza, but have dietary restrictions have found a way.  A yeasted whole wheat crust was our first stop. It was in my comfort zone. I made it very similarly to how I was making our white crust, but being the overachiever that I am. I knew that I could do better health and taste wise.

That led me to an ingredient I never knew I was missing.  Oat flour! It’s gluten-free and a complex carbohydrate.  We haven’t had to cut gluten completely from our diets, but we choose to stay away from simple carbs. And I can easily make oat flour right in my kitchen. With rolled oats bought from the grocery store and ran through the food processor. (You can buy oat flour already milled).

What you’ll need:

1 3/4 oat flour (extra for kneading)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 Cups Water

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 tsp salt

Pre-heat your oven 425°.  Put your oil, water and salt in a bowl. Stir together. Then slowly put your oat flour in stirring as you go. You want the oat flour to get nice and hydrated in the water. Once you’ve put all the oat flour in you’ll want to start adding in your whole wheat flour a 1/4 cup at a time. Once it’s all mixed together. Let rest for 10 minutes. Whole wheat flour does best with a rest. The dough will be tacky, but should not be wet. Sprinkle some oat flour on a flat surface. Knead for about two minutes. Adding oat flour as needed. The dough should remain somewhat tacky. Be careful not to dry the dough out, or it will crack during baking. Your dough will start to crack and separate if you’ve kneaded too much oat flour in. We normally cut the dough in half, save and freeze. The whole dough ball will feed four to six people depending on how thin you want it. Put the dough ball on a greased and floured pan.  (Or pizza stone if you have one) Roll it out to about a quarter inch or your desired thickness. Put it in your pre-heated oven for about 15 minutes or until the crust is showing signs of crisping up. Add toppings, put back in the oven and bake until your cheese is melted!

Enjoy!