When your kids can have pizza for all meals (yeah, I mean it!) and you don’t want them eating store bought Maida/all purpose flour all the time, what do you do?
You make this whole wheat Aata pizza at home, from scratch! Loaded with vegetables of different colours (read more nutrition) and a bare smattering of cheese, these home-made pizzas are healthy and delicious.
My children no longer order from Domino’s and Pizza Hut now. And I feel no guilt whatsoever as I know all they are eating is a good, healthy and hearty meal. I have adapted Peter Reinhart’s Country Pizza recipe to make it wholegrain and follow his method of baking to the T. I do not own a Pizza stone, so I bake on my cast iron skillet and it works beautifully. The pizza puffs up nicely making the base light and fluffy. You can use any heavy cast iron dish or even the dosa tawa!
For the Pizza Sauce
I keep it simple with 1 kilo of blanched tomatoes chopped fine and cooked in a tbsp of oil. I season it with salt, pepper,sugar and dry pizza spice mix and throw in some fresh basil leaves towards the end.
For the Pizza Dough
(This recipe makes 5-6 regular sized pizzas)
650 grams aata/ flour (about 5 cups) Use all whole wheat or 4 ½ cups aata/ whole wheat and ½ cup maida/all purpose
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast (Active dry won’t do unless you proof and add it)
2 tbsp sugar or honey
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
482 grams water
Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl and stir well to mix.
Now add all the wet ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon till the mixture is well hydrated. You may need more water depending on the type of flour you are using, but add very slowly- spoon by spoon. Knead for just a couple of minutes till the dough comes together.
Cover and let rest for ten minutes.
Spread out a silicon mat or oil the surface. Move the dough to the mat and flatten out. Fold the dough on to itself three times. Then shape into a ball and let rest for five minutes. This is called the ‘Stretch and Fold’ method.
Perform 3 more Stretches and Folds after every five minutes and move the dough to a large, slightly oiled bowl, cover it and put it in the refrigerator.
Let rest overnight and your pizza dough is ready to bake with anytime!
The dough keeps well for up to five days in the fridge.
(Click on individual pictures to get a larger view )
To bake the pizza pre-heat the oven at 250C for 20 minutes with the slightly oiled skillet inside it (use a pizza stone, if you own one)
I don’t have a pizza peel so I use my wooden chopping board to slide the pizza in. Flour it well so that the pizza does not stick to the chopping board.
Take a handful of dough and flatten it out with your hands or the rolling pin.
Move it to the floured chopping board. Spread the sauce. Top with some fresh basil leaves or dry pizza spice mix. Layer the vegetables of choice. I used mushrooms, broccoli, baby corn and yellow peppers. Season with salt, pepper and some pizza spice mix.
Top lightly with little grated mozzarella cheese. I like to break chunks of the cheese and drop them randomly over the pizza.
Bake for 15-20 minutes till the base is done and cheese has melted.
Serve hot and hear them singing praises 😛
CafeGarima 
Looks so colourful and inviting
Thanks Aruna 😃❤️
Looks so good. Thanks for the recipe
My pleasure darling 🙂
So much nicer making your own, I completely agree 🙂
And you feel so rewarded when the kids approve! 😀
Absolutely! Their compliments are the best because they’re so honest!
True!
They’re also extremely honest when they don’t like something!!! our harshest critics!
Ha ha!
Yup! It works both ways 😃😃
hi garima, the recipe looks really good … hands are really scracthing hard to try ….just few qs…
is 2 cups water enough …. and also approximately how many hours its has to be refrigerated…
🙂
Hi Uttara
The dough may need more or less water depending on the type. I use Aashirwaad aata and it needs a little more than 2 cups.
It needs to be like a loose chapati dough.
12 hours refrigeration is enough.
🙂 happy baking
Is it necessary to add sugar or honey in dough
Yeah, bread needs some sweetness to get the yeast going 🙂
This seems so good. I will surely try it out 🙂
I have tried it but with only capsicum, onion and tomatoes . but this seems much mouth watering. I will surely bake it. 🙂
Superb!😃😃👌🏻
garma, can we preheat baking tray also….as i dont hv skillet
Sandeep
A baking tray isn’t as heavy as a skillet, so the resultant texture will be different.
But surely you can pre-heat it.
A must try recipe. Thanks.
Thanks dear 🙂
Hi! Garima, thanks for sharing this most needed recipe. I had a doubt though. You have mentioned 1 tsp of instant yeast in the recipe. Wouldn’t it be too less for 5 cups of flour? Or 1 tsp works fine?
Hi Aysha
It works fine 🙂
Do we have to turn both upper and lower elements on or just the lower one and on which rack should i place the pan on? I have a 45 litres oven with fan.
Hi Pawan
Middle rack and both elements on.
Keep an eye though 🙂
Thank you☺
Thank you 🙂
Hi Garima,
Very nice recipe.. I have a question. Can we skip refrigeration step..?
Thanks for very nice recipe. 🙂
Hi Pratibha
I’ve never tried skipping.
In bread baking I follow the recipe exactly, always 🙂
Ok thanks!
If we want to add dry yeast ( that I already gave at home n don’t want to waste), what will be the procedure to make dough?
Hi
You will need to soak it in warm water and sugar and then use. However the results won’t be as good as instant yeast.
Hi.. I love your recipe.. I have a doubt whenever I want to make pizza do I keep t dough out to come at room temperature n then use?? How much time does it take??
Hi I actually use it straight out of the fridge. Thanks 🙂
Looks delicious! But can we store the left over dough! If so, how?
Cling wrap and can keep for a day in the fridge.
Hi garima. If I wanna make the base and keep it for future use how to go about it n how many days will the base stay right