Wheat and Teff Pizza

Okay so whole wheat and teff (an ancient Ethiopian grain) might not sound like they'd be too tasty in a pizza dough, but they are. Really. I thought I'd experiment with my pizza dough to see what proportion of whole wheat flour I could use and still have my family really like it and this is what I came up with. I added the teff for additional nutritional value (it is a neat little grain that you can add to almost anything) and was surprised by how well it went over. Everyone loved this pizza! Yay! And the teff gives the pizza a cute freckled appearance and a nice chew which is awesome. I served the pizza Beau Jo's style (one of our favorite Pizzerias) with honey on the side to dip the crusts in. If you can't find teff in your grocery/natural food store you can just leave it out and add a bit more wheat flour.

Wheat and Teff Pizza
-makes 2 large pizzas

3 cups white bread flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup teff (no need to grind or anything, just add whole teff grains)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 1/2 rounded tablespoons instant yeast (SAF)
1 1/2 tablespoons liquid soy lecithin
2 1/4 cups hot tap water

Pizza Toppings: pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella (about 2 cups per pizza), pepperoni, veggies, etc, and shredded Parmesan

Preheat oven to 375. Spray 2 large pizza pans with non-stick spray and set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer combine flours, teff, sugar, salt, and yeast. Mix with dough hook just to distribute ingredients evenly. Add lecithin (I just eye ball it), and hot water. Mix with dough hook on high speed for 1 minute. Check dough and add a little more flour or water depending on the texture - you want it to pull away from the sides of the bowl and be the texture of stiff cookie dough. Mix with dough hook on high speed for 6 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a non-stick sprayed surface (spray your hands to so you can work with dough easier). Knead into a ball and cut in 2 equal portions. Take one portion and roll out into a large circle with a rolling pin. Place on a non-stick sprayed pizza pan, making sure you stretch dough out to the edges. Repeat with other half of dough.Put toppings on top: pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella, toppings of choice and then finish it off with a generous sprinkling of grated Parmesan.

Bake at 375 for 16-20 minutes on bottom rack, until toppings are bubbly and starting to brown and the bottom of the crust is golden. Serve with honey on the side to dip the crusts in, because it's yummy.:)