Spelt Pizza

Pizza is a Friday kinda food.  Eating pizza was a really big deal when I was a kid.  It wasn't like it is now, where you can get a slice on any corner and families haul big boxes full of it home for dinner on a regular basis.  Not when I was a kid, at least not in my family.  Maybe it wasn't such an easy thing to get back then, and probably it was more expensive than my parents could afford.  But I remember, when we did have it, it was a special treat.  Sometimes we would have it on a Friday night and were allowed to eat in front of the TV on folding "TV tables" (ours were plastic and I think they were decorated with a western theme, oddly).  I seem to recall a background of episodes of the Brady Bunch, Donny & Marie and Love Boat...a lifetime ago.  

On the rare occasion that we had pizza, it was often homemade and Mom and I would make the dough from scratch.  Something about the smell of the yeast and the softness of freshly risen dough brings back such comforting memories, like Mom excitedly pointing at the bowl and telling me to watch the yeast "come to life" as it began to bubble and froth, feeding on bits of sugar in its warm bath, and her encouraging me to"punch" the risen dough back down, my hand sinking into the soft, warm ball.  In the midst of a lot of upheaval in my life lately, making homemade pizza for my husband seemed like the perfect way to feed my hungry soul. 

I love to modernize old family recipes and, after having delicious spelt flour pizza at a restaurant a few months ago, I decided to try an updated version of an old favourite.  I found a promising looking recipe on Quantum Vegan for Spelt Pizza Crust, and it turned out beautifully (thank you, Quantum Vegan!).  Link to the recipe here or you can follow along below. http://quantumvegan.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/recipe-spelt-pizza-crust-vegan/ I doubled the recipe, which worked perfectly and gave us tons of leftovers for lunches during the week. 

Oh, and why spelt? Because it's much higher in protein and more easily digestible than regular wheat flour.  So it's pizza that's good for you!

A double recipe of Spelt Pizza

(Toppings: pepperoni, pineapple, red onion and mozzarella on the left; sundried tomato, zucchini, red pepper, red onion and goat cheese on the right)

Spelt Pizza

2 1/4 c spelt flour

3/4 c + 2 tsp warm water

1 3/4 tsp active dry yeast

pinch sugar or 1/2 tsp honey

pinch kosher salt

olive oil (for greasing the bowl)

In a large mixing bowl, stir together yeast and warm water until yeast is dissolved.  Set aside.

Add the sugar, salt, then stir in the flour to form a dough.  Add more water if too dry and more flour if too sticky (I had to add more water).  It should be slightly tacky without sticking to your fingers.

Knead the dough in the bowl until it's smooth and springs back slightly when you press a finger in it.  Form the dough into a ball and remove from bowl.  Lightly grease inside of bowl with olive oil and then roll the ball in the oiled bowl to coat all sides.  Cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place (like a sunny window) until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Gently punch down the dough and proceed with pizza making.  I lightly oiled a baking sheet and spread the dough out using my hands, ensuring it was quite thin and as even as possible.  Add whatever toppings you like and bake at 400 degrees in the centre of oven for about 15-20 minutes (oven temperatures vary so keep an eye on it and check underneath the pizza to make sure it doesn't burn).  Let pizza rest for 5 minutes or so before cutting.