I’m Italian and I love pizza!  This version is  healthier and tastes just like traditional pizza made with white flour.  My secret? I added spelt flour to increase fiber, minerals and vitamins. 

Spelt is an ancient grain and even though it does have gluten, it hasn’t been genetically modified so its easier for people to digest.  It also means that it hasn’t been created in a science lab because the seeds still come from our ancestors.  I buy organic so that I have even more nutrients and less pesticides, herbicides and all those other chemicals that are sprayed on our food.

Pizza is one of those dishes that allows you to stimulate those create juices, so let them flow and top it up with a variety of healthy veggies, goat or sheep cheese or even vegan cheese.  I love to top my pie with a high quality cold-pressed olive oil, pesto, goat cheese or a vegan cheese, artichokes, black olives, orange peppers, arugula, spinach, red onions, zucchini and anchovies.  So mix it up and choose a few or all and dress up your pizza pie!

Makes 1   14″ thin crust

Ingredients:

3 cups organic spelt flour, i love this organic mill  https://oak-manor.myshopify.com/ OR you could do half spelt and half organic white flour

3 tsp or 1 pkg active dry yeast (check expiry date!)

1-1.5 cups warm water

1 tsp honey

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp fine sea salt

Directions:

1.  In a small bowl, place yeast, 1/2 cup warm water (make sure its not too warm or it will burn the yeast!) and honey.  Mix and set aside for 10-15 minutes.  It will foam and GROW a lot – be patient!
2. Combine flours and salt in a large bowl.

3. Once yeast has foamed and doubled in size, add olive oil to it and gently mix.

4. Pour liquid mixture into the large bowl with flour and add another 1/2 cup water.

5. Mix gently with your hands.  If you find it’s not sticking together, add some water, little by little.

6. Transfer dough to a flat surface and kneed it for about 6-8

minutes or until its a smooth ball.

7. Grease a large clean bowl with a little bit of olive oil and place dough ball in bowl.

8. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and a dish towel.

9. Let dough rise in the oven with just the light on for some warmth.  This will take about 1-1.5 hrs.

10. Remove dough from oven, remove wrap and “punch” dough to deflate it.

11. Bring dough on floured flat surface and kneed once again for about 5 minutes.

12. Flatten dough to desired pizza pie shape and place on a pizza tray.

13. To dress your pie, start with olive oil or a sauce, dried herbs like oregano and basil then follow with cheese and then toppings.

14. Bake at 450F until crust starts to brown or about 15-20 minutes.

BUON APPETITO!