Thin- Crust Whole Wheat Veggie Pizza

Who doesn’t love pizza? I tried a healthy version of pizza, which contains whole grains, veggies and protein. Mozzarella cheese is commonly used for the pizza. You can use different toppings as per your taste. For herbs, I wanted to use the basil but I went with pizza seasoning which has all the spices. I chose bell pepper, olives, zucchinis and onions for the toppings. I made the crust with garlic and pizza seasoning. Here is the simple and home made pizza for you all.

Ingredients

• ¾ to 1-cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 tsp quick-rise active dry yeast
• 1 ½ tsp dried basil leaves or pizza seasoning
• 1tsp olive oil or regular oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp yellow cornmeal
• ½ cup warm water
• ½ cup no- salt added tomato sauce
• ½ cup sliced ripe olives
• ½ cup sliced zucchini
• 1/3-cup onions or green onions
• 1 large roasted red bell pepper, * cut lengthwise into thin strips or ¾ cup sliced, drained, bottled roasted red peppers
• 1cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• Salt to taste

Method

Combine ½ cup all- purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, yeast, pizza seasoning or basil leaves and salt. Blend oil with garlic; stir into flour mixture with water. Stir in ¼ cup all- purpose flour until, soft slightly sticky dough forms, adding remaining ¼ cup all-purpose flour to prevent sticking if necessary. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with in container or paper towel; let it rest for 10-20 minutes

Place oven rack in lowest position; preheat oven to 400F. Spray 12-inch pizza pan or baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray; sprinkle with cornmeal and set aside. If you have a non- stick pan spary is not needed, corn meal alone is fine.

Roll dough into large circle on lightly floured surface. (Too much rolling makes crust heavy and dense; stretching dough to fit pan is best.

Blend tomato sauce with ½ tsp of pizza seasoning or basil leaves in small bowl; spread evenly over crust. Top with zucchini, olives, onions, roasted bell pepper and mozzarella; sprinkle crushed red pepper on top.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese melts.

* To roast bell pepper, cut length wise into halves; remove stem, membrane and seeds. Broil 3 inches from heat, skin side up, until skin is blackened and blistered. Place halves in storage bag and seal it; set aside 15 minutes. Remove pepper from bag. Peel off skin; drain on paper towel.