A couple of days ago I was really craving pizza. I was also feeling lazy, so I debated just ordering from Pizza Hut. I didn’t, though. I dragged myself down to the kitchen and made pizza dough, which is really not very hard to do at all. And I had a helper.

The pizza and breadsticks I ended up making were quite yummy. After posting photos on Flickr and twittering about one of them, I had several requests for recipes. Laura, Mel, Calee, here ya go!

For the dough, I modified a Cooking Light recipe for whole wheat pizza dough:

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Makes 2 12-inch crusts, or 1 crust and 1 batch of breadsticks

• 1 package active dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1 1/2 c. warm water (100° to 110°)
• 2 c. plus 3/4 c. all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/4 c. toasted wheat germ (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tsp. kosher salt (or 1 tsp. table salt)
• cooking spray

1. Combine water, honey and yeast in a large bowl and let sit about five minutes, till the yeast has bloomed. Add 2 cups all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, wheat germ, oil and salt and mix until well-blended.
2. If you’re using a stand mixer with a dough hook, set on the second-lowest speed and let it knead for about 5 minutes, adding enough of remaining flour a tablespoon or two at a time, till all the dough clings to the hook….If you’re kneading by hand, turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes), adding enough of remaining flour a tablespoon at a time so the dough isn’t sticking to your hands.
3. Coat a large bowl with cooking spray and place the dough into the bowl. Give the top of the dough a quick spray too. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place till the dough has doubled in size, about 45 minutes. (While the dough is rising, if you want, you can broil the red bell pepper for your pizza; see below for instructions.)
4. Punch dough down and let rest for 5 minutes. Divide dough in half. For pizza, roll half into a 12-inch circle on a pizza stone coated with cooking spray. Top as desired and bake at 450 for 12-15 minutes or till cheese is bubbly.

Homemade Veggie Pizza

• 12-inch unbaked pizza crust
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 c. diced butternut squash
• 2 tsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 tsp. sugar, divided
• 1 red bell pepper
• 14-oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1-2 c. shredded mozzarella
• 1/3 c. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped (or 1 tsp. dried basil)

1. If you have not already done so, and you want to, broil the red bell pepper. Quarter the pepper and remove seeds. Place on broiler rack, skin side up, and broil till the skin starts to bubble and get brown spots. Remove from broiler and place directly in a brown paper bag to cool, either on the counter or in the fridge. When peppers have cooled, peel skin off and discard. (If you don’t want to bother, it’s okay. Ignore the directions up to this point and just…) Chop the pepper as desired.
2. Heat 1 tsp. olive oil over low heat in a skillet. Add onions and reduce heat to very low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes till onions are starting to caramelize (very soft and beginning to brown). Add 1/2 tsp. sugar and stir well, cooking a few minutes more over very low heat. Remove from heat.
3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400F. Place butternut squash in a small bowl or ziplock bag. Add 1 tsp. olive oil and remaining 1/2 tsp. sugar and mix well. Arrange on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray and bake for 10-15 minutes, till squash is soft. Remove squash from oven and turn the heat up to 450F.
4. Top the unbaked crust in this order: about half the mozzarella; onions, bell pepper, and cooked squash; diced tomatoes. Sprinkle oregano, minced garlic, and remaining mozzarella evenly over the toppings. Finally, add fresh basil and then the Parmigiano-Reggiano.
5. Bake the pizza at 450F for 12-15 minutes, till cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.

Note: This is how I made this particular pizza, but you can change the toppings to suit your own tastes. I caramelize the onions and broil the bell pepper because the flavors are richer and sweeter, and I like them that way, but you don’t have to do either. (Though I do recommend you at least give the onions a quick saute before putting them on your pizza.)

Annalie asked for a bit of dough to play with. She came up with the idea to make it into an individual-size Mickey Mouse pizza. She rolled out the dough and topped it with tomatoes, oregano, and mozzarella. I stuck it into the oven on a small stoneware pan at the same time as the big pizza, but it was done in about 10 minutes.

She ate every last bite.

Cinnamon-Sugar Breadsticks

• 1/2 recipe Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
• 2 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Roll dough out into a rectangle. Using a pizza cutter or knife, cut into 12 strips of equal size.
3. Brush baking sheet with melted butter, then brush the dough with remaining butter.
4. Mix sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl, then sprinkle over the buttered dough.
5. Pick up a buttered-and-sugared strip of dough, not worrying about the excess sugar that falls off, and twist it before laying on the baking sheet. Repeat process with remaining dough, arranging twists on the baking sheet so they’re spaced evenly apart. If you have any butter left, feel free to brush the twists with that.
6. Bake at 400F for 12-15 minutes, till golden brown. Remove from oven. Try not to eat them all at once.

Edited to add: I’m eating a piece of leftover pizza (heated on a pizza stone in a 350F oven for 15 minutes) right now, and it’s DELICIOUS. Also, I just noticed that Annalie is wearing three different outfits in these photos which were all taken on the same day. That’s pretty typical.