Deep Dish Pizza - whole wheat flour

Method

• To make the crust, combine the yeast, salt, sugar, 1 cup of the flour and the cup of warm water.
• Mix thoroughly.
• Since you aren't proofing the yeast first, the water needs to be a bit hotter than usual.
• Add enough of the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour to form a soft dough.
• Knead it for a few minutes, then put it back in the bowl, cover and set aside to rise.
• In the meantime, prepare the veggies.
• Saute the onions in some red wine until caramelized.
• Squeeze the moisture out of the thawed spinach.
• Break up the tomatoes slightly and set them in a sieve to drain.
• You don't want them soupy.
• Save the juice for something else.
• When the pizza dough has more or less doubled in bulk (usually in less than.
• an hour- I find you don't need to be too technical with pizza dough), punch it down.
• Lightly spray a 10 inch spring form pan with cooking spray.
• Press the dough into the pan and up the sides.
• Spread the shredded cheese over the crust.
• Top with the tomatoes which have been mixed with the basil leaves.
• Season with the salt, oregano and black pepper.
• Sprinkle the minced garlic over the tomatoes, then the add the sauteed onions.
• Top the onions with the spinach and then arrange the sliced tomato decoratively on top.
• Bake at 425F in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes or so.
• Since it's so thick, it takes quite awhile for the filling to heat all the way through.
• It makes a lovely presentation when you remove the ring from the springform pan.
• The fillings I used are what I happened to have around the house.
• You can use anything you wish.
• I think artichokes, mushrooms, eggplant, roasted peppers and brocolli would be especially good.
• I was quite pleased with the way the Healthy Choice fake cheese melted.
• Recently, I tried the Kraft fat-free singles (sharp cheddar flavor) and found them to be as good as any full fat processed cheese slice (for what that's worth).
• They melted well as part of a burrito filling.