Trader Joe's Sprouted Whole Grain Pizza Crust

I went through a Trader Joe's pizza phase in college. Not frozen pizzas, no. Like DIY pizza back when pizza dough was $0.99 (It's still cheap though, under $2). Like meal prep. The process from start to finish including rolling out the dough, prepping the toppings, and baking took 30 minutes tops. And the result? Pretty darn good pizza and moderately nutritious too. These days I don't do that as often, but when I do make pizza I've typically made my dough from scratch. As it turns out, homemade pizza dough, the lazy version at least, is as easy as four ingredients (flour, water, salt, yeast) and can be as fast as a half hour (speeding up the proofing process by sticking it in a preheated oven to 200F is probably frowned upon). But I don't always want to cook, and TJ's specializes in food for people who like to cook but not that much. And this pizza crust is new and allegedly thin and crispy! Take my money! 

Sprouted whole grains! OOOO HEALTHY. I've tried sprouted bread before and found that the sprouted texture is quite nice after a bit of toasting. Perhaps it would be the same for this crust? 

Wheat berries, quinoa, millet, oat groats (what is that?), barley, rye berries, and amaranth. Bring on the whole grains. 

If you're looking at the picture and wondering why it looks like a tortilla, you are not alone. For this reason, I opted to use my cast iron skillet to give the crust the best chance to crisp up. I usually make my pizza in a cast iron because it heats up nicely (I leave in the oven while it preheats) and is probably the next best thing to a brick oven, which I don't have obviously. Also, my cast iron is the biggest vessel that can accommodate this crust. Alas my baking sheets are too small and I don't have a pizza stone. Even the cast iron is a bit small but I figure it'd get the job done.

I prepared this per package directions for the first attempt and was extra careful to not overload the pizza with moisture. Cuz y'all..this thing is THIN. But not like thin crust. It's thin like a wrap. Only the edges that made contact with the cast iron crisped up. The rest didn't really crisp. It wasn't soggy by any means, but it kind of stayed soft-ish closer to quesadilla texture than thin crust pizza. 

For my second attempt, I used the same toppings and cranked the oven up to 500F, the same temperature I use for homemade pizza, and baked in the cast iron for 10 minutes. You can see that the edges definitely browned more. Overall this pizza crisped more and tasted better. HOWEVER, I wouldn't call this a thin crust pizza by any stretch. I'm sorry, this is not a crust. Call it a flatbread or a tortilla but don't call this is a crust. It doesn't have enough structure or heftiness to pass for a crust. It's thicker than a tortilla but thinner than a flatbread. Even flatbread pizzas have a little more structure to hold the ingredients without collapsing. And some people don't even think flatbread pizzas count as real pizza (this is why people love or hate California Pizza Kitchen btw). Go figure. 

That said, I wouldn't say this is a bad product. Not at all. My pizza ended up more like a tostada, and it was still quite tasty. The sprouted grains add this extra bite/texture that I really like. Plus, it's nice to know that you're getting whole grain goodness in something that can be altered to look like a pizza. Certainly tasted better than the cauliflower pizza IMO (It's gotta be the gluten :P). 

So if you're going to pick this up (two crusts for $3.99. Not bad for something super healthy and probably cheaper than what's out there), keep in mind a few things: 

1) DO NOT. I REPEAT. DO NOT overload this "crust" with moisture-ridden toppings. More moisture will make this sag. 

2) Try cranking your oven up to 500F for optimal crispiness. Or whatever you can do to mimic a pizza oven. And invest in a nice pair of oven mitts. 

3) Because this pizza is kinda lacking the heftiness of a conventional crust, you might find yourself eating a half (or maybe a whole...?) for sustenance. Maybe. 

4) More of a note to self: TJ's sauces are kinda salty for my taste. And the low sodium option kinda has no taste. Will try with tomato puree next time. 

Repurchase? For tostadas, yes! But for pizza, nooooo.

TL;DR: Trader Joe's Sprouted Whole Grain Pizza Crust. Ain't no pizza crust but certainly tasty. Treat with care y'all. 6 out of 10.