Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Recipe

Yes! There is a trick to creating whole wheat pizza dough, but, this is an easy one to master.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups - Warm water (110° - 115° F)
2 Tbsp. - Sugar
1 Envelop - Active dry yeast
1 1/2 Tsp. - Salt
2 Tbsp. - Olive oil
3 Cups - Bread flour
1 Cup - Whole wheat flour

Preparation:

Let's say you are going to make a pizza dough that normally requires 4 cups of all purpose flour. Use all the same ingredients in their normal proportions except, try this flour formula:

1 cup - whole wheat flour
3 cups - all purpose flour

Depending on the brands of flour you use, you may find this formula a little tough. If so, back off on the whole wheat flour measurement.

2/3 cup whole wheat
3 cups - all purpose flour

You'll find this mixture is going to be more of a challenge to knead, due to the rougher texture of the whole wheat flour, but the end result is well worth the effort. Add a little water if the mixture becomes too dry. Make sure to knead the dough completely, until supple. Let the dough ball rise for an hour. Then re-knead the air out of the ball until supple and elastic.

At this point you are ready to roll out (rolling pin), the sheet of dough to a thickness of 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch, then pan the dough in your baking pan.

There is nothing like a whole wheat pizza dough to add flavor, color, texture and interest to any pizza recipe!

Procedure:

Pour the warm water in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and package of yeast. Stir the mixture until dissolved. Let sit to allow the yeast to mature for about ten minutes.

Add the salt and olive oil and stir again to combine the ingredients. Add 1 cup of whole wheat flour and whisk in until dissolved. Add the first cup of white flour and whisk it in. Add the 2nd cup of white flour and combine. By now the dough mixture should be fairly thick. Add the last cup of white flour and, with your hands, begin to combine and knead the dough.

You may need to add a dusting of flour from time to time to reduce the stickiness of the dough. Be patient, folding the dough ball in half and then quarters, over and over again for perhaps 5 to 8 minutes. You may wish to remove the dough ball to a tabletop to knead it. You'll know you've done well when the ball no longer sticks to your hands. It will become a smoothly-textured ball slightly larger than a large grapefruit.

Coat the dough ball with a thin layer of olive oil, and place it in the bottom of a large mixing bowl which has also been coated on the inside with olive oil. Stretch a piece of kitchen film over the top of the bowl and set it in a warm place such an as un-lit oven, (ambient temperature of 98°F to 100°F). Allow the dough to rise, undisturbed, for 60 to 75 minutes. The dough will have grown to at least twice its original size.

Take the dough out of the bowl and cut in half with a knife. You now have two pizza dough balls, enough to make two (2) 12" deluxe pizzas. Take each raw dough portion and hand-mold them into balls. Smoothing the outer surface, tuck each ball into itself from underneath before storing or going on with the next step.

If you wish to store the dough, by either freezing or refrigeration, you can place the dough balls in zip-lock bags. Squirt a little olive oil into each of the bags to keep the balls moist and pliable and to ease removal when ready for use. If you choose to freeze or refrigerate: the dough balls may continue to rise until they are substantially cooled down or frozen, which is OK as long as they don't break out of their bags. If they do, mold them back down into balls and re-bag them.

If you choose to continue with making the pizzas now, here's how. Some dough experts like to "proof" their dough balls at this point. They can be set in a bowl or plastic tray, covered, to "rest" for an additional 15 or 20 minutes if you wish. Some recipes call for up to an additional hour of rising. For practical purposes, pizza dough does not have to be put through a complete second rise cycle.