Pizza Dough
Erica Lea on Jul 11th 2009
Can you believe that this dough is 100% whole wheat? Can you? It is! Yet is handles so well - better than any pizza dough recipe I’ve ever tried. It is so easily manipulated, yet it doesn’t tear easily.
What’s the secret? I really couldn’t say. Perhaps the method of mixing. Perhaps the perfect combination of ingredients (thanks, Cook’s Illustrated!). Perhaps the type of whole wheat flour I use (white whole wheat flour). All I know is, my search for a whole wheat pizza dough recipe ended when I found this one. Maybe someday I’ll try a different pizza dough recipe, but for now I’m content.
Care for some ideas for pizza?
~ Why not spread it with some homemade pizza sauce and sprinkle it with homemade Italian sausage?
~ Or you could drizzle it with Smoky BBQ sauce and add chicken (perhaps some bacon) and cheddar cheese for a BBQ Chicken Pizza.
~ The other day, I made pizza on the grill. It’s a great way to beat the heat and it is so delicious. Here is an excellent article and video with the instructions.
How do you like to fix your pizza?
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Pizza Dough
Adapted from The New Best Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup warm water (about 110°
- 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 cups (20 ounces) white whole wheat flour (aka white whole wheat flour)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- Olive oil or butter, for greasing the bowl
Directions:
1) Place the 1/2 cup warm water in a small bowl. Add the yeast and stir. Let sit for about 5 minutes, or until the yeast begins to swell. Add to the room temperature water and oil and stir.
2) Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix briefly until combined. With mixer on low speed, slowly add the liquid ingredients. Mix just until a cohesive dough forms. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
3) Change to the dough hook attachment. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic, about 5-10 minutes.
4) Oil or butter a medium-sized bowl. Transfer the dough to the prepared bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot. Allow to rise for 1 ½-2 hours, or until double in volume. The dough is now ready to be used in your recipe.
Makes enough dough for approximately 3 large thin-crust pizzas
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Filed in Baking, Bread, Main Dish, Pizza
I will definitely be giving this a try. I have been on a quest for the perfect whole wheat pizza dough.
The rise on that dough is looking really good. I like my pizzas thin and baked hot and fast on a screaming hot stone.
Is it possible to make it and the dough that was not used freeze it?
suede: I have never attempted to freeze pizza dough, but I think it would work. If you give it a try, let me know how it turned out!
If Trader Joe’s pizza dough is okay as a reference, then pizza dough is perfectly fine frozen. Theirs is definitely previously frozen, and it’s quite good.
Also, Bob’s Red Mill is a good source of white wheat flour. They call it Hard White Whole Wheat flour, and it’s organic.
I make a white whole wheat pizza dough quite similar to the one given here and I successfully freeze it all the time. If you thaw it and use it within 6 months or so it will still work just fine. I prefer to thaw it overnight in the fridge and then remove it to warm up on the kitchen counter for about an hour before rolling it out to bake. (Trader Joe’s brand of white whole wheat flour is the most economical I have been able to find here in western WA.)
Erica,
Just wanted to let you and your readers know that this dough freezes beautifully. Simply put it in a Ziploc freezer bag, squeeze the air out of the bag, label, and pop in freezer. My husband and I just enjoyed dough from before Christmas. Thank you! Your Friend in Christ, Dawn
You need to post a way to cook the pizza dough.
This pizza dough was awesome! The whole family loved it. I made pizza pocket/calzones with it and they turned out great. I also froze half of it and took it out a few hours before I needed it and it was still great. Tonight I am trying it with your pizza sauce.
This is one of the best pizza dough recipes I’ve made. I love it!
I plan on making this tonight. I’ve been looking for a whole wheat pizza dough recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Think I’ll make bbq chicken pizza and tomato basil pizza for the grownups and pepperoni of course for the kiddo.
[...] Whole Wheat Pizza Crust (Cooking for Seven) – SO SO good! I didn’t use any pizza sauce – just brushed the dough with olive oil and spread tomato slices over it, sprinkled with mozarella, basil, and oregano. It was the perfect compliment to my glass of chardonnay. (This isn’t really a beer-drinking pizza crust. Save your Yuengling for a pizza shop pizza!) We had leftovers for dinner tonight and it’s even good reheated! [4/5. I'll have to try it with sauce and other toppings to see if it holds up to a less "gourmet" flavor] [...]
[...] Pizza dough [...]