Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
This is going to make a super thin and crispy dough that still manages to have some chew in the crust. Even though it is thin, it will hold up to a lot of toppings.
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups (16 ounces) white whole wheat flour
10-11 ounces warm water
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp instant yeast
3/4 tsp salt
8 tsp Vital Wheat Gluten (it will add some protein and give the crust some added stretch & strength)
Yield: 32 servings. (This will make 4 – 12 inch pizzas)
Makin’ the dough:
- Get out your stand mixer and insert the paddle attachment
- Mix the flour, yeast, gluten, & salt and warm water on low until a dough starts to form.
- The dough should be a little sticky at this point.
- Add the olive oil and mix until it is incorporated
- Switch out the paddle and use the dough hook. Knead on the recommended speed for your mixer (mine is medium) for 15 minutes. Yep, 15 minutes
- You should be able to pull a piece of dough off and stretch it so it passes the window pane test
- if it isn't ready yet, mix it for a few more minutes
- Separate the dough into 4 balls. You can stick any balls you won’t use in the freeze
Notes:
I’m still working on how much water to add. I would slowly add water to the mix until it is the consistency you think is right.
Using a frozen dough ball:
- Remove the frozen dough ball from the bag you froze it in
- Place it in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator overnight
- Take the bowl of dough out a couple hours before you need it or just put it on the counter before you to work & it will be ready to go
Using unfrozen dough:
- Place the dough ball in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap
- Let it proof for 2 hours (it should rise a little bit, but it won’t get super giant)
- spread some cornmeal or flour on a work surface and begin to stretch the dough into a flat round disk
- Note: see tips on stretching the dough below
- don’t add toppings yet
Cooking:
- Preheat the oven to 500
- Cook the dough on the bottom rack (without toppings) in a pizza pan for 8 min.
- It should puff up a bit and get some bubbles. They will get mashed down when you add toppings.
- Add your favorite toppings
- Tip: You can brush a little olive oil on the crust if you want a barrier for the sauce
- Cook @ 500 degrees until the cheese is melted and the crush is nice and crispy. This usually takes 5-8 minutes.
Some tips:
I like Mario Batali’s technique for stretching dough from this video. You should be able to get it super thin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXtD5DTjPk0
It’s ok if you tear the dough it can easily be fixed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vywgFiREusA
I adapted the recipe from here just for reference: https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=717522.
March 18th, 2017