Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

As a child I would never really understand when my mom would say "I was an italian in my past life." Now that I have fallen in love with dough making, I believe I too was an Italian (please note, not a guidette). I image myself as a heavy-set matriarch with leathery, worn hand. I pick tomatoes off the vine and young kids from the neighborhood call me "Nonna." I make fresh bread and pastas everyday.

So, while I may not resemble "Nonna" in my current life, I am channeling my pseudo-Italian heritage into various dough experiments. My most recent dough undertaking was a whole wheat pizza crust. It's approximately a 1:1 ratio of whole grain flour to white flour, so I guess it's not as legit as other completely whole grain crusts... but, it's delicious and light. I'm very proud of my first pizza crust! I "knead" more practice, but I encourage you give this recipe a try.

Whole Wheat PIzza Crust

Adapted from localkitchen recipe

Ingredients

1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 and 1/4 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Preparation

In a 2-cup measuring cup, add yeast and sugar and 1 cup warm water. Stir and leave for 10 minutes to get foamy. After 10 minutes, add Tablespoon of olive oil

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour and the salt.

Sprinkle a little extra flour on your clean kitchen top, then pour the flour on to the counter. Make a well in the middle of the flour, and pour in the yeast mixture. Mix together in a circular motion until the dough forms. It will be a quite sticky.

When the dough comes together, fold it into thirds, like you would a business letter. Fold down the top and fold up the bottom, then the two sides until each side has been folded onto itself and the dough is roughly in the shape of a square. Cover this with a clean kitchen towel and let it sit for 20 minutes. This will help make the dough less sticky and it will be easier to knead. While the dough is resting, ready a bowl oiled with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil.

After 20 minutes, knead the dough until you can form a ball (5-10 minutes) Push the dough away from you, not directly down into the counter. Make sure you have enough flour on your hands and work surface to prevent sticking! When ready, place this ball into the oiled bowl and cover the ball with oil.

Now, turn on oven to 250 degrees and let it warm up for 1 minute. Turn the oven off and put the bowl of dough into the oven. It needs to rise in a warm place for approximately 45 minutes. It should be about 1.5 times its original size when ready.

After 45 minutes, punch down your puffy dough in the bowl (fun!) and fold it a couple of time to remove the air pockets. Form into another ball. Cover with the towel again and let it rise again for 25 minutes. This will help the texture!

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Put a baking sheet into the oven so it can warm up. You can also bake on 500, but be careful not to burn it! It will definitely come out crispier at a higher heat.

Once the dough rises a second time, it's ready to be used. Cut the ball into half with a dough scraper. Set one ball aside. Roll out dough with rolling pin and then stretch by hand to your desire thickness. This dough works well for both thick and thin crusts.

Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and SPRAY WITH COOKING SPRAY. (I forgot this step on the first pizza and we ate parchment paper pizza crust.... oops!). Also, trim away excess paper, because it will burn and make a mess. Believe me, I know.

Bake the dough separately for 3 minutes, then add sauce and toppings and bake for another 4-6 minutes.



If you don't want to use all your dough now, you can half-bake it, and then freeze. Bake the dough in the oven for 2-3 minutes in a 500 degree oven. Take it out and let it cool, then freeze. When you want to use it, just add toppings and pop straight into the oven.

This recipe makes enough dough for 2, 10-inch pizzas.