Dish Do-Over: Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
This might be the best pizza-dough-with-no-refined-white-flour that you’ve ever had. Its lovely soft and airy texture is thanks to the secret ingredient, vital wheat gluten, which helps keep the dough soft and elastic. The reason most whole-wheat pizza dough recipes contain white flour or have a dense, cardboard-like texture is that the bran in whole-wheat flour cuts through the dough like little knives, flattening all that airiness and elasticity you worked so hard to create. This recipe makes 2 dough balls; freeze or refrigerate one for future use if you don’t use them both at once. Thanks Chef Jo!
Ingredients
1 tbsp raw honey
1 cup less 2 tbsp lukewarm water (105 - 110°F)
1 package (1/4 oz/ 7 g) regular active dry yeast, about 2 1/2 tsp
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
4 tsp vital wheat gluten
1 tsp sea salt
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Preparation
- In a large bowl, mix together honey and 1/3 cup water. Sprinkle in yeast and allow to proof, undisturbed (do not stir, or move the bowl), for 10 minutes or until foamy. (If yeast does not foam, it is dead and the dough will not rise. Discard and start again with fresh ingredients.)
- While yeast is proofing, in another large bowl, whisk together 2 cups flour, wheat gluten and salt.
- Once yeast is foamy, add remaining water, 2 tbsp oil and vinegar to yeast mixture. Pour in flour mixture and gently fold in with a bowl scraper or spatula until just combined. (Mixture will form a very wet ball.) Coat the bottom of another large bowl with remaining oil (ensure that bowl is large enough so that, when doubled in size, the dough will not reach the top). Transfer dough to bowl, rolling ball a bit to coat with oil. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap, set aside at room temperature and let dough rise for 1 hour. Dough will be very soft and sticky.
- Lightly dust work surface with about 1/4 cup flour. Transfer dough to floured surface and roll lightly in flour. Gently knead dough for about 1 minute, dusting work surface with more flour as needed to prevent dough from sticking. Form dough into a ball and return to bowl. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap, set aside at room temperature and let dough rise for 30 minutes.
- Transfer dough back to floured work surface and cut dough in half to form two balls. Dusting work surface with more flour as needed to prevent dough from sticking, lightly knead each ball for about 30 seconds. Reform into balls.
- Dough is now ready to be formed into a crust or wrapped and saved for future use. To store, wrap each dough ball individually in plastic wrap. Dough can be kept refrigerated for 24 hours or frozen for up to 1 month.
To use from refrigerator: Remove dough from fridge and let warm at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Form a pizza crust.
To use from frozen: Thaw dough in the fridge overnight. Remove dough from fridge and let warm at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Form a pizza crust.
From: Dish Do-Over, by Jo Lusted
Yield: Makes two 1 lb dough balls