Whole-grain pizza dough

[hobochan]

I've been making pizzas an awful lot lately, but the doughs I've tried all left something to be desired. It always seems to bland, too thick, too bready (versus crusty)... Does anyone have a recipe/technique for a whole-grain dough that they love? I have just about any ingredient to my discretion, but my only caveat is to not use soy. Thank you,

Comments

[juana_guysh]

I love the whole-grain version of this recipe: http://www.crumblycookie.net/2009/11/28/traditional-pizza/ (the blog is not veg*n, but the crust is.) It makes a TON so I'll usually divide it into 3 parts, use one third right away, and freeze the others after the first rise.

[hobochan]

Wow, that's a lot of stuff I haven't tried! What flour do you use? All whole wheat?

[juana_guysh]

I use half white, and half King Arthur whole grain flour (not the bleached kind). The recipe really isn't as complex as it looks- I skip the step of heating the oil and spices and just add them to the dough, then use warmish water and room temperature wine. You could also even skip the wine and just use 2 cups of water. Usually whole wheat dough recipes are pretty forgiving as long as you use the right ratio of dry to liquid!

[mercuryhime]

Here are some things that work for me:
use less yeast
press the dough thinner
use a pizza stone
cook at very high temperature for less time

If your dough isn't stretchy enough to make thinner (common to whole grain dough) add some gluten flour.

good luck

[hobochan]

How much should I add if the recipe makes only one large pizza's worth of dough?

[mercuryhime]

How much gluten? I wish I could be more precise, but I play it by ear when I cook. It makes cooking more adventurous. :) I'd estimate for every cup of flour remove one tablespoon of the flour and replace with the gluten. Then just add more or less in the future depending on how it turned out for you.

I think the real key here is to get the dough thinner yet crispier so that your crust can hold up to the toppings. I like my crust so thin that a recipe that claims to make enough dough for one pizza makes two for me. The pizza stone really, really helps with that. My pizzas have become 10x better since I started using one. Failing the pizza stone, coating the bottom of your baking tray with some oil fries the dough as it bakes, creating a crispier bottom. It's not my ideal since I try to avoid excess fat, but it is kinda tasty since fried things aways are.

Have fun experimenting!

[shdwcat]

More agree with more gluten flour!! It is amazing.

[shdwcat]

* I agree with

[orphe_]

pull the rack out of your oven and coat it with cooking spray, crank your oven up all the way, spread the dough right over the rack as thin as possible (being careful to stay clear of the edges - you don't want it touching the walls of the oven as it rises), and when the oven's fully heated, put the dough-covered rack in the oven for two minutes. then pull it out, flip it over to stop any sticking of the crust, top, and bake at your usual temperature until the whole thing looks done.

prebaking without toppings keeps the crust from getting soggy like it often does with homemade pizzas. in a professional oven, they avoid sogginess because the heat is so high that there's just not time for the crust to get soggy, but in a home oven you have to get creative.

[hobochan]

Awesome, thank you!