While searching for inspiration on making whole wheat pizza dough I had frustration. Every recipe I came across claimed to be whole wheat but were not. It was only partly. Just enough whole wheat for flavor, the rest being all-purpose or bread flour, neither of which were WW. Finally through Pinterest I found a recipe that looked like it might work. And did it ever! Freshly ground flour along with herbs made a very memorable dinner. It isn’t a very American style pizza but hey, isn’t that why some of us cook? To try out odd ideas that pop into our heads? It was delish, even more so cold the next morning!
Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Ingredients:
- 1 cup water (about 80°)
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 2¼ tsp active dry yeast
- 8 ounces (2 cups) white whole wheat flour + more as needed
- 2 Tbsp ground flaxseed meal
- 2 Tbsp wheat germ
- 1 Tbsp Italian herb seasoning
- 1 tsp kosher or fine sea salt
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Directions:
Dissolve the yeast and honey in the warm water, set aside to bloom for 10 minutes.
In a stand mixer bowl with a dough hook attached add the flour through salt, whisk till mixed. With the mixer on low add the olive oil and water mixture, knead on medium-low on til the dough is pulling away from the side, adding flour as needed (I need about 2 to 3 ounces more flour for my dough), scraping the bowl periodically. Let the mixer knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes, until it is tacky but not sticky and comes off the hook easily.
Transfer to a glass or ceramic mixing bowl that is lightly oiled with more olive oil, flip the dough over to coat. Cover the bowl and set aside in a warm spot for an hour to rise.
Lightly flour a work surface, take out the dough and cut in half, cover again and let rest for 15 minutes.
Decide your toppings and get going on them. I sautéed a large onion, chopped, and 8 ounces of sliced button mushrooms in a Tablespoon or so of olive oil until browned. Set aside to cool down a bit. (You want to precook your ingredients to not have a soggy pizza.)
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450° and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper cut to fit.
Roll each half of dough out gently on the floured surface, lift and lay on a baking sheet, finish pressing out as needed gently with fingers. It won’t fit the baking sheet all the way, that is OK, have it free-form. Drizzle a light amount of sauce on top (I used our Spicy Ketchup I wrote about yesterday, so good!), then I sprinkled 8 ounces of diced smoked mozzarella on (from Trader Joe’s…yum!), add the veggies, a small can of well-drained sliced olives and a couple of ounces of chopped spinach leaves. Then a nice smattering of finely grated (microplaned) pecirino-romano cheese on top.
Bake for 16 minutes, 1 pizza at a time, in the upper rack setting.
Makes 2 pizzas.
