How To: Make Your Own Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

The first time I tried making whole wheat pizza dough was a disaster! I thought I could take just a plain white flour pizza dough recipe and replace the white flour with whole wheat. Boy was I wrong! I didn't realize that whole wheat flour sucks up much more liquid then regular flour does. I just dumped everything into the bowl of my mixer and ended up with a hard, crusty, chunky mass of just barely wet flour. So scrap that batch! I like making pizza crust entirely out of whole wheat flour and while it is possible, it doesn't have that lightness that a normal pizza crust has. Enter: a mixture of whole wheat and white flour. Pizza dough is pretty easy to make but it does take time and lots of effort especially if your kneading it by hand. The rewards however are worth it because you're getting some tasty, healthy and yummy pizza crust!

What You Need:

2 c whole wheat flour
2-3 c white flour (all purpose)
1/3 c olive oil
2 c warm water plus 1 tbs warm water (approx. 120 degrees F)
1/4 c honey
1/2 tbs coarse salt
1 tbs yeast (2 pkgs)

What To Do:

Bloom the yeast in the 1 tbs of warm water and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, with a paddle attachment, combine the whole wheat flour, 2 c warm water and the honey. It should make a pretty creamy mixture. If your yeast has gotten all frothy then go ahead and add it into the mixer. If not, and it shows no signs of becoming that way, start over with fresh yeast. Give the dough a good mix and then switch to your dough hook. With the mixer running, add in the olive oil and then the salt. Add in 1 cup of the all purpose flour and let it mix until it's completely combined. Slowly add in some of the remaining flour, about 1/4 c at a time, let it combined almost completely before adding more flour.

Once the dough starts forming a ball around the hook, turn the speed of your mixer up to at least medium. Continue adding flour a touch at a time just until the dough leaves the bowl. You might end up using only 2 cups or you might end up using more then the 3 cups of required flour. It depends on a number of factors but that's why you add the flour in slowly. To much flour will yield a thick, dense pizza crust and not be all that tasty.

Once you have enough flour mixed in, turn the the mixture up a notch or two so that the dough is slapping the sides of the bowl. This is actually kneading the dough for you. If you're worried about the motor in your mixture, then certainly knead by hand. If using the mixture, let it go for at least 7-10 minutes, doing it by hand will take longer.
Place it into a oiled bowl, turning it over once to coat. Place a kitchen towel over the bowl and place it in a warm draft free place for a few hours or until doubled in size. Punch it down and you're ready to go! This should give you enough pizza dough to make 2 pizza's.