I make Pizza almost every week. I have been for years so I almost forget that I make it. It is pretty good pizza if I do so say myself. There
is a secret. If you don't already have one run out and get yourself one of those
pizza stones. Flat with no standing edge is the best. I prefer circle since I make my pie on a wooden peel. If you have a stone you at least have a shot at making great crust! Here is my recipe for whole wheat crust; a standing favorite at our house.
Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Recipe
Ingredients:
1 2/3 cup hot tap water
3 teaspoons of yeast
1 Tablespoon of Honey
2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil + extra for oiling the dough
2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 3/4 Cups White Flour
1 Tablespoon of Kosher Salt
To Prepare the Dough:
Start by getting your water set up. I like to use a large
Pyrex measuring cup and filling up with hot tap water to the 1 2/3 mark. I spoon in 3 teaspoons of yeast and use a spoon to stir it up a bit. Add the honey and let the mixture sit while you prepare the rest.
In your
Kitchen Aid Mixer bowl add the flour and salt. When measuring flour always scoop the flour and pour it into the measuring cup you will be measuring. That will ensure a proper amount without compacting the flour. If you scoop your flour up you will compress it and over do it in the process. I learned that trick from my mom years ago. If you have a scale you can always measure your flour by weight and you'll never be off- like my scientist father-in-law.... that's just wayyy to much work for me now.
OK so now add the olive oil to the frothy yeast, honey and water mixture. Stir and turn on the
Kitchen Aid Mixer with the dough hook attachment. While it's running on l or 2 add the liquid mixture. Let it go around a bit but then stop it and scrape up the bottom where all the dry flour will be waiting. Turn it back on and allow it to knead the dough for 10 min- set the timer.
After 10 minutes go and scrape down the sides again and turn it over inside the bowl. Remove the bowl from the base. Pour about 1- 2 Tablespoons of oil around the inside edge of the bowl near the dough and turn the dough with a
rubber spatula until it is all coated with oil. Take a large plate and cover the bowl and let it sit in for about 30 min. After 30 minutes or so it should have risen. Punch it down and let it rise again for about 10- 30 minutes. Now you can begin to prepare the pizza.
If you don't have a Kitchen Aid Mixer you will need to spend 10 minutes kneading the dough by hand. Follow the directions as above after that.
To Prepare Pizza
Preheat the oven to 450
°F with the pizza stone inside. You want to preheat that stone so that it begins to cook your dough right away. Do not start to prepare the dough and toppings until you are sure that the oven will be 450
°F and you can pop the pizza in as soon as you are finished preparing. I have made the mistake of heating my oven after the preparation of the pizza and it is a terrible mess! The dough likes to stick to the wooden peel. I will teach you how to avoid that. But to start: make sure your oven is finished preheating or very close to finished before rolling out the dough!
Since I use whole wheat flour I also use it for dusting the surfaces. It is a good way to keep the wooden peel dry so the dough does not stick. You can use cornmeal too but I don't like the cornmeal mixing in with the dough so I don't use it. (
My favorite store whole wheat flour is High Altitude Hungarian Whole Wheat.)
My recipe makes a good amount of dough. You can use all the dough and get a thick crust or you can halve it and get a nice reasonable crust. If you want it thinner, I'm not sure if my non stick technique will work for you so you'll have to write me and teach me how to do it... :-) Seriously- if you make it thinner please tell me your technique! ;-)
Punch down the dough. Spread about a 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour on your wooden peel. Take the dough and roll it around to coat it with the extra whole wheat flour and re-spread the remaining flour. Make sure you have good dusty coverage under your dough by gently picking it up as you roll it out to make sure you can visibly see loose flour. Use a roller like
this one (my favorite) to spread it out. Once the dough is as big as you want it and not larger than your stone in the oven you are ready for ingredients.
Hawaiian Style Ingredients are pretty easy
We use
Ragu Homestyle Pizza sauce, part skim Mozzarella and then go for it. Here is some cut up ham steak and
Dole pineapple chunks cut in half again. Just put on toppings after the sauce and cheese.
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| Hey! Who's stealing the cheese! |
How To deliver the pizza to the oven
Pull out the rack with the heated stone, use a spatula to get the crust moving on the peel toward the stone. Get the lip of the crust to lay at the outer edge of the stone and once that happens you can coax the rest with your spatula or if it is dusted well you can slowly and gently shake the pizza pie right off your peel on to the stone.
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| Easy Does it! Tip that peel! |
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| Moving right along... give the dough a nudge with your spatula. Good thing you have a dry peel! |
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| And done! Whew! It's all in the wrist! |
Bake for 7 -10 minutes! Remove the stone from the oven
and place it on a wire rack to cool and your crust will continue to
cook. If you like your crust softer then use your wooden peel to remove
the pizza from the oven. Allow the pizza to cool for about 5 or more
minutes regardless. It will reduce the amout of cheese loss from too
much melt-y-ness...
And YUMMMMMMMM
WARNING: This takes practice!
Don't get discouraged. Make it again next week or tomorrow. Fold it over on itself and make a pizza pocket if you must but keep at it! Your friends and/or your spouse and children will LOVE, LOVE, LOVE you when you become an expert. I can tell you that's the truth from my own personal experience. I can't tell you how many friends and family have told me I could open a restaurant. But it is {shhh} SO EASY!
It is all just technique. Once you get that down- with practice-
you will be a pizza star!
xo Jessica
