First, a couple notes about flour. Using whole wheat flour in your recipes is a great way to up the fiber and nutrient content of your baked goods. Sometimes, though, you don’t want to add the chewiness and heft to the texture; chewy cake is not necessarily a good thing, right? I have often mentioned Whole White Wheat flour and you may be thinking I have either had an autocorrect moment or lost my mind. I mean, whole wheat is not white; that is kind of the point, right? Except that one of the amazing things food science has created is a new kind of whole wheat flour that is made from the white wheat berry (traditional whole wheat comes from the red wheat berry). Whole wheat is awesome, don’t get me wrong. But traditional whole wheat flour has a fairly significant impact on texture, taste and heft of your recipes. This is where whole white wheat is amazing: it more closely mimics the taste and texture of traditional all-purpose flour in your recipes. You can replace 1/3 to ½ of the amount of all-purpose flour with whole white wheat without significantly impacting the texture. (for those of you who live near us, if you’ve had one of my cookies, cakes or breads, then you have tried whole white wheat in a baked good; I’ve used this flour for the last 10 or so years). My favorite brand of whole white wheat flour is King Arthur. There are others out there; some I’ve tried and not liked as they reacted more like regularly whole wheat which is not what I am going for.
Okay, so this recipe. First, know that it is worth the time. And, most of that time is completely hands-off dough-sitting-in-your-fridge. It does mean you have to plan ahead but the good news is that the dough is flexible – use it three days or tomorrow—so not set on a particular schedule, it can go into the freezer, and is super user-friendly. It works amazingly well on the grill or in the oven.
You can add herbs to the dough if you’d like. A few tablespoons of your favorite fresh herbs would add a nice herby note to the finished pizzas. We prefer our crusts ‘pure’ and don’t but … don’t let that stop you.
Makes 6 12-inch rounds
Original recipe found on 101cookbooks.com
Homemade Pizza (whole wheat)
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 ½ cups White Whole Wheat Flour (preferably King Arthur but use your favorite)
½ cup semolina flour 1 3/4 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon instant yeast 1/4 cup olive oil 1 3/4 cups water, ice cold a few tablespoons chopped herbs (optional) Semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting
Stir together the flours, salt, and instant yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer. By hand stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed. Add the herbs, if you are using them. Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If necessary, add a bit water or flour to reach the desired effect. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky.
Transfer the dough to a floured countertop. Smooth it into a roundish shape. Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces and mold each into a ball. Rub each ball with olive oil and slip into plastic sandwich bags. Refrigerator overnight.
If you want to freeze the dough, let it sit in the fridge overnight before freezing. Then, when you’re ready to use them, take them out of the freezer to the fridge a day ahead; continue with the recipe.
When you are ready to make pizza (anytime in the next few days), remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator at least 1 hour before making the pizza. Keep them in the bags so they don't dry out.
At the same time place a baking stone on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. If you do not have a baking stone, you can use the back of a sheet pan, but do not preheat the pan.
Generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal and get ready to shape your pizza dough. Alternately, you can use parchment to prevent sticking. Uncover or unwrap the dough balls and dust them with flour. Working one at a time, gently press a dough round into a disk wide enough that you can bring it up onto your knuckles to thin out - you should be able to pull each round out to 12-inches or so. If the dough is being fussy, let it rest for another 15-20 minutes. Place the round on the prepared sheet pan or parchment.
Add your toppings (less is more!) and slide the topped pizza onto the baking stone. Bake until the crust is crisp and nicely colored. Remove from the oven. Enjoy!
To grill the pizzas, get your grill nice and hot as you prepare the dough rounds. Be sure you have all of your toppings ready to go right beside your grilling area. We found that it is easiest to have the dough rounds on parchment that you then put on the grill. Once the dough has been on the grill for a few minutes with the lid closed, you can flip it, and easily remove the parchment. Then top as you like, and finish grilling until the base is cooked through and it’s ready to remove. Like in the oven, but even more so, on the grill, less is more when it comes to toppings. Watch it carefully once you've topped it, as the pizza will finish within a few minutes.