Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

This week I thought I'd interrupt the bread baking series and answer some pizza questions.  This was the first bread recipe I shared and if you have any other questions, this would be a great time to ask.

How do you adapt the pizza crust recipe when using whole wheat flour? My dough seemed dry and stiff.

I should have been more specific in the directions. Generally, when using whole wheat flour, you will use less flour then when using white flour in the same recipe. Whole wheat flour absorbs more water and the final outcome will be too dry if the same amount of whole wheat flour is used. Typically you can cut back a quarter cup for every 1 cup of flour. OR you can increase the water. It also helps to allow the dough to rest before kneading to give the whole wheat flour time to hydrate.

I usually made my pizza dough with half white/ half whole wheat flour until I began using the following method. You'll see that it is quite similar to original recipe with only small changes in adding the flour. Even though this dough is 100% whole wheat flour, we love it and have served it to guests with great success.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

1 cup warm water
1 T yeast
Dissolve yeast in water.

Add:
3 T oil
1 tsp sugar or honey
1 tsp salt
2 cups whole wheat flour

Mix all together and stir for several minutes. I usually do this by hand unless I'm doubling the batch, then I use the kneading hook on my mixer.

Allow the dough to sit for five minutes. This allows the flour to fully hydrate in the water and keeps you from adding too much flour. After five minutes, turn the dough out onto a floured counter and add only enough flour to make it easy to manage. You still want it to be slightly tacky without being excessively sticky. I usually add about ½ cup more flour, sometimes not even that much. Knead only briefly since you stirred it well previously. Avoid adding too much flour or the dough will be tough and dry.

Place in greased bowl and allow to raise until double. Place on baking sheet or pizza pans, add toppings and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.