Pizza is simply THE number one soul food! Endless possibilities for toppings and... well, at least as many options when it comes to the dough. Just for the Neapolitan pizza dough alone, there seem to be countless recipes. So, why not try something completely different for a change. At your next cooking session, maybe look beyond the pizza... um, plate and try making a whole wheat pizza dough. It tastes wonderfully rustic, rises fantastically well with a little trick, and makes your pizza actually (well, at least a bit) healthy!
The trick to making whole wheat dough delightfully fluffy and moist inside? Time! Because little yeast and a looooong fermentation create a dough with uniform and fine air bubbles. And by chilling it in the fridge overnight, your whole wheat pizza dough becomes so elastic that you can authentically shape it with your bare hands! The trick with whole wheat dough is the extra dose of water! Whole wheat flour absorbs a whole lot more water than regular wheat flour, so you should easily increase the water amount by 10-15% compared to "normal" recipes.
MY TIP:
Start by trying the recipe with whole wheat flour. If you also want to try it with spelt whole wheat flour, the best approach is to gradually replace more and more wheat flour with spelt flour. Generally, you should steer clear of rye, because rye flour behaves completely differently during baking than wheat or spelt. Using only yeast won't lighten a rye dough, leaving it flat and firm while baking. And that's something you really don't want with a pizza!
Ingredients
For 4 servings
Equipment
nutritional values per serving
Preparation in 7 steps
Mix water and salt until the salt has dissolved. Stir in a handful of flour, dissolve the yeast, and gradually incorporate the remaining flour. Let it rest covered for 30 minutes.
Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and knead for about 20 minutes until smooth (in the kitchen machine, first 3 minutes on slow speed and then 4 minutes on fast speed). The dough should be elastic, easily detach from the edge of the bowl, and not tear.
Leave covered at room temperature for 1 hour. After 1 hour, stretch and fold. Grab one side of the dough and pull it up, then fold it into the center and press it down. The dough should be stretched as far as possible without tearing. Rotate the bowl by 90 degrees and repeat this process 7 more times, folding each side towards the center twice. Cover and let rise for another hour.
Divide dough into 4 equal portions, shape into balls, and then round off. To do this, rotate the dough ball loosely between the hollow hand and work surface counterclockwise until the dough has formed a smooth surface.
Brush a baking sheet with olive oil, place dough balls on it with space in between and brush with oil. Wrap the baking sheet with plastic wrap and let dough balls rest in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours.
Remove from the refrigerator one hour before processing. Shape dough balls into a round pizza on a lightly floured work surface by pressing and pulling with your hands from the center outwards. Leave a border of about 3 cm.
Top the pizza dough with your favorite toppings and bake.
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Jelena's happy place is the kitchen and grill. Thanks to her Balkan roots, it's always about one thing for her: food! And she loves it good and plentiful. Whether for guests, the perfect dish, or learning new skills, she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty, might even butcher a wild boar or dry beef hearts at home. No wonder she quickly abandons her Kölsch glass for BURNHARD and ventures into the forbidden city!