Healthy Whole Grain Pizza Dough Recipes

WHOLE-MULTIGRAIN PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a small pot. Add the bulgur and quinoa and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer the grains to a fine-mesh strainer and hold under cold water to stop the cooking. Let the grains drain in the strainer for 15 minutes, then spread them out on a thick layer of paper towels to absorb any extra moisture. Meanwhile, coarsely grind the flaxseeds in a spice grinder, just to break them open.
• Stir together the warm water, agave and yeast in a measuring cup or small bowl. Let sit until a small layer of foam develops at the top, 3 to 5 minutes. (If this doesn't happen, discard and try again with new yeast.)
• Whisk the flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt together in a medium bowl; add the foamy yeast mixture and olive oil and mix together with a stiff rubber spatula. When the dough starts to come together, mix in the cooked grains, ground flaxseeds and sunflower seeds; form the dough into a uniform ball in the center of the bowl. Be sure to scrape and use any dough stuck to the sides. The dough will be very sticky at this stage. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and keep in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, about 2 hours.
• Lightly dust a baking sheet with flour. Sprinkle a generous amount of flour on a clean, dry work surface. Scrape the dough onto the floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes, working in just enough flour to make the dough less sticky but still moist to the touch. Flour your hands periodically to prevent sticking. Form the dough into one single ball or divide it into smaller balls. Place the dough ball(s) on the prepared baking sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a dish towel and let the dough rest for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, the dough can be shaped and cooked as desired.

AMAZING WHOLE WHEAT PIZZA CRUST

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.
• Stir the olive oil and salt into the yeast mixture, then mix in the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour until dough starts to come together. Tip dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining all-purpose flour, and knead until all of the flour has been absorbed, and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• When the dough is doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 pieces for 2 thin crust, or leave whole to make one thick crust. Form into a tight ball. Let rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Roll a ball of dough with a rolling pin until it will not stretch any further. Then, drape it over both of your fists, and gently pull the edges outward, while rotating the crust. When the circle has reached the desired size, place on a well oiled pizza pan. Top pizza with your favorite toppings, such as sauce, cheese, meats, or vegetables.
• Bake for 16 to 20 minutes (depending on thickness) in the preheated oven, until the crust is crisp and golden at the edges, and cheese is melted on the top.

WHOLE WHEAT PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Mix whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl using a spoon. Pour in water and oil; mix until dough no longer sticks to the bowl. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 to 8 minutes.
• Transfer dough to a greased bowl; cover bowl with a clean towel. Place bowl in the oven with the light turned on until risen, about 1 hour.

100% WHOLE GRAIN PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• dissolve honey and yeast in warm water, let sit for about 7 minutes.
• stir in salt, flours, and gluten.
• knead for 5 minute place dough in bowl sprayed with cooking spray. cover and let rise 45 minutes. punch down and divide in half. roll out and place on 2 12 inch pizza pan sprayed with cooking spray.
• preheat oven to 450 degrees and bake for 5 minutes. remove from oven and put on selected toppings. i use roasted veggies. bake for 15 minutes. mmmmm!

WHOLE GRAIN PIZZA CRUST

Steps:

• pop amaranth in small batches and let cool. to pop amaranth, heat heavy skillet with lid over high heat; after skillet is hot, add 1/8 cup of amaranth, cover skillet, shake for 20 seconds, and pour popped amaranth from skillet into a bowl; repeat popping process for remaining amaranth; let popped amaranth cool in the bowl. amaranth can be popped in advance and stored for later use.
• measure 2 cups of water at 115 degrees F.
• dissolve honey in water.
• add yeast and olive oil to water, mix well and set aside for 5-7 minutes.
• while waiting, combine wheat flour, popped amaranth and salt in mixing bowl.
• add water to flour mixture; mix well and add additional water as necessary to form dough; knead dough into ball.
• place dough ball in oiled bowl; cover and set aside in warm location for 1-4 hours to let dough rise.
• roll out pizza crust from 1/3 to 1/2 of dough ball.
• footnote: add sauce and toppings to crust; bake on preheated pizza stone for 7-15 minutes depending on temperature 400-500 degrees F; dough can be made in advance and stored in fridge for several days.

WHOLE GRAIN SOURDOUGH PIZZA

Steps:

• Levain/Starter
• Prepare your 160g of starter by mixing 30g starter with 65g water and 65g flour. This is approximately a 1:2:2 starter preparation, but other builds are fine too. Mark your jar with a rubberband and let it sit overnight or until at least doubled.
• Saltolyse
• Mix the flour, water, and salt together in a bowl. Cover and let sit about 1 hour.
• Fermentation and Gluten Development
• Add the ripe starter to the dough, stretching, folding, and gently squishing the starter into the dough.
• Cover and let the dough rest for about a half hour. Then do two rounds of coil folding or dough rolling, one lamination, and one final round of coil folding. Separate each of the four rounds of gluten development with a 20-30 minute covered rest. Here are videos showing how to coil, roll, and laminate dough.
• When the dough has expanded by 50-75%, end the bulk fermentation. For my warm ambient temperature, this was four hours after adding the starter to the dough.
• Preshape and Second Rise
• Lightly oil a baking pan, or several small bowls, or several 16-ounce round takeout containers (photo above) to hold the dough balls during the final proof.
• Scrape the fermented dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide the dough into four pieces of about 320g each. (You can make the pieces larger or smaller if you want.)
• Roll each dough piece into a ball, place it in your proofing container(s), and cover. If using a pan, you can put the entire pan in a plastic bag.
• The final proof can be at room temperature for 1-3 hours or in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours (possibly longer). Various combinations of room temperature and cold proofing work too, and duration depends on the dough and room temperatures.
• Oven Preheat and Topping Prep
• Set your oven and pizza stone to preheat at 500°F for at least 30 minutes. I use an infrared thermometer to confirm my stone's temperature before baking and sometimes between pizzas too.
• If your dough is refrigerated, you can bring it out to room temperature to start warming up for easier stretching. After a 24-hour refrigeration, I got good results with both warmed up dough and with the one dough I left in the refrigerator until the last minute.
• Set up your toppings, sauce, cheese etc. and the area where you will be forming your pizzas.
• Prep a small bowl of flour or cornmeal to put on your pizza peel, or several 14x14-inch sheets of parchment paper. I like to run coarse cornmeal through my Mockmill on a medium-fine setting to make the chunks a little smaller.
• Shaping
• Sprinkle flour and cornmeal on your pizza peel or lay out a square of parchment paper.
• Lightly flour your countertop. Remove a dough ball from your proofing container and lay it on the flour.
• Place your fingers in the center of the dough and gently push the edges outward.
• Flour your hands, and then grasp one side of the dough circle with both hands and lift the dough off the counter. Holding the top edges of the circle (10 o'clock and 2 o'clock), let the dough stretch downward while you rotate and re-grab the dough like you're turning a steering wheel. This will develop about a 1-inch crust edge and stretch the middle of the circle. Try not to let any part of the dough get thin enough to see through or you may end up with a hole. If you do tear the dough, re-roll it and move on to another ball while the gluten in the re-rolled ball relaxes for a minimum of 15 minutes.
• Lay the stretched out dough on your pizza peel or parchment. If using a peel, check that the pizza can move by jerking the peel forward and backward to see if the dough slides. If it doesn't slide, lift the stuck area of dough and flour underneath it, Do this until you have an easy slide. It's fine if the dough sticks to the parchment paper. If you need to adjust the dough on the parchment, reach under the dough with one hand and pull it outward.
• Now top your pizza dough to your liking. Try not to take a long time doing this, because the longer the dough is on the peel, the more likely it is to begin to stick. (Use parchment paper if you expect to top your pizza very slowly.)
• Before approaching your oven with the pizza, check again with the quick forward and backward motion of the peel that your pizza can still slide.
• Baking*
• Slide your pizza onto the hot pizza stone and bake for 8 minutes, then switch the oven to broil for 1 minute more.
• While this pizza is baking, shape the next ball of dough and put toppings on it.
• Remove the pizza from the oven with a peel or metal spatula, or even by tugging on a corner of the parchment paper. Put the pizza on a cooling rack if you're not eating right away to keep the bottom from getting damp.
• Leave the empty oven on broil for one minute to reheat the stone, then switch back to bake mode and load the next pizza.
• Repeat until all the pizzas are cooked.
• *For baking these pizzas in an Ooni pizza oven, see the instructions in the Sourdough Pizza recipe