Homemade Wholemeal Pizza Recipes

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.

HOMEMADE WHOLEMEAL PIZZA

Steps:

• Ferment the yeast by adding the yeast and sugar to 150ml warm water, then whisking till dissolved. Leave to stand for 10-15 minutes whilst it froths.
• Add the yeast water mix to the wholemeal flour and herbs, add the olive oil and mix well. Continue to mix and add water till you achieve a stretchy dough consistency, but not sticky. (If it goes sticky add more flour).
• Set the dough aside in a bowl covered in clingfilm or a damp towel for about 1 hour. Once the dough has grown to roughly twice its original size it is ready for kneading.
• Knead or roll the dough to the correct shape/size you require, place on to a lightly oiled baking tray / pizza tray (by oiling the tray the pizza wont stick).
• Preheat the oven to 375°F, 190°C or Gas mark 5.
• Mix the Tomato puree with the herbs, then spread the mixture over the base.
• Lay out the vegetable/meat toppings on the pizza. Then layer the mozzarella and the cheddar on top.
• Place in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until golden.
• Enjoy!

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