Perfect whole wheat pizza crust

I’ve long been against whole wheat pizza crusts.  They always taste bland to me, or they’re tough, or crumbly, or dry.  But this week I made a crust I was really proud of, that had none of these issues, so I thought I’d share the recipe.

Relatively Quick Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
Makes two large pizzas.

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbsp yeast
1 1/2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp olive oil
Water, as needed, about 1 1/2 cups

Process dry ingredients in your food processor for 30 seconds until mixed.  While the food processor is on, add the oil through the feed tube.  Slowly pour water in through the feed tube, watching very carefully.  As you add water the flour will start to come together into crumbles, and then it will seize up into a single mass.  Just as it is forming into a mass, add a final splash of water (about 1/4 cup, just estimate).

Continue to let the food processor knead the dough.  It should move around the food processor.  If it starts to pancake and gum up the blade, add more flour.  It should be roughly the softness of a marshmallow.  If it’s tough, add a little more water.  Let it knead for 5 minutes.  A long knead is important to develop the stretchiness the dough needs.

Pour a little olive oil in a bowl at least 3x the size of the dough and smoosh it around.  Add the dough.  Put your pizza stone in the oven and turn it on to 500 degrees for 2 minutes.  Turn off the oven, and set the dough in the oven, in the bowl, covered.  MAKE SURE THE OVEN IS OFF! Let it rise until it doubles in volume, 30-40 minutes.

Once the dough is out of the oven, put it back to 500 degrees to preheat. (Or hotter if you oven goes hotter!)

Divide the dough in half, and roll it out.  I recommend kneading each half a little, and then flattening it into a disc, using plenty of flour, and then alternating between rolling it out and stretching it by hand until it’s a large circle.  It takes a lot of finesse, so just practice.

Cover a large round pan or pizza peel with cornmeal and transfer the pizza “shell” onto it.  Add ingredients, being careful not to smoosh the dough down (that will make it stick).  Also be careful that all juices stay on the pie.  If they drip off the edge, that might make the pizza stick.

When the oven is preheated, jiggle the pizza pan gently to see if it’s sticking.  If it is, use a spatula to lift up around the edges, adding more cornmeal between the dough and the pan/peel.  Do another test jiggle.

When the pizza is free, open the oven and slide it gently and confidently onto the stone.  Basically, stick the pan in towards the back of the stone, and slide the back edge off onto the stone, then pull the pan out from under the pie.

Bake for 8 minutes (less if your oven goes above 500 degrees).  Put on a cooking rack when you remove it from the oven, and let cool for a few minutes.

Enjoy the crap out of that thing!