Peter Reinhart's Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (cake recipe to follow, as promised)

Hi All
My new friend Tracy is chomping at the bit to get cooking, she's awaiting this pizza dough recipe. As soon as I get this posted  I'll post Grandma Bridgie's Cake Recipe later today. Thanks for your patience.

The following recipe os for 100% Whole Wheat (though you'd NEVER know it) Pizza Dough, I'll also post the recommended adjustments if you'd prefer to make the bread which I haven't tried yet. (Photos will be posted later)

This recipe is taken directly from Peter Reinhart's book 'artisan breads every day' page 73.

I didn't change a thing.. and it was perfection! (He also lists a half wheat recipe for those transitioning from white breads)

*My personal notes are in italics


100% Whole Grain Rustic Bread and Pizza Dough
makes 2 to 3 rustic loaves (sounds yummy, especially if drizzled with honey while warm) or 5 good size pizzas

IMPORTANT: Ingredients are for both pizza dough and bread dough, though there are slight differances. The amounts of water and yeast for PIZZA DOUGH appear after the amounts for bread dough in CAPS  

~ 5 1/3 C (24 oz / 680 g) whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur 100% Whole Wheat)
~ 2 Tsp (0.5 oz / 14g) salt, or 1 Tbls course kosher salt (I used 2 tsp table salt)
~ 1 1/4 tsp (0.14 oz / 4 g) instant yeast; FOR PIZZA USE 1 TSP (0.11 oz / 3 g)  I used  Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast
~  3 Tbls (1.5 oz / 43g) Sugar, or 2 Tbls of honey, or agave nectar (I used clover honey) 
~ 2 1/3 C (19 oz/ 539 g) water; FOR PIZZA, USE 2 1/4 C (18 oz / 510 g)
~3 Tbls (1.5 oz / 43 g) olive oil

TO MAKE PIZZA DOUGH FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS (PLEASE NOTE: different directions for bread, I'll have to post for instructions for bread later; running short on time here.)

Combine all ingredients in the mixing bowl (or stand mixing bowl). If using a mixer, use the paddle attachment (not dough hook) and mix on the lowest speed (which is 'stir' on my mixer) for 1 minute. If mixing by hand, use a large spoon and stir for about 1 minute, until well blended. The dough should be course and slightly sticky (my dough was very sticky, use of honey perhaps?). Let the dough rest for 5 minutes to fully hydrate the dough.

Switch to dough hook and mix on meduum-low (I used  speed 3 out of my 10 speeds available), or continue mixing by hand for 2-3 minutes, until the dough is smoother but soft, supple, and somewhere between tacky and sticky. (My dough was smooth and very sticky)

Spread 1 tsp of olive oil on a work surface (I used 1 Tbls on bread board), then use a bowl scraper to transfer the dough to the oiled surface. Rub your hands with oil on work surface, then stretch and fold the dough one time , reaching under the front end of the dough, stretching it out, then folding it back onto the top of the dough. Do this from back end and then each side, then flip the dough over  and tuck it into a ball.

Divide the dough into 5 equal pieces (I didn't have an accurate scale yet, ended up with 6 pieces) each should weigh about 8 oz (227 g). Form each piece into a ball, and place each ball into a spray oiled (PAM) sandwich size ziplock baggie. Seal and refridgerate overnight or for up to 4 days. I refrigerated for two days, used one dough ball and put the rest in a gallon size freezer bag in freeezer, can freeze for up to 3 months.

I always add notes to my cookbooks when I try a recipe for the first time. My notes on this recipe "awesome, made exactly as directed. Never BUY whole wheat dough again, this is too easy and there is no comparison in flavor. This was tender, had a great texture and was very tasty (without all the garlic I usually had to add to make the store bought whole wheat dough edible). I re-read the recipe to make sure it is accurate (good thing b/c I found a typo in ingredients...so not to worry this is correct)

Wishing you many days of delicious dough making!

Enjoy Tracy, keep me posted. And to whomever else comes upon this recipe or any others posted; please add your comments/feedback on any recipes or posts from our blog. We can all learn from each other.

~ Cathy (aka garden chef)