whole wheat pizza dough
Anybody has any suggestions on how to not get whole wheat pizza crust hard and not dry??? I make my dough in a bread machine. I was so excited when my dough was rising and my pizza dough actually was smelling good. But when I start to stretch to put my toppings, it goes downhill from there. It keeps the shape of what I had when it's cooked and it looks really hard and dry. I don't understand what I am doing wrong. Any sugguestions??
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13 Comments:
unfortunately, i've had the same results. the only thing that's worked for me is using one third whole wheat flour and 2 thirds regular flour. otherwise it's really inedible.
french tart at 5:40PM on 11/02/08
Whole wheat dough absorbs more water than regular dough, so you need to adjust the recipe.
Also, I'm not sure what you mean when you say, "It keeps the shape of what I had when it's cooked."
Last, if you're using all whole wheat, you aren't going to get anywhere near the same results as you would with regular white flour. In general, I suggest starting out with 2/3 regular flour to 1/3 of something else, whether it's whole wheat, rye, or whatever. Then, if you like those results, adjust the recipe further.
dbcurrie at 5:43PM on 11/02/08
Whenever I'm making anything with all whole wheat flour, I replace about 1/6 of it (or so) with vital wheat gluten. This seems to help it become bread (or pizza crust) instead of rocks.
I use Peter Reinhart's recipe, but replace the regular flour with whole wheat and sub about 1/2 cup of the flour with vital wheat gluten. And it does seem to require a little extra water (I just use a Kitchen Aid with the dough hook).
Lately I've been adding a little flaxseed meal to the mix, which gives it a great texture and chewiness.
nonsenseprecious at 7:17PM on 11/02/08
@dbcurrie... "It keeps the shape of what I had when it's cooked." this statement was meant to say that dough does not rise or does not do anything. It just stays the same and does make it really hard to chew.
No resemblance of a pizza crust!
sira73 at 8:14PM on 11/02/08
@dbcurrie... "It keeps the shape of what I had when it's cooked." this statement was meant to say that dough does not rise or does not do anything. It just stays the same and does make it really hard to chew.
No resemblance of a pizza crust!
sira73 at 8:19PM on 11/02/08
Google search "Culinary in the desert"
I used his recipe for Whole Wheat Pizza Dough, using only my kitchenaid mixer and it came out pretty tastey
machellebelle at 8:25AM on 11/03/08
I use half whole wheat bread flour and half tipo 00 or white bread flour with 65% water and make it by hand. The results are never as good as using all tipo 00, but it comes comes out pretty good and never dry. I think it might also depend on how quickly your pizza cooks. I never cook pizza more than 5-7 minutes.
"It keeps the shape of what I had when it's cooked and it looks really hard and dry." If you mean that it doesn't rise during baking, then your might be handling it too much after your second proofing. How do you shape your pizza?
SqueezeBottle at 9:05AM on 11/03/08
get out of the bread machine and do it by hand....much easier to adjust if it needs more liquid, more yeast, etc. if you do it in the bread machine you are stuck with whatever you originally put in.
also, if you are doing thin crust 5-7 minutes is enough...even if you are doing thick crust 10 minutes should be enough. pizza cooks at a pretty high temp usually.
akk328 at 1:24PM on 11/03/08
I would highly recommend the whole wheat pizza dough recipe from Peter Reinhart's "Whole Grain Breads" book. It contains a 100% whole wheat pizza dough recipe as well as a "transitional" whole wheat pizza dough recipe.
I had only made the "transitional" recipe, which contains some white flour in it, and thought it to be the best whole wheat pizza I've ever made.
I would suggest making the "transitional dough" first.
Reinhart's innovative technique of making whole wheat pizza dough solves all the problems that people have traditionally faced in working with whole wheat flour.
The most important thing I can recommend, is to pay close attention to the final texture (tackiness) of the dough as explained in the book.
pizcajj at 2:00PM on 11/03/08
Thank you for all your comments. I can't mix regular flour to the mix because my husband does not eat anything white. So I am going to try this wheat gluten and will give Peter Reinhart's recipe book a try as well.
sira73 at 1:35PM on 11/05/08
do you mean your husband only eats wholegrains or has he got something against the colour white? LOL. I wouldn't tell him, how is he gonna know? ;)
I used to use half and half but now I prefer white, for pizza, anyway. I found wholemeal to be too overpowering.
snowmoonelk at 1:48PM on 11/05/08
@snowmoonelk... Oh he will know. He lost over 50 pounds on a salad diet with meat. He was ready to give up all grains, did not matter if it whole grain or not. He went on this diet for a month and gave up all sweets, and white potatoes. Now he will eat whole wheat stuff but still no potatoes or white flour or white anything, not even white rice. His staple food was massed potatoes and ice cream but he has completely given them up. So... got to stick with non white products! LOL!!
sira73 at 8:53PM on 11/06/08
Definitely try a blend of flours--I use 50/50 whole wheat to bread flour--King Arthur only. I also add about a tablespoon of honey to the warm water when I dissolve the yeast. Honey is supposedly attracts some moisture and helps with the toughness. I also use a few glugs(tbsp. or two)of olive oil in my dough. I also bake the pizzas at 550 F on a preheated stone--probably not longer than 8 minutes.
dhorst at 9:51PM on 11/06/08