Gerri’s Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 20 oz. (567 grams) sprouted whole grain red wheat flour (approx.. 4 ½ cups)
- 4 oz. (11 grams) salt (1 ½ teaspoons fine grind, 2 ¼ teaspoons kosher or coarse sea salt)
- 11 oz. (3 grams or 1 teaspoon) instant yeast; or .14 oz. (4 grams or 1 ¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast dissolved in 2 oz. (56 grams) of warm water. NOTE: take the water from the total water weight
- 18.5 oz. (522 grams) water, room temperature (if using active dry yeast, remember to deduct 2 oz. of this water and use it to activate the yeast).
Servings:
Units:
Instructions
- If using an electric mixer, use the paddle attachment (not the dough hook); otherwise mix by hand in a bowl with a big spoon.
- Combine all the ingredients and mix for about two minutes on slow speed, or until all the flour is hydrated and you have a wet, sticky mass of shaggy dough.
- Let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then resume mixing on medium speed for two additional minutes (or by hand – dip your hands in water to use wet hands to mix the dough in the bowl).
- The dough will firm up somewhat and become smooth, but it will still be very sticky.
- Make an oily circle on your work counter (olive oil is suggested) and transfer the dough to the oiled spot.
- Rub some oil on your hands and then stretch and fold the dough from all four sides.
- Flip the dough over, cover it with the dough bowl and let it rest on the oiled spot.
- Repeat this stretch and fold step every 5 minutes until you have performed 4 of them.
- Each time you do these folds (sometimes called intermittent mixing or folding) the dough will get a little stronger and less sticky, but will still be very soft and somewhat sticky at the end.
- After all the stretch and folds, return the dough to an oiled bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for 90 minutes at room temperature. (if you are not planning to use the dough on the same day, place the bowl in the refrigerator after 30 minutes until the day you plan to use it – up to 3 days).
- After 90 minutes of proofing, divide the dough into 8 oz. dough balls.
- Use a small amount of oil on your hands to form the dough balls.
- Place them on a lightly oiled sheet pan, or on a pan that has been covered by a silicon baking pad (Silpat) and lightly oil that.
- Lightly brush the dough balls with olive oil and cover them loosely with plastic wrap (or use a dough box).
- These dough balls will be ready to use in one hour.
- If you need more time than that, refrigerate the dough until one hour before you need them and then let them sit at room temperature.
- They will be good for about 2 to 2 ½ hours at room temperature before they over-proof, depending on how cold they are. NOTE: If using cold, undivided dough that has been held in the refrigerator overnight in the bowl, divide it into balls 1 ½ hours before you plan to make the pizzas and follow the same procedure as above.
- Bake the pizzas as you would using your regular dough (in a hot, hot oven!), topped with your favorite ingredients.
- Use flour on your hands when stretching the balls into pizza crusts – they will be sticky but will stretch fairly easily.
- Use whatever dough forming technique you are comfortable with and use enough flour under the peel to allow you to easily slide the pizzas into the oven.
Recipe Notes
NOTE: You can replace up to 3 oz. (85 grams) of sprouted wheat flour with another sprouted flour. If you try to replace more than that amount (more than 15% of the total flour) the dough will be too fragile to shape easily. You should also reduce the total water to 18 oz. (510 grams) if making this substitution.
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