Whole Wheat and Honey Pizza Dough

By xraydj

Zoya and I have been really happy with this recipe for pizza dough. It's perfect for our monthly pizza parties -- we can make it the night before so everything is all ready to go the next evening.

This is an adaptation of Wolfgang Puck's Honey Pizza Dough recipe. WARNING: It is MUCH better if you make the dough a night or two before you make the pizza.

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (2 packages)
• 1 heaping tablespoon honey
• 2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose white flour
• 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup fine to medium ground corn meal
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Details

Servings 8

Preparation

Step 1

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and honey in 1 cup of warm water (warm to touch; about 100-110 degrees)
2. In a mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine flour and salt (or you can do by hand with spoon).
3. Add the oil, the yeast mixture, and the remaining 1 cup of water, mix at low speed until the dough comes cleanly away from the sides of the bowl and clusters around the dough hook (about 5 minutes).
4. If the dough is still sticky, then simply add a bit more flour until it pulls cleanly away from the hook.
5. Turn the dough onto a clean work surface and knead by hand for 2-3 minutes(adding flour to surface and hands as needed).
6. The dough should be smooth and firm. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
7. Let sit for about 30-45 minutes (when ready the dough will stretch when lightly pulled).
8. Take dough out of bowl and divide into 6 balls (for 6 personal-sized pizzas)
9. Work each ball by pulling down the sides and tucking under the bottom of the ball. Repeat 4 or 5 times.
10. Cover the dough with a damp towel (or loosely cover with plastic wrap) and let rest for 15-20 minutes.
11. Lightly oil the dough balls and then loosely wrap the individual balls in plastic wrap.
12. Place the dough balls in a containers with another loose plastic wrap coating and refrigerate overnight (they are good for a couple of days).
13. To make pizzas, stretch dough onto a baking sheet with ample coarsely ground corn meal (maybe a heaping tablespoon) add toppings and bake at 450 degrees for 12-16 minutes.
14. It's especially good when baked on a pizza stone. If you don't have a pizza stone, slide the pizza off of the baking sheet for the last couple minutes.
15. If you have leftover dough, it works really great for pepperoni rolls -- just roll out the dough, lightly coat it with some olive oil and then roll in some fresh mozzarella and pepperoni. Coat the top with olive oil and bake until brown on top.