Whole wheat

[ranchelmarie]

Has anyone tried using whole wheat flour for this style of pizza crust? I'm on a diet and try to use at least partly whole wheat in all the baking/cooking I do. Any ideas would be great, thanks!

[youonlylivetwice]

Hi, I have tried it, but I wasn't happy with the result. I think the dryness that gives the cracker crust adversely affects flavor of the germ and bran in the whole wheat. I am on a constant quest to make things healthier, but I think when it comes to thin crust/cracker style you need to lean on the fact that the starchy part of the food is minimal anyway (relative to other pizza styles).  You can do a LOT more for overall health by keeping the toppings healthy and not worrying about a little whole grain in the dough.   Having said that if you like that flavor I think you can add a small amount and get a good result, What I have tried is pushing into the 50-75% (and up to 100%) whole grain.
On a side note, I have been messing  around with whole wheat crusts (about 50-60% WWF) for awhile (but not cracker crust), and might post a suggested recipe soon in a different thread... I need to give it one more trial run.
Best of luck!
YOLT.

[enchant]

I have a couple of balls of whole wheat dough in the fridge now for tomorrow night's dinner.  If I have any success, I'll report in.

I'm trying the standard Tom Lehmann recipe that Pete-zza is maintaining.  On the first ball, I substituted KA white whole wheat flour for the traditional high gluten flour, and added 3 Tbl VWG.  I wound up having to add a little extra water to bring it to the consistency that I've come to expect of dough that works.  With the second ball, I used half KA WWW and half KA bread flour, plus 1.5 Tbl VWG.

One problem that I have with making a whole wheat pizza is that I really don't like the flavor of whole wheat.  There are some WW breads that aren't too bad, but whenever I make anything with WW flour, I find the taste a little overwhelming and bitter.  My wife loves it, so I'm really doing this for her.  The other problem is that it's going to be difficult getting an honest opinion from her when she eats the pizza.  Regardless of what it tastes like, she's going to be so thankful that I sacrificed my enjoyment so that she could have WW pizza dough, and she'll rave about the flavor, regardless.