Perfect Pizza Crust

If you have ever tried to make a strictly whole wheat pizza crust you may have noticed that it certainly doesn't turn out as light and fluffy as pizza crust that uses refined flours.  Since I no longer cook with refined ingredients my luck with a whole wheat pizza crust has been that of flat, dense, and not the most tasty.  So I sat thinking the other night about what I could do to solve this problem and then it hit me, add some vital wheat gluten- duh! So we made a couple of pizzas yesterday for dinner and the crust turned out PERFECT!  You will need to add one tablespoon of vital wheat gluten per cup of flour since whole wheat is a low protein flour and has trouble producing enough gluten to help the dough rise.  You can try using less vital wheat gluten, maybe one tablespoon for every 2 cups of flour is what a lot of recipes recommend, but I used 1 tablespoon per cup of flour and it turned out better than I could have hoped for.

Perfect Pizza Crust

2 1/4 tsp yeast

1cup warm water

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

2 tsp agave or honey

2 tbsp vital wheat gluten

Directions

Let yeast dissolve in warm water until it dissolves and becomes foamy (about ten minutes). 

Once yeast is dissolved in water add the oil, salt, and agave or honey. Mix until well incorporated. Then add the flour and vital wheat gluten. 

Let the dough mix on low speed for for a few minutes until it no longer is sticky. Take the dough out of the bowl and kneed it a few times and then place it back in the bowl and cover with a clean dish towel and let it rise until it doubles in size. I have been using a rice heating pad heated up in the microwave and placing it underneath the bowl so the dough will rise faster, about 15 to 20 minutes. If you don't use a heating pad it will take between 30 and 40 minutes. (I got this awesome trick from my sister :)) 

Once dough has risen and doubled in size punch down and spread out on your pizza pan or stone and adorn your pizza with whatever you'd like. This crust will not disappoint :) Enjoy!