1000 pizza doughs: Whole wheat pizza dough

I have made this dough at least 300 times, with varying ingredients. It is a pretty forgiving recipe, as long as you keep the basic ratios. Although you could do this by hand, I have never tried. I use my stand mixer's dough hook attachment, which works very well (most of the time). I modified this recipe from a Kathleen Daelmans recipe I printed out back in 2002. You could use more whole wheat flour, but I prefer this ratio for a softer dough.

You can find wheat bran in the bulk section of a health food grocery or co-op, or in some regular grocery stores near the flour. I highly recommend buying yeast at Costco in bulk. It lasts for a while in an airtight container in the fridge, and is MUCH cheaper than buying individual packets (I paid about $4 for a 2-pound bag a month ago).

Pizza Dough Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. unprocessed wheat bran (optional)
4 tsp. active dry yeast (or two packets)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 - 2 cups warm water
1 tbsp olive oil
Cornmeal (for dusting -- not part of the dough)

Put all dry ingredients in mixer bowl. Using the dough hook attachment, turn mixer on low speed (speed 2 on Kitchen Aid). Slowly add the first 1 1/2 cups of the warm water. Add the remaining 1/2 cup water only as needed to pick up the last remaining dry bits in the bottom -- you probably won't need it all. (If the dough starts to stick to the bowl, just sprinkle in a little more flour.) Once you've added the water, let the mixer knead the dough for about 8 minutes. Then stop the mixer, add the olive oil, and turn the mixer on for about another 10 seconds to coat the dough with oil.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled metal bowl (or leave it in the mixer bowl), cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 2 hours. The dough should double in size.

Lesson learned the hard way: don't let it rise on top of an oven that is on, or the dough will cook!

Pizza Instructions

Place a pizza stone(s) in the oven and preheat to 475.
Dust a pizza peel or flat-edged cookie sheet lightly with corn meal.
Gently punch down the dough and divide into two equal parts.
On a lightly floured work surface, press each dough into a round pizza shape about 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick.
Place the dough on the pizza peel or cookie sheet you have dusted with corn meal and add desired toppings (see suggestions below).
Slide the pizza into the oven directly on to the pizza stone (the corn meal will keep it from sticking).
Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until cheese is browned.

Another lesson learned the hard way: preheat the oven with pizza stones in it, and don't remove them until they are completely cooled. (You will need to take the pizza out and put it on a cutting board or plate to cut.) I have broken countless pizza stones... my tried and true (and not yet broken after 7+ years) is Pampered Chef -- it is black now with use.

Topping Suggestions

Sauce: I use Ragu traditional pizza sauce from a jar most of the time. I've made my own, which is a lot more work for not much added taste.

For something different, prepared BBQ sauce is interesting.

Toppings (in addition to red sauce):

The usual (his)