1 tbsp. agave nectar (or other liquid sweetener such as honey or pure maple syrup)
2½ c white whole wheat flour + extra (can swap for regular whole wheat)
¾ c wheat bran
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp. vital wheat gluten
extra virgin olive oil or spray
Instructions
Mix warm water, yeast, and agave. Let sit 5 minutes until foamy (if it doesn’t get foamy, your yeast was dead or your water was too hot)
In a large bowl in a stand mixer whisk flour, bran, salt, and wheat gluten.
Using a stand mixer with a dough hook (or a lot of elbow grease!) slowly add the yeast mixture to the flour and stir until it forms a ball. Add additional water one tablespoon at a time, if necessary, to incorporate any flour remaining in the bottom of the bowl or extra flour if the dough is very sticky (this will depend on your flour and time of year, I normally need an additional 2 tbsp. flour). You may need to knead by hand to incorporate all of the flour.
Using the hook on a medium/low setting or kneading by hand, knead for 5 minutes.
Cut the dough in half. At this point, you can freeze the pizza dough (up to 3 months) or stick it in the fridge (overnight - 1 day). Simply thaw and bring to room temperature prior to letting the dough rise. Refrigerating the dough overnight will give you a softer crust.
Spritz the dough with nonstick spray or a drizzle of olive oil and cover. Place in a warm area and let rise for approximately 40 minutes to an hour, until doubled in size.
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 400ºF and prepare a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
Stretch or roll out the pizza dough to your desired size/shape. Half the recipe should yield a medium/large size pizza. Brush the dough with olive oil, if desired, and add toppings. I recommend rolling over the edges to create the crust.
Bake for 10 - 14 minutes, until your crust has reached your desired level of crispiness.
Let rest for a few minutes before cutting.
Notes
Serving size is 1 slice of a pizza, assuming you make 2 pizzas with this dough and cut into 8 slices, excluding any toppings and 1 total tsp of extra virgin olive oil. I highly recommend you eat more than one slice of pizza though ;-)