Dan Richer’s Whole Wheat Pizza Dough – Part 2 | Recipe | Ooni Pizza Ovens

Ooni Cooks | Dan Richer | Ooni Pizza Ovens

Dan Richer is an author, chef, and restaurant owner who has spent his professional career learning the secrets of making delicious pizzas. In this episode of Ooni Cooks, Dan shows us how to turn the whole wheat pizza dough we made in Part 1 into a delicious pizza.

Link to recipe: https://ooni.com/blogs/recipes/whole-wheat-pizza-dough

List of tools:
Ooni Karu 16 Multi-Fuel Pizza Oven: https://ooni.com/products/ooni-karu-16
Ooni Pizza Dough Boxes: https://ooni.com/collections/accessories/products/pizza-dough-boxes
Ooni Bamboo Pizza Peel & Serving Board: https://ooni.com/collections/accessories/products/ooni-wooden-pizza-peel
Ooni Perforated Pizza Peel: https://ooni.com/collections/accessories/products/ooni-perforated-pizza-peel

Video Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:42 Stretch and Top
03:48 Bake

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If we change one ingredient, it changes everything. My name is Dan Richer. I own a pizzeria called Razza in Jersey City, New Jersey. Showtime. And we’re gonna stretch it, top it, and bake it. As soon as I see that browning. I’m moving. Dough is alive. It’s very temperature-sensitive. Structural integrity. I’m Dan Richer.

I’m here at Ooni HQ, and this is how to make the whole wheat pizza. We are going to make a margarita pizza with this whole wheat pizza dough. We’re ready to stretch our whole wheat pizza dough. It’s fully proofed. Been proofing for two to four hours.

And we’re going to stretch it, top it, and bake it. I like to use a sheet pan, which keeps the flour contained. And we’re going to take the pizza dough out of the tray, and we’re going to flour the top, and we’re going to start pressing it out.

I like to start at ten and two and work my way down and out. I’m going to give it a flip so that the top side is now back on top. And I’m going to press out one more time. I’m really using my sense of touch right now to feel

The gas production, to feel how strong the dough is. And that’s going to give me the information to know how assertive I need to be with the dough. As I’m stretching. I’m just gently opening. Ok, I’m ready. So we’re going to sprinkle a little bit of flour on the counter.

So I’m stretching it over the back of my hands, just really trying to feel that dough. And we are going to make a Margherita pizza with this whole wheat pizza dough. I’m endlessly fascinated by the Margherita pizza. It connects with people. It’s a plain pie. Everybody understands it. Tomato, basil, mozzarella.

So I’m using California tomatoes. These are crushed by hand. At the restaurant, we usually use a food mill with a very specific size hole, and it crushes the tomato to exactly what I want. But at home, I don’t feel like taking out the food mill, so I crush by hand.

Sometimes I want that more meaty, chunky texture to the tomato. Again, it changes everything. If we make one change to the ingredient. We have our mozzarella. I’m just tearing by hand. Okay. And we have a little bit of olive oil. Just a touch. And I like some coarse salt.

Everything is already seasoned, so we’re not using this finishing salt for actually flavoring the pizza. We’re using it for just a touch of texture, and every few bites, we’re going to get this amazing pop of salinity. All right, we ready to load? Let’s do it. Okay, so we’re going to lift the front

Edge and get our pizza onto the peel. We’re going to do a quick little restretch to make sure it’s the size that we want and the shape, and we’re ready to go. So I like to start at 650 to 700 degrees, and then I’ll toggle the flame based on how it’s baking.

I’m noticing the first signs of browning all the way in the back. I’m really looking at the oven spring, how fast it’s popping, but also that gentle browning that I’m starting to see. As soon as I see that browning, I’m moving. I think this bake is going to take three minutes or so.

I like a texture that is crispy. We want to be able to pick the pizza up with our hands without it being soft, wet, soggy. You can see I’m actively managing the oven by controlling the temperature throughout the bake. And I’m watching it. I’m turning it, constantly looking at the bottom to

See how well the bottom is caramelizing, because that’s going to determine how structurally sound it is. We’re looking good, guys. Okay. So first pie of the day came out pretty good. Not bad. So what I do is I always lift the pizza in the air, and I’m visually inspecting the bottom.

I’m also holding it, and I’m feeling how sturdy it is. This is a pretty sturdy pizza. I can hold it from one end and the whole thing stays nice and flat. So I know my bake time and temperature worked great. Look at this. Can you see it? Okay.

So I like landing on to a cooling rack because it lets steam escape. If I put that directly onto a flat, hard surface, the steam would get trapped in between the pizza crust and the countertop and it would make our pizza soggy. So allowing the first little bit of steam

To escape is going to make all the difference between a crispy and a soggy pizza from there, while it’s on the cooling rack, that’s when I do any finishings, like a little bit of basil for a Margherita. I like to tear the basil by hand and put it on after the bake sometimes.

And sometimes I will put it on before the bake. And that is our whole wheat pizza dough. I like to finish it with just a drizzle, more of raw oil. When we cook with extra virgin olive oil, most of the flavor dissipates. So I like to add a little bit of

Raw oil to get that pungent, fruity, all those complex aromas and flavors from the olive oil. I have to try this. Look, structural integrity. The moment. Hot! Do you hear the crunch when I bit into it? That is what I’m looking for. The sauce is perfectly reduced, sweet

With a little bit of acidity. The cheese is perfectly melted. It flowed beautifully onto the pizza. The cheese has just a little bit of gentle browning on it. That’s a good pizza.