This weekend, I decided to try mixing in some barley flour into my whole wheat pizza dough recipe (well, it’s not really my recipe, I got it from this blog).  Barley flour still contains gluten (but is lower in gluten than whole wheat flour) so obviously is not an appropriate choice for those with gluten sensitivities – but it is very high in fiber and an alternative to always using wheat.

The low gluten content makes it a good flour to mix in with other flours when baking something that needs to rise.  In my recipe, I used 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1.5 cups of barley flour in my pizza dough.  It resulted in a very rustic looking crust that wasn’t as easy to work with, but the nutty flavour of the barley came through.  I also added a spring of minced rosemary and green garlic into the dough which made the crust much more flavorful.

I must confess, it was also a great way to use up the barley flour I have in my pantry – I’m starting to run low on whole wheat flour and this helped me with my “Make It Do” project.

Ingredients

• 2 cups 100% whole wheat flour and approx 1/2 cup for dusting
• 1 1/2 cups barley flour
• 2 teaspoons of honey
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of table salt
• 1 tablespoon of active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups warm water approx 110 degrees
• 3 tablespoons of ground flax seed (optional)
• 1 spring fresh rosemary leaves, minced
• 2 stalks green garlic, minced

1. Dissolve the honey into the warm water in a medium sized bowl.
2. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water. Set your timer for 10 minutes (if the yeast is active, it will foam up in 10 minutes).
3. Once the yeast is ready, mix in the oil, salt and herbs
4. In a wide, shallow bowl, mix the flour with the ground flax. Slowly pour in the water and knead the dough into a ball.
5. Cover the bowl with a towel, or instead, cover it with an inverted pizza pan (which is what I chose to do).
6. Place the bowl in a warm area for a couple of hours to allow it to rise. My oven has a bread proofing setting which worked wonderfully. I’m sure you could warm up the oven to its lowest setting and then turn it off and use the residual heat to proof your dough (make sure you allow enough time for the oven to cool so it doesn’t cook the dough.
7. Roll out your dough and place on a lightly oiled pizza pan.  Top with your favourite toppings and bake at 450F for 11 to 12 minutes.

This weekend’s pizza was topped with homemade pizza sauce, mozza, arugula, mushrooms, onions and green peppers.  I think this recipe would taste great with the crust made on a barbecue (but you’ll have to try it for yourself and let me know how it goes because we got rid of our rarely used barbecue).