A different pizza, not a virtuous one
Whole Wheat Crust
Forty per cent whole wheat in the same cold ferment: nuttier, a shade denser, and worth ordering because of how it tastes.
Forty per cent is a deliberate number. Whole wheat flour has bran in it, and bran is sharp — under a microscope it cuts the gluten strands the dough is trying to build, which is why a hundred per cent whole wheat pizza base is dense and crumbly and tastes worthy. At forty per cent you get the nuttiness and the colour while the white flour still does the structural work.
It takes the same forty-eight hour ferment as everything else, and the long cold rest does whole wheat more good than it does white flour — it softens the bran and takes the raw edge off it.
We should be plain about why it is on the menu. It is here because it makes a genuinely different and rather good pizza, particularly under mushrooms or sausage. It is not here as a health option, and one more gram of fibre does not turn a pizza into a salad.
What goes on it
The flour
Forty per cent stone-ground whole wheat, sixty per cent high-protein white.
The hydration
A little higher than the white dough, because bran absorbs more water.
The ferment
The same forty-eight hours cold, which softens the bran considerably.
What goes on it
Any of our round pies. It goes particularly well with mushroom, sausage and anything roasted.
How it is made here
Mixed separately
Its own batch, its own trays, because the hydration is different.
Rested longer at the bench
Bran dough is stiffer coming out of the cold room and needs longer to relax before it can be opened.
Opened a shade thicker
It has less gluten strength, so it is opened slightly thicker than the white base to stop it tearing.
Fourteen to fifteen minutes
A minute longer than white, at 600°F. It browns faster and cooks slower, which is the awkward part.
Whole Wheat Crust — what it costs
- Any 14" pie+$2
- Any 18" pie+$3
Prices include every topping listed above. Extras are $3 for vegetables and $4 for meats. Prices change when our costs do; the menu here is the menu in the shop.
Before you order this
A shared flour kitchen, and what that rules out. Our kitchen handles wheat flour in open air all day, along with milk, eggs, soy, tree nuts and fish. Flour becomes airborne every time a dough ball is opened, and it settles on every surface in the room, including the peels, the oven floor, the cutting board and the wheel. We can tell you what we put on a pizza, and we will tell you honestly. We cannot tell you that anything leaving this kitchen is free of an allergen, and we will not say it. If a reaction would send you to hospital, this is not a safe kitchen for you, and we would far rather say so than take the order.
The kitchen is one room. Every pizza here is opened on the same bench, baked on the same floor and cut with the same wheel, and that is true of this one as much as any other. The pages on allergens and cross-contact and vegetarian, vegan and dietary questions set out plainly what we can and cannot tell you, including the things most shops leave you to assume.
The rest of the menu
Other things worth ordering
Gluten-Free Crust
A pre-made rice and tapioca base we top and bake for people avoiding wheat by choice — not a coeliac-safe product, and we will not sell it as one.
From $18
Vegan Pizza
Our standard dough is already dairy-free and egg-free; this is that dough with a plant-based cheese and roasted vegetables.
From $26
New York Cheese Pizza
The plain pie the whole shop is judged on: a thin, foldable base, a thin bright sauce and low-moisture mozzarella browned in patches.
From $3.75Asked at the counter
Whole Wheat Crust — questions
Is it healthier?
Marginally more fibre, and that is the whole of it. It is still a pizza — bread, cheese and oil. Our nutrition page says the same thing at greater length and we are not going to dress it up.
Is it available on Sicilian or Neapolitan?
On the Sicilian with a day's notice. Not on the Neapolitan — at 900°F for ninety seconds the bran scorches before the crumb sets.
Is it vegan?
The dough is, same as the standard one. What goes on top is up to you.
Twelve to fifteen minutes, and worth the wait
Order a pie
Telephone the shop and we will tell you honestly how long the kitchen is running before you commit to anything. Collection is always quicker than delivery and the pizza is always better for it. If you are ordering for a crowd, the catering page has the trays and the notice we need.