Have you ever met anyone who DIDN’T like pizza? I have come across a lot of picky eaters in my time and I can’t remember one who has an aversion to this king of all dishes. It’s kind of a no-brainer: yummy toppings on top of a crispy bread crust, baked until bubbly and delicious. The best part is that you can very simply make a slew of variations on the original theme so that everyone in your family is happy.
For any pizza aficionado, the true sign of great pizza is the crust. It all starts and ends there. In my experience, whole wheat pizza dough can either be delicious or as heavy and dense as a rock. This recipe uses half wheat and half white flours, so it has some added nutrition while also staying light and airy. I usually make a batch and then keep it around for whenever my family is in the mood — what’s better then having frozen pizza dough in the freezer that’s ready to be topped with all your favorite goodies?
On Monday I made one for my and Kenya’s lunch with simple red sauce and veggies, last night I made one for my husband with pesto and mozzarella and I still have 2 servings of dough left for whenever we need or want more. No dialing out for dinner, no wasting money on delivery or takeout, just healthy, homemade pizza that you can enjoy any time, AND it doesn’t come out of a box from the freezer section!
Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 1 package dry yeast
- 1 1/3 cups lukewarm water
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for greasing bowl and brushing on pizza crusts
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Instructions
- Combine yeast and water in a bowl and allow to stand until foamy, about 5 minutes (Make sure to check the expiration date on the yeast. If it doesn’t foam, your yeast may be old and you will need to buy fresh yeast).
- Stir the flour and salt in a bowl or a bowl of a standing mixer (using a dough hook attachment).
- Add the olive oil and honey to the yeast mixture and stir to combine.
- Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients mix on low for 3 minutes or until smooth and elastic (you could also combine the liquid with the flours in a bowl and knead the dough on a clean surface for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic). You want the dough to be smooth and bounce back when you press it.
- Transfer ball to an oiled bowl and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 15 seconds. Cut into 4 equal balls and form each into rounds and flatten with your hands into a disk. Let the 4 disks rest for 5 minutes.
- Take a disk and pull and stretch the dough until it is approximately 9 inches across. You want the dough to be thin so it will get really crispy.
- Bake the pizza dough for 5 minutes, remove and top with sauce, cheese and veggies and return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes.
- Serve.
- *Freezing: Place one round disk on a parchment lined plate or cookie sheet and layer the rest of the disks on top with parchment in between. Freeze for one hour and then transfer the stack of chilled pizza disks to a freezer bag. They can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- *When ready: remove the disks from the freezer and let them defrost in the fridge for 24 hours. Then, let them come to room temperature and continue to follow steps 8-10.
The texture of this crust is absolutely spot-on! I’m so excited… usually pizza crusts of this variety are dense too chewy. I love the little crisp and slight chewiness of this crust!
This was one of my first successes using yeast – yay! I made two batches a couple weeks ago and froze them. We pulled out the first, (less successful) batch today, and it turned out great! Thank you for another wonderful recipe to decrease our reliance on packaged foods!
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The only problem with this recipe is that it’s called whole wheat, and whole wheat means it uses all whole wheat flour. So, this recipe should just be called wheat pizza dough. I did do all whole wheat flour and it was delicious. I thought I would just put that out there so people who, but thanks for the recipe.
This turned out delicious! We actually made a taco pizza with salsa, leftover taco mix (ground turkey and beans) and cheese. It was awesome and rolled out beautifully! Thank you again for a yummy, successful recipe from Weelicious.
I will add it to the list!