This whole wheat pizza dough is a healthier version of the blog’s favorite homemade pizza crust. Just try it and see how easy it is to make you own pizza from scratch – just the way you like it!
Now, you might be wondering why you should make your own pizza dough when you can just buy premade dough at the store? For one thing, it’s so rewarding, you feel like you really earned that pizza after you make the dough from scratch. Second, it is much cheaper to make your own dough. And the final reason, it’s easy! After the first couple times, it will feel so simple and quick that you won’t think twice about making pizza from scratch.
I’ve been making my own pizza dough for years. It means I get to make my pizza exactly the way I want it. I know there are a lot of recipes out there that take hours or even days, but that is not the way I like to do it. Simple, tasty, and quick will always be my preferred method.
And healthy of course. Until recently, I always used 100% standard all-purpose flour for my pizza. But given my recent trend towards healthier ingredients, I thought it was time to try making whole wheat pizza dough.
Making whole wheat pizza
Unfortunately, a healthier crust isn’t as simple as just switching whole wheat flour for the regular flour of my old crust. Whole wheat flour acts differently – especially in recipes where you knead it. As much as I would like to do away with the all the white flour, a dough made from 100% whole wheat flour would be very heavy and not have the same awesome chewiness of a regular pizza.
Plus, whole wheat absorbs more water than other flours. The same proportion of water to flour in a whole wheat dough would lead to a dry and tough crust. Not tasty at all. Since flavor is the most important part for me, I kept a small amount of all-purpose flour to get that chewy structure and adjusted the proportion of liquid to flour.
How to make pizza dough ahead of time
All that kneading and waiting for the dough to rise might still seem like a lot of trouble to you. But it is absolutely possible to make pizza dough and store it for later. It even makes it possible for pizza night to happen in the middle of the week.
The secret to it? You can freeze pizza dough! Once you have made you pizza dough and allowed it to double in size at room temperature (or a little warmer), it can be frozen. The easiest way to store dough is in resealable freezer bags. Before putting a ball of dough in each bag, lightly oil the inside of it. Then place the dough in, seal it up, and put it in the freezer.
To defrost pizza dough, just put one of the baggies of frozen dough in fridge the night before. The dough will slowly defrost and come to the right temperature and the yeast will go back to work. Then when you get home, you can just roll it out and put on any toppings you like.
So, next time you are making dough, make a double portion. You can use half and freeze the other half for later. After all, kneading double really doesn’t take that mush more effort.
What should you top your pizza with?
No matter how good your dough is, you know it will never be pizza without the toppings. My personal favorite will always be pear and prosciutto pizza with arugula. Sweet pear, salty prosciutto, and spicy arugula with crumbled blue cheese, how can you go wrong?
But I’ve definitely been embracing the wonders of a fresh veggie pizza recently. You can add any vegetables that are in season – cherry tomatoes and zucchini for summer, butternut squash and figs in fall, perhaps some dried tomatoes and preserved artichoke hearts in the middle of winter when nothing seems fresh, or even just a simple asparagus and goat cheese during spring. There are so many options. You can put practically anything on pizza!
It’s amazing how something as tasty as pizza dough has such simple ingredients. It might seem like a lot of work to make your own, but once you’ve done it a couple of times, you’ll be surprised how easy it is. Don’t forget to check out my all-purpose flour version of homemade pizza dough for suggestions on kneading, proofing, and shaping!
Easy Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) warm water
- 2 tbsp olive oil , plus more for greasing
- 2/3 cup (100g) whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup (32g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp (4g) instant dry yeast
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp sugar
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine warm water with olive oil. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, yeast, salt, and sugar. Make a well in the center, pour in the water and oil mixture and mix until all the flour has been incorporated and the mixture pulls together into a dough. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more plain flour, if it's too dry, add more water, a little at a time.
- Place your dough on a lightly floured surface and knead it with your hands until it is smooth, elastic and springs back when pressed (about 7 minutes). Shape the dough into a ball.
- Grease a medium bowl with a little bit of olive oil. Place the dough inside, rolling it around the bowl to coat with oil. Cover tightly with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until it doubles in size.
- Punch the dough down to release the air. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper and shape it into a 11-inch round. Now your pizza dough is ready for your favorite toppings!
- Preheat the oven to 475°F (250°C). Reduce the temperature to 425°F (225°C). Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned. Enjoy!
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