Whole wheat pizza dough is one of the best recipes to prepare healthy and delicious pizza base quickly at home. This soft in the inside, and crispy on the sides pizza dough will help you enjoy eating one of the most favorite foods in the world, while not feeling guilty of eating carbohydrates.
Why Whole Wheat Pizza Dough?
Nutritional Benefits: Whole wheat flour is higher in fiber, which helps with digestion, and it contains much more essential nutrients like vitamins, iron, calcium, and protein, compared to usual wheat flour.
Lower Glycemic Index: Whole wheat flour has lower glycemic index compared to wheat flour, which means it causes a gradual increase in blood sugar levels.
More Filling: Foods made with whole wheat flour tend to be more filling, which can help with reducing overall calorie intake.
Texture and Taste: Whole wheat flour can result in a denser, chewier dough, compared to dough made with wheat flour. Also, whole wheat dough taste can be strongeri which might not be for everyone’s liking.
Ingredients
Warm Water: Whole wheat flour requires more hydration compared to wheat flour. You should use needed amount of water to hydrate the flour.
Honey: To feed the yeast, we should add sugar or something sugary, so that the dough will rise properly. We used honey but you can also prefer refined sugar.
Yeast: You can use instant or dry yeast. We used dry yeast.
Olive oil: Olive oil boosts the taste and gives a nice texture to the dough.
Salt: Add salt for flavor.
Whole Wheat Flour: We use only whole wheat flour to make a whole wheat pizza dough, for having a healthier and more nutrient pizza.
How to Make Whole Wheat Pizza Dough?
Activate the Yeast: First of all, you need to activate the yeast proparly to start making any dough including yeast. To activate the yeast, get a large bowl and pour in warm water. Be cautious that the water is not too hot, or too cold. Mix the honey/sugar with warm water, and then add the yeast. Whisk with a stand mixer, or wooden spoon. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 10 minutes for yeasts to get activated.
Prepare the Dough: After 10 minutes, you should see foamy texture on the surface of the mixture. That means, yeasts are activated, and you can start preparing your whole wheat pizza dough. Sprinkle the salt, and add the flour slowly while whisking at the same time. Keep in mind that whole wheat recipes may require more flour than regular wheat flour. If your dough is sticky, keep adding flour with a table spoon. Try not to add more than required, so that you will not get a very dry dough, which can tear apart. Use the stand mixer, or knead the dough by hand, for 10 minutes.
Let the Dough Rest: Transfer kneaded dough into a large bowl, and cover it with a clean kitchen towel. Allow it to rest for 1 hour, or more at room temperature, until it doubles in size.
Preheat the Oven: Before shaping the dough, preheat your oven to 250°C (482°F) and let it heat for 10 minutes before baking process.
Shape the Dough: Transfer dough to a thinly floured surface and start shaping it by hand, or with a roller. You can use the whole dough for a large pizza, or divide the dough into 2 pieces and prepare 2 medium-sized pizzas.
Bake the Dough: Grab a thin oven pan. Spray the pan with olive oil, to make the pan non-sticky. Place the dough into pan. Use your fingers to make the dough thin in the middle and thicker on the sides, by pushing the dough through sides. Brush the dough with olive oil to make it more crispy. Place any topping you want. We recommend you to try out our The Perfect Simple Tomato Sauce for the sauce, by adding dried basil in it.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 10 grams dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups whole wheat flour
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk the warm water, honey, and dry yest together, with a wooden spoon, or use a stand mixer. Cover the bowl and allow the mixture to rest for 10 minutes, until it becomes foamy.
- After 10 minutes, add the salt, and olive oil. Add the whole wheat flour slowly, while mixing the ingredients with a spoon/stand mixer.
- Once the dough is not sticky anymore, start kneading it by hand on a floured surface for 10 minutes. If the dough is sticky, keep adding flour slowly while kneading. If you add too much flour than needed, the dough will become dry. After you are done with kneading, dough should feel soft, and it should slowly bounce back when you poke it with your finger. Then, the dough will be ready to rise.
- Transfer dough into large bowl and cover it with a large kitchen towel. Allow it to rise at room temperature for 1 hour, or until it doubles in size. For our dough, 1 hour was enough to rise.
- Once your dough is ready, preheat your oven to 250 C, and allow it to heat for 10-15 minutes while you are shaping the pizza. Use a pizza pan, or just a usual pan for oven. Just keep in mind that the pan should be thin. Spray some olive oil to cover the pan, to make it non-sticky.
- Start shaping the dough by transfering it to a thinly floured surface. If your oven pan is large, you can shape the whole dough, but if your pan is medium-sized, dividing dough into 2 pieces will be better. Shape the dough with your hands, or with a roller. Place it into pan. Use your fingers to make the dough thin in the middle, and thicker around by pressing the dough from middle to sides.
- Cover the pizza dough surface with tops and fillings.
- Place the pan into oven and bake it for 10-15 minutes.
Notes
- You can use same amount of sugar instead of honey.
- You can freeze the dough for up to 2 months in freezer.
- You can use active or dry yeast.