This whole wheat pizza crust is the full package. It gets a nice crisp bottom and a nice chew. Plus it’s a great way to get your whole grains!
Homemade pizza is one of life’s greatest pleasures. You can make it just the way you like it!
Pile up your favorite toppings on some of this whole wheat pizza crust and your taste buds are sure to be delighted. Plus you can make a pizza now and freeze a ball of dough for later. Double bonus!
My husband likes to tell you how good he is at making pizza. He did work at a local pizza place for years, so he has made a lot of them.
After hearing how wonderful his pizzas are time after time, I had never seen him actually make a pizza (other than the frozen variety… he is pretty good at that!)
Then finally, one Friday in November in 2009 he finally made me a pizza and asked me to marry him. I don’t remember much about how the pizza tasted because I was more worried about the diamond!
So, I will tell you how the subsequent pizzas were… but there haven’t been any.
It turns out that my husband only knows how to make pizza dough 50 pounds at a time. He makes homemade sauce too, but in five gallon buckets.
He made some practice run pizzas before the big engagement pizzas. He tried the mixes in the store, but they weren’t good enough. So, he went to the pizza place he had worked in and got some dough!
All of that to say, I spent the first few years of our relationship not making pizza because I was with this world famous pizza maker. Then I realized that if I wanted pizza, I was going to have to make it myself.
Due to my aforementioned hesitation to use yeast, I tried a baking soda recipe that was decent. It was fast and easy because there was no need to knead and no rising and resting. It was better than nothing!
A few months ago I decided yeast wasn’t so scary. So, I made real pizza dough and our lives have changed forever!
I started with a recipe that was on the bag of flour and made a few small tweaks and this is what I have come up with.
We went from only eating pizza of the frozen or ordered variety to eating yummy homemade pizza at least a couple of times a month. I have used this crust for breakfast pizza, pizza toscana, plenty of ham pizzas, a few calzones and even stuffed it with cream cheese, peppers and Italian sausage for New Year’s Eve.
What I did today was make the dough first thing this morning. I let it rise the first time and then put it in the fridge while I worked.
I split it and set the part I was going to use on the counter until I got home from picking Little up. Then it was ready to become a tasty pizza!
Luckily I had a bit of Sunday gravy left from the other day, so that made an excellent sauce. Yum!!!
Some great pizza topping ideas:
- Italian Beef Pizza – get the flavors of that classic Chicago style sandwich in pizza form!
- Croque Madame Pizza – creamy sauce, melted cheese, ham and eggs in a one of a kind pizza!
- Savory Apple Bacon Pizza – slices of apple may be an unexpected pizza topping, but it is delicious!
This recipe is enough to make two 12-14″ pizzas. Tips for freezing half to use it later:
- After the first proof, divide the dough into two balls.
- Wrap the dough that is to be frozen tightly in plastic wrap. Then place in a plastic zipper bag and freeze.
- You can defrost the dough in the refrigerator overnight, or on the counter for a couple of hours.
- Once defrosted, place in a lightly oiled pan and let rise before using.
Whole Wheat Pizza Crust Dough
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1½ cups warm water
- 1 Tablespoon dry active yeast
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1½ cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
- I usually put the water in the microwave for about a minute to warm it up. You don’t want it too hot, just enough to warm up the bowl and the rest of the ingredients so the yeast will be nice and happy.
- Mix it all together! You may have to adjust the amount of flour and water depending on how it feels. You want it to be a little bit sticky still, but not wet.1 teaspoon honey, 1½ cups warm water, 1 Tablespoon dry active yeast, 1 Tablespoon olive oil, 1½ teaspoon salt, 2 cup white whole wheat flour, 1½ cup all-purpose flour
- Turn the dough onto a floured surface and kneed your little heart out. Due to the grain in the whole wheat, it won’t be a smooth dough but you should feel the gluten start to do it’s thing.
- Put dough into an oiled bowl and let rise for an hour or until doubled in size.
- For a thin crust, split the dough in two. I usually freeze half at this stage and use the other half.
- Form into a tight ball and place into an oiled bowl to rise for another 45 minutes
- Preheat oven (and pizza stone if you are using one) to 425°F.
- At this stage I do a few different things. If I am using a pizza stone, I roll the dough to the right size and top with desired toppings. I usually put the pizza on parchment paper to make it easier to transfer to the hot stone. If I am using a pizza pan, I spray it lightly and just push the dough around with my fingers. I have good results both ways. Using the pan is a bit easier, but the stone gives a guaranteed crunch on the bottom of the crust.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes and enjoy!
Big Rigs 'n Lil' Cookies
Sunday 2nd of June 2019
I love the story! And, that he made you pizza one time! I've never made a whole wheat crust, but will try it. Maybe I would make pizza a bit more often if I felt a little healthier about it!
Carlee
Saturday 8th of June 2019
We've been married nine years now and he's still only made me that one pizza!