Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

overhead view of sliced pizza made with whole wheat dough

This Whole Wheat Pizza Dough can be made with store-bought or freshly milled flour (spelt works, too). The recipe is no knead, so it's very quick to pull together!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mediterranean

Difficulty Easy

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Rising 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours 40 minutes

Servings slices

Calories 121kcal

Author Nora

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups luke-warm water around 100°F
active dried yeast see notes for amounts and correlating rising times
1 tablespoon honey
4.5 cups store-bought whole wheat or whole spelt flour OR 5 - 5.5 cups freshly milled wheat or spelt (530g); plus extra for dusting
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Combine water, yeast and honey in large measuring jug. Set aside until bubbles appear on top.
In the meantime, combine flour and salt in a large bowl.
Pour bubbly yeast mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture. Using a wooden spoon, stir until combined into a scraggly, lumpy, sticky dough.
Cover with a clean dish cloth and set aside in a warm place to rise until doubled in size.
Once dough is ready, heat oven to 420°F. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment or silicone baking mats. Generously dust with flour.
Drop half of the pizza dough on one baking sheet, then generously dust top with flour. Press into a 12 inch circle, then add your favorite toppings.
Bake pizza in the lower half of your oven for 15-25 minutes, until crust is baked, lightly crispy on the bottom and cheese is bubbly (check often once you get to 15 minutes to catch it at the right time).
Let cool for a couple of minutes, then slice to serve. Proceed in the same way with the second half of the dough once the first has been baked.

Notes

Ingredient notes

Flour: I use freshly milled spelt for this recipe, but store-bought whole wheat flour works just fine.
Water: Keep this lukewarm, hot water will destroy the yeast. Keep it below 120°F (I go for 100°F).
Honey: A runny honey works best. You can also use maple syrup if you prefer.

Notes about the yeast:

I use organic dried yeast for this. Organic yeast moves much slower in comparison to conventionally produced dried yeast.

You can alter the amount of yeast added to make the dough rise faster or slower. For a good soaking time for the flour, I use a small amount of yeast and let the dough sit in the fridge overnight. I pull it out about an hour before baking.

Here are estimates for conventional active dried yeast:

2 teaspoons: dough rises in 1-2 hours
1 teaspoon: dough rises in 3-4 hours
1/2 teaspoon: dough rises in 6-8 hours
1/2 teaspoon: dough rises overnight in the fridge

Organic dried yeast will take longer to rise. If you’re living in a high altitude location, your dough will rise faster. If your house is warm, your dough will also rise faster. Humidity impacts the time your yeast needs to works, too. In short: The exact timing for rising time hugely depends on many factors, so I suggest you stick around when you make this for the first time so you can check on the progress regularly.

Recipe tips

The dough is very sticky, clumpy and not at all what you’re used to when it comes to yeast dough (definitely not a kneaded, smooth, pliable dough). That’s perfectly fine and exactly how it is supposed to be!
Use enough flour both on the lined pan and on top of the dough when pressing into a circle. Do not attempt to use a rolling pin, it won’t work. Pressing into a circle by hand is quick and easy once you get the hang of it!
It’s a little harder to get a crisp crust on this. Make sure to use a rack in the bottom half of your oven to get a crisp bottom without the top burning.

Nutrition