Made with ingredients you can feel good about serving your family, this Homemade Whole-Wheat Pizza Crust makes the PERFECT base for all your favorite pizza toppings.

• It uses real-food ingredients, rather than bleached, highly refined flour and sugar.
• It’s a great way to get your family to try new toppings and flavor combos.
• It saves money. No more expensive pizzas, plus a delivery fee.
• It allows you to keep the cheesy calories to a minimum.
• You can customize it the way YOUR family likes.

Most pizza dough recipes call for bread flour because it results in a crispy, airy pizzeria-style pizza crust. But bread flour is highly refined, depleted in nutrients, and contains harmful additives.

If you’ve spent time perusing FULLforLife, then you know the recipes you’ll find here use real-food, minimally processed ingredients whenever possible. Because bread flour doesn’t fall into the realm of real food, this recipe uses white whole-wheat flour, which does. By using white whole-wheat flour, you’ll achieve that tasty, light, crispy crust, while still receiving all the nutritional benefits whole-grain flour has to offer.

Why not whole-wheat flour? Because crust made with white whole-wheat flour doesn’t have the bitter tannins of regular whole-wheat flour, it yields a lighter, fluffier dough with a mild natural sweetness. This means you still get all the benefits of 100% whole-grain flour, without the bitterness.

If your yeast doesn’t foam after being mixed with warm water and sugar (step 1), it may not be fresh enough. Make sure to check the expiration date.

The temperature of your water can also affect the yeast. If the water is too cool, the dough will take an extremely long time to rise. If the water is too hot, it will kill your yeast. Keep your water below 110 degrees.

It’s important to knead your dough thoroughly. Keep in mind that thoroughly doesn’t necessarily mean kneading for a long time. The point is to strengthen the gluten so it’s smooth and holds its shape. To test it, give the dough a quick poke. If the indentation quickly fills in, it’s ready!

Stand mixer with a bread attachment: Knead the dough for 5-8 minutes.

By hand: Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes.

Rising time can range anywhere from 45-90 minutes, depending on how warm your house is. The warmer the area, the faster the dough will rise. The key is to allow it to rise until it’s doubled in size.

For faster proofing

To speed up the rising process, turn your oven on warm for a few minutes while you’re prepping your dough. Keep the temperature under 150 degrees, so your rising dough doesn’t begin to cook. If the oven gets too hot, leave the door open for a little while so it cools. Now, fill a shallow, oven-safe pan with boiling water and place it on the bottom of the oven (this is optional, but the humidity helps the proofing process).

Place your prepared dough in a greased, oven-safe bowl. Loosely cover it, set it on the shelf above the water and close the oven door. The warmth from the oven and the humidity of the water will create a warm, humid environment for the dough to rise in, speeding up the process.

It most certainly can. In fact, allowing your dough to proof in the fridge for 24-48 hours can actually increase its flavor profile and yield a better interior structure. But don’t let it proof for longer than 48 hours or the yeast will start to eat the sugar in the dough and convert it into alcohol, which adversely affects the flavor and texture.

How to proof pizza dough in the fridge: After kneading, store the prepared dough in a greased bowl. Cover it and place it in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. Allow dough to come to room temperature before shaping it.

The first step to shaping your dough is allowing it to come to room temperature so the protein (gluten) in your dough loosens up and is easier to shape. Otherwise, your dough will stretch and snap back like a rubber band, often tearing. If your dough has been in the fridge, allow it to come to room temperature on the countertop for 30 minutes. You can do this by putting the dough ball in an oiled mixing bowl or on a clean, oiled surface.

Once your dough is room temperature, wipe clean and prep your workspace with olive oil so the dough doesn’t stick to the counter. We like to use our hands to shape the dough, rather than a rolling pin, but either will work.

Rub your hands with a small amount of olive oil. Before stretching your dough, place it on the oiled countertop and use the palm of your hand to press and flatten the dough into a disk. Use your three middle fingers to press the dough out from the center.

Now, pick the dough up and stretch the dough with both of your hands, rotating the dough and using gravity to help pull and stretch it. Lastly, lay the dough on top of your balled fists, allowing the rest of the dough top to hang down. The weight of the dough will cause it to naturally stretch a bit on its own. Use your fists to gently rotate and finish stretching the dough.

Layering your ingredients properly can make or break your pizza. For example, if you top your cheesy pizza with fresh basil, the basil will wilt and burn. If you layer the basil UNDER the cheese, you’ll have pizza perfection. Think about your toppings. Will they shrivel and char if they’re exposed to direct heat? Generally speaking, leafy greens should go UNDER the cheese (basil, spinach, arugula). Most other toppings can go under the cheese or on top (although we typically add cheese last to hold down the fort).

Generally, the hotter the oven, the better your pizza will turn out! Professional pizza ovens cook at temperatures exceeding 800 degrees. Because the oven you have at home doesn’t get that hot, shoot for 450 to 500 degrees. If you have an extremely thick crust pizza, reduce the temperature to 400 degrees so the crust has time to bake through without burning the toppings.

A pizza stone isn’t necessary for making an amazing homemade pizza, although it certainly helps. If you have a pizza stone, place it on the lower rack of the oven while it’s preheating so the stone heats up while the oven heats. If you don’t have a stone, you can cook your pizza in a large cast-iron skillet or on the back of a baking sheet. If pizza night becomes a staple theme in your home, a pizza stone is worth investing in.

You sure can, just allow the dough to fully rise (it should double in size) before you freeze it. Divide it into portions and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw the dough overnight in the fridge, then allow it to come to room temperature before using it.

A homemade pizza party is a perfect way to please various palates because each person can make their own pizza, or a portion of a pizza, that reflects their personal preferences. It’s a great way to get your family to try new combos, making it a deliciously EASY and HEALTHIER WIN!

Bases

• Pesto
• BBQ Sauce
• Tomato sauce
• EVOO (Infused EVOO’s are awesome too!)
• Chili jam

Veggies

• Asparagus
• Artichokes
• Onions
• Peppers
• Spinach or arugula
• Chopped broccolini
• Thinly sliced eggplant
• Zucchini
• Mushrooms

Cheese

• Feta
• Mozzarella
• Goat
• Ricotta
• Parmesan
• Our favorite, a combo of two or three cheeses

Meat/Seafood

• Chicken
• Crab
• Ground beef
• Prosciutto
• Pulled pork
• Sausage
• Shrimp
• Steak

Fruit

• Figs
• Pineapple
• Thinly sliced apple