100% Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Updated Aug 28, 2024
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I am a big fan of pizza night and I have the best Whole Wheat Pizza Dough to share. This crust is made with 100% whole wheat flour and it makes a perfectly chewy whole grain crust that everyone will rave about.
Whole wheat pizza crust often gets a bad rap, but this recipe will not disappoint. It’s an overnight recipe- although it works just about as well if you make it in the morning and let it sit until dinner. Something beautiful happens when you let the dough sit and give the starches time to break down a bit. The texture and flavor is unmatched.
This recipe turns out an amazingly chewy yet tender pizza crust and you’ll never go back to your old recipe (or baking method for that matter) again! Those whole grains are just better for you in general and the fiber aids in digestion and helps everyone feel full a lot longer. You can top it with this super simple homemade pizza sauce using only THREE ingredients!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The dough can be made ahead of time and rises in the fridge, giving you flexibility with your schedule.
- Enjoy a healthier pizza crust that’s packed with fiber and whole grain goodness that really keeps you and those kiddos full a lot longer.
- Whether you like a thin, crispy crust or a thicker, chewy one, you can easily adjust the dough to your preference.
- Make dinner a fun family activity to let the kids decorate their own personal pizzas.
Recipe Ingredients
- Flour – Whole wheat
- Sugar – Or honey
- Instant yeast
- Sauce – You can go with a classic red sauce, or spice it up with a white, pesto, or barbecue sauce.
- Cheese – I like to use fresh grated Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese
- Olive Oil
- Salt
- Toppings – Fully customizable, but we like to use pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, bell peppers, red onion, and diced tomato.
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
How to Make 100% Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Step #1. Combine flour, sugar, salt, yeast, water, and olive oil to form a sticky dough. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours or up to 3 days.
Step #2. Bring dough to room temperature for 1 hour, and preheat the oven to 500°F with a baking stone or cookie sheet.
Step #3. Divide dough, roll out to desired thickness on parchment paper, and top with sauce, cheese, and toppings.
Step #4. Slide pizza onto the hot stone or sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until bubbly and golden. Repeat with remaining dough.
Recipe FAQs
If you don’t have a stone you can turn your biggest cookie sheet upside down (so that the flat side is up) or use a rimless baking sheet. If you are using a stone let the stone heat for 30 minutes. If using a baking sheet, let it heat for 10 minutes.
If you can’t wait that long try this recipe you can make my mom’s famous pizza dough recipe (and it’s great with whole wheat flour too!)
Hot water will kill the yeast. Use lukewarm water that is about 105 degrees F. If the water is much hotter than that you can actually kill the yeast, so don’t get it too hot.
Pizza dough freezes incredibly well. Once your pizza dough has risen you can freeze the ball of dough. Simply spray the dough on all sides with non-stick spray or olive oil and store in a freezer safe bag. It will stay fresh for up to 3 months in the freezer. Let it thaw overnight in the fridge before you use it.
Expert Tips
- Using cold water in the dough slows down the yeast activity, allowing for a longer, more flavorful fermentation.
- A preheated baking stone will give your crust a better texture by evenly distributing heat.
- Rolling the dough on parchment paper makes it easier to transfer to the oven without losing shape.
- Try different dough thicknesses to find your perfect balance of crispy and chewy.
How to Serve and Store 100% Whole Wheat Pizza
A side salad like caesar, antipasto salad, or chef salad is a classic pairing with pizza, providing a fresh and tangy contrast. Garlic knots or breadsticks also add a fun side!
Store any leftover pizza in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat in the oven at 375°F for 5-7 minutes. Once the dough has risen you can freeze the ball of dough. Simply spray the dough on all sides with non-stick spray or olive oil and store in a freezer safe bag. It will stay fresh for up to 3 months in the freezer. Let it thaw overnight in the fridge before you use it.
More Pizza Recipes to Consider
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100% Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 3 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons sugar or honey
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 1/3 cups cold water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- pizza sauce, (about 2 cups)
- fresh grated Parmesan cheese, (about 1 cup)
- mozzarella cheese, (about 3 cups)
- toppings
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl add the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Mix to combine. Add the cold water and oil and mix until a soft dough forms. The dough will be sticky to the touch and a lot wetter than a traditional yeast bread dough. This is how it’s supposed to be.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours or up to 3 days. The dough will not rise much in the fridge and that’s ok.
- Pull the dough out the the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for one hour before using. While the dough is resting preheat your oven to 500 degrees.
- If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to heat, too. I would recommend using a stone for baking this pizza. If you don’t have a stone you can turn your biggest cookie sheet upside down (so that the flat side is up) or use a rimless sheet. If you are using a stone let the stone heat for 30 minutes. If using a baking sheet, let it heat for 15 minutes.
- When the oven is hot, cut your dough in half. Place half of the dough on a piece of parchment paper that is 18 inches long. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough (on top of the parchment paper) into a 12 to 14 inch circle. The dough should be pretty thin (and the thickness of the dough determines the size of pizza in the end). I like mine very thin so I roll it out to about 1/4 inch in thickness. My husband likes a more “bready” pizza so I make one that is about 1/2 inch thick for him. The dough will rise a bit while baking and the very thin does not get crispy. I say try a few thicknesses out and see which you prefer.
- Top with 1 cup of pizza sauce, 1/4 cup grate Parmesan, 1 to 1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella, and toppings of your choice.
- When the pizza is all ready, slide the pizza, which is on the parchment paper, onto a rimless cookie sheet or one that is upside down. This will help you get the pizza to the oven.
- Open the oven and slide the pizza which is still on the parchment paper, from the cookie sheet onto the hot baking stone or hot cookie sheet. I just tug on the edge of the parchment paper with my hands and slide it on to the stone. BE CAREFUL! Your oven is set to 500. It’s super hot, obviously! Make sure the babies are out of the way and be careful when sliding the pizza into the oven.
- Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the top is bubbly and the edges are starting to brown. When the pizza is done, tug the edge of the parchment paper and slide the pizza back onto the cookie sheet you used to transfer it to the oven. Again, be careful!
- Let your stone reheat for 10 minutes. While the stone is heating, repeat the whole thing with the second half of the dough and bake the same way.
- Enjoy, enjoy enjoy!
- I serve it right off of the parchment paper (which gets all dark and cooked looking) or I’ll tear off a new piece and serve it on a crisp white sheet of parchment. Very pretty!
Notes
- This pizza dough can hang out in the fridge a LONG time (up to 72 hours) and it just gets chewier with time, that being said, I’ve skimped on the resting period too and it’s worked fine. If it’s only resting for the afternoon in the fridge, it’ll work too. Don’t get too hung up on the chilling time but do know that it does improve in texture and flavor over time.
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- Try different dough thicknesses to find your perfect balance of crispy and chewy.
- A preheated baking stone will give your crust a better texture by evenly distributing heat.
- When I let my kids pick what they want on it and then have them help me “decorate the pizza” aka add the toppings, they are much more likely to eat all the veggies. We love all the traditional vegetables – mushrooms, black olives, bell peppers, red onion, and diced tomato top our list.
When you make it in the morning and just let it sit through the day for an evening meal, do you still put it in the fridge until the last hour, or do you let it sit on the counter all day?
I just let it sit on the counter all day if I’m planning on using it the same day. I have actually left it on the counter overnight too without any issues!
Parchment paper is rated to 450 degrees since paper burns at 451. You don’t have any issues with it burning or fire hazards putting the parchment paper in a 500 degree oven? I just want to be sure before I do this.
Hi! Is there anyway this dough can sit in the fridge more than one night? Like if I made it on a Wednesday for a Friday night?
I think so! I’ve let mine sit that long. The dough tastes more like a sour dough and gets crunchier when cooked but it’s fabulous that way!
Can you freeze the dough?
I assume so, but I haven’t tried it and I have had much luck freezing dough in the past though I know it can be done.
Thanks for the recipe. I was so excited for tonight, but the dough never rose even after 2 hours at room temp. Then I did some research and saw that I used active dry yeast instead of instant yeast. I didn’t realize there was a difference (I’m not a baker) . Maybe you could specify in the ingredients “instant yeast” so others won’t make the mistake I did? I will plan on buying the instant kind and tying again soon. Looks like a good recipe though!
I made the same mistake, but didn’t throw the dough away. To my delight, the recipe still turned out fabulous! Thank you so much for this new staple in our weekly menu! Your blog rocks!
Am trying this now and my dough is not wet? Did I do something differently? Followed the measurements..thanks for your help!
Is it overly dry?? If it’s still a pretty typical dough you’ll be fine, but if it’s dry then I’d add a little more water. Your wheat flour might be a little more course than mine or just using more water.
Hmm a little bit dryer than normal but I popped it in the fridge and will fiddle with it tomorrow. Thanks!
I made this last night and it was delicious! I had never made homemade pizza before and never had whole wheat pizza. It was just as good as regular pizza. My dad loved it as well!! My whole family wanted the recipe.
Made this and it turned out perfect….except one thing! The parchment paper stuck to the bottom of my crust! Did you spray it before hand? Can I do this without putting the paper in the oven? I was skeptical to begin with but when you said the paper browns a bit I figured you were suppose to. What did I do wrong?
That’s crazy! Parchment doesn’t stick to anything 🙂 That really is odd. I used waxed paper once on accident and it was a mess, but I’ve never had parchment stick. Even if my pizza is really sticky and trying to pull the parchment paper back in (you know when you roll it out and the dough shrinks back in a little), it still always comes off clean after cooking. I bet that was annoying! I’m so curious as to what might have done that.
Well I figured it out! Looks like I made the same mistake you did and used waxed paper instead of parchment paper!! No wonder! Thanks so much for your response, I’ll get it right next time!
This was amazing!!! I’m not a yeast-rolling pin-fancy baking type person, but this was super easy, so don’t hesitate to make it even if “fancy” baking scares you! I’m also not a huge fan of thin crust (or whole wheat crust, TBH) but this was absolutely delicious, with a nice chewy crust. Even my husband, who does NOT branch out in his pizza choices (I’m lucky if I can convince him to go to Domino’s instead of Pizza Hut) devoured 4 pieces before mine was even done baking. He said he was “blown away”. Now he wants me to make taco pizza with the same crust next week!
I also brushed the edges of the crust with a garlic-butter sauce and sprinkled italian seasoning on it. Amazing, and the edges still didn’t burn.
Great idea with the garlic crust!!! Love a great review THANK YOU!