Soft and yeasty, hearty and healthy. This Whole Wheat Pizza Dough is uncomplicated and perfect for healthy pizza night! It can even be refrigerated for a few days, or frozen, so your weeknight pizza making is a snap.
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Just about everyone loves pizza, and just about everyone knows most versions are not doing our health any favors. In fact, pizza as a whole, plus just about every element of it, are called out in the top 10 foods that contribute the most sodium to Americans' diets! Ouch. Pizza, bread products, cheese, and cured meats all make the list. Read more about Foods to Avoid If You Have High Blood Pressure.
Well, this pizza crust is a great, heart healthy, place to start for a much better-for-you pizza! If you're looking for healthy pizzas with a no-yeast crust, try our Healthy Pizza with Greek Yogurt Whole Wheat Crust, or Curry Chickpea and Mango Mini Pizzas.
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Heart Health Benefits of Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Our whole wheat pizza crust recipe uses ingredients known to contribute to lowering cholesterol, blood pressure, and inflammation. It serves as an excellent base upon which to build additional heart health benefits, by topping with ingredients like low sodium tomato sauce and loads of veggies flavored with herbs and spices.
Additionally, our use of yeast in fermenting (the rising process) the whole wheat flour, can increase the availability of important minerals like magnesium, iron, and zinc (1), contributing additional benefit to our pizza crust.
Macronutrients
If cut into 8 slices, this pizza crust will contribute only 98 calories per slice. It is a good source of fiber, which is almost completely lacking in regular pizza dough.
Micronutrients and Bioactive Components
Bioactive compounds are substances that have effects within the body that promote good health. Here are some of the most abundant bioactive compounds in whole wheat pizza dough:
- Insoluble fiber - (in whole wheat flour) type of fiber that does not dissolve in water, and helps add bulk to the stool, reducing constipation risk (2);
- Ferulic acid - (in whole wheat flour) a phenolic acid with strong antioxidant activity, it's one of the most well studied and most abundant phenolic acid in whole grains (3);
- Magnesium - (in whole wheat) a mineral with important roles in blood sugar control, muscle and nerve function, blood pressure regulation, and heart rhythm regulation (4);
- Monounsaturated fats - (in olive oil) type of fat molecule that can help lower LDL cholesterol, and provides nutrition to maintain and build you body's cells (5); and
- Hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein - (in olive oil) polyphenols that may be preventative against high blood pressure, stroke, and heart attack (6).
Ingredients
Here is what you'll need for this recipe, along with some applicable substitutions and notes.
- Whole wheat flour - lately I've been using Golden Wheat Whole Wheat Flour from King Arthur Baking Company. It's softer and lighter, and I've found it to be amazing for whole wheat baking. This is the same as white whole wheat flour, if you see that.
- Active Dry Yeast - just regular yeast for baking. Not quick rise, or the one for bread machines.
- Warm water
- Maple syrup - get 100% pure maple syrup for the most benefit. Honey can also be used.
- Salt
- Olive oil
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Here's how to make this whole wheat pizza dough. It is exactly like making any other pizza dough!
- Step 1: Start with warm water, between 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Step 2: Add the maple syrup and the yeast, and allow about 5 minutes for the yeast to activate.
- Step 3: Combine the flour and salt with a whisk.
- Step 4: Make sure your yeast mixture is foamy. If it's not, your yeast may be dead, or your water was too cold or hot.
- Step 5: Add the olive oil to the yeast.
- Step 6: Pour the yeast mixture into the flour mixture.
- Step 7: Stir to bring everything together into a loose, shaggy dough.
- Step 8: Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Add flour a little at a time as required to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and the surface.
- Step 9: Place the dough into an oiled bowl, and turn once to coat the whole thing.
- Step 10: Cover with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm place for an hour.
- Step 9: Divide the dough into two equal pieces and form into balls.
- Step 10: Wrap them in plastic wrap to store in the refrigerator or freeze, or...
- Step 9: Place on a floured surface to roll out.
- Step 10: Roll out to a circle of about 10-12 inches in diameter. Transfer to a baking sheet, add toppings as desired, and bake.
Hint: Use a rolling pin or your hands to roll and stretch the dough to a bit bigger than you ultimately want it, because the elasticity of the dough will cause it to contract just a little.
Equipment
Making pizza dough from scratch really doesn't require anything unusual.
Make sure you have measuring cups and spoons, a liquid measuring cup, a food thermometer, and a mixing bowl. While you can stretch the dough with your hands, I find using a rolling pin for most of the job works best.
Storage
Wrap the portioned raw dough loosely in plastic wrap or a plastic zipper bag (it will still expand a little more), and refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 6 months.
Thaw completely, and bring to room temperature before using for best results.
Healthy heart pro tip
This pizza crust is high fiber and low sodium, so it's a great place to start for a heart healthy pizza. It's really mainly about the toppings though! Choose low sodium and low in saturated fat toppings, like tons of veggies (sauté them first for best results!), low sodium tomato sauce, or olive oil sauces. Go easy on the cheese, or choose to omit it once in a while. Use herbs and spices liberally for extra flavor!
FAQ
This can happen for a few reasons. One may be that your water was too cold. It will take much longer to activate the yeast that way. Another is that the water was too hot. If that's the case, the yeast may have died. Lastly, your yeast may be too old. While I've had yeast work just fine far past the expiration date, if you can't get it activated, it may be dead, and you should replace it with new.
Just wait longer. If the temperature of your kitchen is on the cooler side, the dough will take longer to rise. Check in on it again in another half hour.
Related
Looking for other healthy pizza recipes? Try these:
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📖 Recipe
Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup Warm Water between 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit
- 2 ¼ teaspoon Active Dry Yeast 1 packet
- 1 tablespoon 100% Pure Maple Syrup
- 2 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 3 cups Whole Wheat Flour plus more for kneading and rolling out (We like Golden Whole Wheat Flour, or White Whole Wheat Flour for the best texture)
- ½ teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Make certain your water temperature is in the correct range, and add the yeast and maple syrup. Stir, and set aside for about 5 minutes to activate.
- Mix the flour and salt with a whisk, in a large mixing bowl.
- Once the yeast is activated and the mixture is foamy, add the olive oil to it, and pour it into the flour mixture.
- Mix until a dough forms.
- Turn out the dough onto a floured surface, and knead it for 10 minutes. Add more flour as needed to keep it from sticking to your hands and the surface.
- Form the dough into a tight ball, and put it into a large oiled bowl. Flip once to oil all the sides of the dough. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and put it in a warm place to rise for about an hour; until it has doubled in size.
- Now divide the dough into two equal pieces, and form into dough balls.
- The dough can now be stored for later, or used to make pizzas now.
To store for later:
- Refrigerate: Wrap the dough loosely in plastic wrap or a plastic zipper bag. The dough will rise a bit more in the refrigerator, so give it space! Use within 3 days.
- Freezer: Wrap tightly in plastic wrap or a plastic zipper bag, and freeze for up to 6 months. Thaw in the refrigerator completely before using.
To bake:
- Preheat the oven to 425° F.
- Lightly flour a flat surface, and roll out the dough to between 10-12 inches in diameter, depending on how thick you like your pizza.
- Move to a large baking sheet, and add desired toppings.
- Brush the edges with olive oil, if desired.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the crust is baked through, and starting to brown on the edges.
Nutrition
*Nutrition information is an estimate, and will change based on the brand and individual ingredients and amounts you use. This is provided for your convenience only.
Food safety
These are important safety tips for whole wheat pizza dough:
- Wash hands before beginning, whenever they are soiled, and after touching face, hair, pets, etc.
- Cook foods completely through
- Do not taste the raw dough. Even without raw eggs in it, raw flour is not a ready-to-eat product and can harbor illness-causing bacteria. Live yeast is also not safe to consume.
- Never leave cooking food unattended
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