Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
A classic.
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Biga
- 150g whole wheat flour
- 115g water
- 5g salt (<1 tsp)
Preferment
- 75g whole wheat flour
- 60g water
- 1.5g instant yeast (<½ tsp)
- The Rest
- 25g whole wheat flour
- 25g honey or molasses (1 tbsp.)
- 12.5g olive oil (1 tbsp.)
1. Stir all ingredients for biga and cover.
2. Stir all ingredients for preferment and cover. (If using active dry yeast, add a full ½ tsp yeast to the water, warmed, and let sit for 15 minutes before adding flour.)
3. Let sit, at room temperature, for 1-12 hours.
4. In a stand mixer outfitted with a dough hook, add the preferment and then the biga on top, in chunks.
5. Add the honey and olive oil, and then the extra flour.
6. Stir on speed 1 until just combined, about one minute, and then on speed 3-4 for about 3 minutes.
7. Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead by hand for a few minutes.
8. Cover the dough and either place in the fridge for at least six hours or let it rise for at least one hour.
9. If you refrigerate the dough, let it come to room temperature for 1-2 hours before baking.
10. Preheat your oven to 500*.
11. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a thin circle.
12. Add toppings and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until crust has lightly browned.
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{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
I love making my own pizza dough, to me it tastes SO much better than anything you can buy from the store, especially since you can choose exactly what toppings you want and how much. love your pics!
This looks so delicious! Whenever I make pizza at home, my crust comes out soggy in the middle. Any tips for preventing this?
Since in fresh ingredient pizza, some of the vegies like to sweat out thier liquid.
…Namaste…Chef Jim
I like to brush a very light coating of good olive oil over the dough to help reject the moisture. Don’t put tomato’s within a 1/2 in. of the center of the pie. Sun dried are particularly good and no moisture , just drain on paper towels or clean cloth.
Make sure the oven is pre-heated.
I often like to make my pies in a cookie pan that I coat with peanut oil. It adds a nice flavor and seems to crisp the crust nicely. Sort of like a forcasia crust.
I love olive oil and use it for most white pies.
This is a start, hope it works for you. Nothing says lovin
I think this recipe gives me a good reason to buy a food scale!
Oh. YUM. I take it harassing Matt relentlessly worked?
This looks like a great recipe – can’t wait to give it a try. I’ve been hoping you would post it! Thanks!
Looks great. If I don’t own a mixer, can I knead the dough by hand?
Definitely! In fact, this dough can be pretty under-kneaded because if you let it sit long enough, it will develop some nice chewiness on its own. Also, pizza crust has a nice texture if it’s a little underkneaded. You might try kneaded it by just folding it a bunch with a stiff spatula.
Making this tonight! Can’t wait to try it out, looks yummy!!
Matt – just wanted to let you know, made this tonight and it is absolutely the BEST whole wheat pizza dough I’ve ever had, and the best pizza dough I’ve ever had..
Just one question, how did you shape yours? I wasn’t sure because it was so super stretchy..
This recipe is so easy too! Thanks for such a great one.
That’s definitely the key to this recipe – the dough is pretty loose because of the high amount of water. This allows for a lot of steam during baking, creating a bunch of air pockets in the dough, which gives it bigger volume but also more chewiness. To shape mine I just use as much flour as I need on the counter, give it a couple kneads, begin to roll out with a rolling pin, and then use my hands to gradually and patiently stretch to the right size.
What is Biga? Preferment? The Rest?
I didn’t know there were so many pizza dough-related vocabulary words that I had never heard!
Agreed! “The Rest” is throwing me off.
I love to know what it means to!! Did you ever find out?
Yaaaaaay! I used this recipe once and loved it…mostly the technique is what made it so much better than my other ww. crusts. Thanks so much Matt! Kath, give the guy a hug for re-posting. I’m so happy to see this again.
Thank you so much!
Matt, I just bought pizza dough from Great Harvest — should I bake it on 500*?
Because it has some sugar in it, I’d back it down to about 425-450 or the crust will get really dark.
this dough is amazing.
THANK U!!!!!!!!!!!!
what’s the Rest?
So exciting to see a whole wheat pizza crust recipe. Can’t wait to try it,
but it took 12 pieces of paper to print this recipe!
Planning on making this tonight! I’ll let you know how it is!
Hey there! There’s a little error in the recipe. It lists ‘The Rest’ as an ingredient, with the extra ingredients right after it, when ‘The Rest’ should have its own paragraph, and should be in bold just like ‘Biga’ and ‘Preferment’ – with the other ingredients following it.
So, I made it, and it turned out great! This crust is for people who like it thick and soft…which was fine by me! I would definitely turn to it when I make pizza again!
For others that may want to try out this recipe, I converted the grams into easier measurements (these are the measurements I used):
BIGA
-1 cup whole wheat flour
-1/2 cup water
-1 tsp salt
PREFERMENT
-1/2 cup whole wheat flour
-1/4 cup water
-1 tsp instant yeast
THE REST
-1/6 cup whole wheat flout
- 1 tbsp honey or malasses
- 1 tbsp olive oil
A little late… But THANK YOU! That is so useful….:)
Thanks for posting this recipe Matt. I’ve tried many different recipes for pizza dough and this is one of the best. I used a combination of KAF whole wheat white and Sir lancelot high gluten flour. Can’t wait to make it again.
My boyfriend and I loved the pizza dough! He was skeptical when I told him it was whole wheat but he really enjoyed it. Thanks for helping me convert him!
I just made the WW Pizza Dough – it is resting. I live in Colorado at 8,000 feet, I hope this works at my elevation. I make pizza dough every week and I was excited to find a WW recipe that everyone likes. Thanks Matt!
I just wanted to report back that the pizza dough was perfect at our elevation here in Evergreen, CO. Thank you for a great recipe and one that I will use often.
Yay!
Maybe I missed this but how much dough does this make? Based on the amounts should I double this for two big pizzas? Thank you!
It’s sorta a medium sized pizza… maybe even on the small side. If you’re afraid of not having enough, definitely make two or three!
Thanks, going to give this a try tomorrow!
This recipe was amazing! I have to say it was my first go at pizza and my first time using my stand mixer. So easy, so delicious. I will be using this recipe over and over. Thank you!
AMAZING. Making this dough recipe for the second time this week! I am going to try letting the preferment sit longer this time around.
Thanks so much for sharing Kath and Matt!
I love this pizza dough and make it for Friday night pizza nights! Do you know if it’s possible to freeze this dough if I make a double batch?
I think that should work
Did you ever try freezing?
Made for Christmas dinner with my kids, very good. Fantastic oven spring!
does it really say let it set 1 to 12 hrs, or is this a
typo?
Yes, the longer the more flavor