This is a wonderful recipe to make ahead and freeze. But it can be used at any time! Whenever I am planning my weekly menu and ask my husband for some requests, without fail I can rely on him to request pizza. We make it every two or so weeks at our place.
Homemade Pizza Crust
2 Tbls Yeast
2 cups water 110F
1 tsp sugar or honey
1 ½ cups water 110F
¼ cup honey
1 Tbls salt
8-10 cups whole wheat flour (or combination with kamut flour)
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Soaking Step
To receive the full nutrients and break down the phytates, try soaking the whole wheat flour in advance, otherwise, skip this step.
Combine 8-10 cups of flour. Add 3 cups of the total water requested in the recipe, substituting some of the water for about 3 Tablespoons of whey or kefir (or another acid medium). You can actually replace more of the water with kefir as desired (1 Tablespoon per cup is the basic requirements). After soaking, activate the yeast in the remaining 1/2 cup of water and 1 tsp of honey. You may need to add more flour to make a moist dough. Continue the recipe below.
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Preheat over to 500 degrees (if you are baking right away). Combine yeast, 2 cups of warm water, and a teaspoon of sugar or honey in a bowl, cover and let sit for 7-10 minutes. Add water, honey, and salt. Mix thoroughly. After dissolved, add flour bit by bit, beating thoroughly. After all flour is beated in; knead 5-10 minutes. Let rise for thicker pizza dough. Divide into four sections for four crusts. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
This works wonderful with all whole wheat flour (hard white or red wheat) or with a combination with kamut flour (provides a lighter texture). Whole wheat pastry flour makes it very crumbly. Great easy recipe and tastes fabulous!
Here are some topping recommendations (these are my hubby’s favorites!): Pepperoni, cheese, Italian sausage, green peppers, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, Parmesan cheese
Enjoy!
For the Freezer
Mix dough completely as instructed and then divide into 4 portions. Freeze the dough in individual Ziploc bags. You do not have to pre-bake the dough – simply put the dough immediately into the freezer. When you are ready to use, thaw in the refrigerator for several hours, bring to a room temperature and then roll out and assemble as desired.
How do you make the thick crust with that twirly pattern on your pizza?
That’s hard to explain without demonstrating. I curl it over with my hands. Fold and roll.
Hi Lindsay! Any chance you could video a quick demonstration of your twirly pizza crust pattern and put it on youtube? In all your spare time, of couse. (smile)
By the way, my grain mill arrived yesterday. My first batch of bread is rising now. I have left over flour, so I’m planning on suprising my dh with pizza for dinner!
I was also just thinking this week that I wanted to keep my eye open for a used yogurt maker, then I saw your crockpot yogurt post. How delightful. Now that’s next on my todo list.
Thanks for all your writing. It’s encouraged me in a plethora of ways!
My pizza crust recipe is basically the same (all the same ingredients). I haven’t been soaking mine, but that is the goal. I have been using Kamut flour & adding garlic powder, basil & oregano to the dough. It is the best pizza crust we have ever tasted! We have others raving about it, also.
If you have access to some Kamut, give it a try! It’s organic & unhybridized, has more nutrient value than wheat, and makes a lighter texture. Love the blog!
Brooke, thanks for the suggestion about Kamut. I do have it and use it mainly for pancakes. I will have to give this a try. You use only Kamut or do you mix it? I haven’t thought of that, mainly because it has tended to result in crumbly baking products in the past.
If I have plenty of the Kamut, I use it 100%. If not, I just mix it with hard wheat. In the pizza crust, it is so light & tasty. Much less dense and whole grain flavor than just whole wheat.
[...] have our own sides! If you are interested, here is a link to the recipe I used to make my crust: http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2007/11/tuesday-recipes-pizza-crust.html One recipe made 3 crusts. I used one and froze 2 of them. I have brushed butter with herbs and [...]
Hi Lindsey! I am again today, so blessed by your blog. I found several recipes I was looking for, and I love that even recipe hunting can turn me back to Christ, every time I visit your blog. Thanks! You have a very sweet ministry.
On another note, maybe you’ve already posted this somewhere, but what type of wheatberries do you use for different baking? Bread= hard red, pizza crust=hard white? that type of thing.
Also, do you freeze your pizza dough or the finished baked crust? Eryn
I freeze the pizza dough. IT works great! I wrote about the grains I use for different items in the Variety in your Grains post. Hope that helps!
I have a silly question. Do you add the toppings then bake, or prebake the crust then add toppings and bake again?
I roll out the crust, add the toppings and then bake. Pre-baking is not necessary.
Hi. I really like this blog and have learned so much. I would like to know after you freeze the dough how long do you let it unthaw before making into a pizza and do you let the crust rise before baking? My family really likes this pizza crust recipe. Thanks for sharing!
I usually pull out the crust and put it in my fridge in the morning before making it that evening. It will soften fairly quickly. I then will pull it out and place it on the counter for an hour or two prior to dinner to let it get to room temperature. It is much easier to roll out that way. Normally it will not rise after it has been frozen. The very first batch will rise, but if you freeze any additional batches they will not have such a rising affect. Hope that helps!
i just wanted to mention that I made this recipe (halving it) a week ago. I made a pizza and froze the other crust. Today I made two strombolies from it, just rolling it up, filling with torn up kale, broccoli, some leftover ground turkey, a little tomato sauce (actually your tomato soup recipe (my husband commented while we were eating that soup, that it would make a good pizza sauce!)), and a small crumble of queso fresco. I baked it for about 40 minutes at 350, and sprinkled a bit of parmesan on top of each portion. This was absolutely delicious. My girls gobbled it up and this is the only way I’ve been able to get my hubby to eat greens! They loved it.. So, further simplification… dual purpose recipe! Oh, also, I added a little bit of chives and garlic powder into the dough recipe.
We made this recipe for lunch today and it was a smashing success! I followed the soaking directions, only I added just 2 TB of vinegar (b/c I wasn’t brave enough to try 3 yet!) We could not taste any sourness at all (so next time I’ll do 3), and the dough stretched out beautifully so I could make thin crusts, just as my husband likes. I froze the extra dough for a quick meal later on. Thanks for another great recipe, Lindsay, and I especially appreciated the soaking directions!
I made this yesterday and it was so good! I work outside the home so I mixed the flour, water, and apple cider vinegar (as my acid medium)in the morning and proceeded with the recipe when I got home. It is so easy and my husband loved it!
I made your crust a few days ago (but didn’t soak) and really liked it. I’ll probably soak next time. I really like your blog!
What size pan are you using? Do you spray/oil it first or anything?
That is one wonderful looking pizza. We live in a small town and only have francise pizza so we prefer homemade. You mentioned that the crust doesn’t raise much after freezing??? Will it then be a thin-crust or does it still puff up some?
Thanks.
Gina
This makes four 15 inch crusts. Yes, I usually grease the pan with olive oil. The frozen versions still rise but not as much as the fresh crust, so it is more of a thin crust, but it also depends upon how thin you roll it out as well. You could make four smaller size crusts but make then thicker.
[...] Homemade Pizza + [...]
I am making this tonight for the first time and trying it out on a bunch of friends! I am so excited and hope it turns out well. Thanks for sharing. I just love your blog and am always so inspired and encouraged by so many of your posts. Thank you for loving the Lord and serving Him in your home.
I have a question. Since my son is allergic to wheat,how would I still make a pizza? What type of flour do you recommend?
I am not sure. I have seen other recipes on the web for gluten free pizza crusts. Check out epicurious.com.
My son is also allergic to wheat. He does not have celiac disease (which involves gluten), but is allergic to the bran in wheat, barley, and rye. If your son has the SAME allergy (to the bran) it may work to soak the flour before you use it (Lindsay gives instructions in this recipe). I have also found that if my son eats something with bran in it (like unsoaked whole wheat flour), if I give him pickles as soon as possible afterwards, his allergic reaction is either diminished or completely averted. Hope that helps!
This dough came out perfectly. I made it, then froze it for about two weeks, then we used it for pizza last night! We recently purchased a pizza stone, which has proved very useful for getting an evenly baked, crispy-but-not-burnt, and just downright tasty crust. After thawing the dough, it was easy to roll out. I didn’t have to use any flour. I will definitely be keeping this recipe!
Just a note on pizza stones: I love them! I had no idea that they could be used for baking cookies (giant cookie cake, anyone?), biscuits, and other bread items, but it works wonderfully for all those purposes!