A meal that we all love is pizza! I think most others do, too.
These days I make a simple soaked pizza dough that is very versatile. You can add a little more water to make a softer dough and ultimately chewier crust, or a little less water for a stiffer dough and crispier crust. It can be topped with anything, made thin or thick, and it can be frozen partway through the process for homemade, healthy frozen pizza! It can even be used for other pizza-like dishes, such as breadsticks or focaccia.
Soaked Pizza Dough
Ingredients:
- 3 c. whole wheat flour
- 3 tbsp. coconut or olive oil
- 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 c. water
- 2 tsp. sea salt
- 3 tsp. yeast
Directions:
About 15 hours before you want to eat pizza, combine the flour, oil, and water in a glass bowl. I usually do this at night, and we eat the pizza for lunch or dinner. Occasionally I do it at breakfast time if it will be dinner.
Stir this up to form a dough. Use less water for stiffer dough (it will be crispier) and more water for a softer dough (it will be chewier). I usually don’t really measure, I just add a little more water until I achieve the consistency that I want. It’s pretty flexible, really.
Cover this and set it in a warm place overnight or for 8 – 12 hours.
The next day (or later), sprinkle with salt and yeast.
Use your hands to knead this in until it’s well mixed (you shouldn’t see any more yeast granules) and smooth and elastic.
Allow the dough to rise for a couple hours, until doubled. Soaked dough takes longer to rise than unsoaked dough.
Preheat the oven to 425. Spread the dough on a baking sheet. This will make roughly one 18×13 thin-ish crust, or two 12″ round pans. We often do a really thin large pizza and then a smaller thin pizza (with no sauce, for the kids).
At this point, bake the dough for 5 minutes. Prick it with a fork first if you remember to keep it flat; I usually forget and it works fine. Once it’s pre-baked, top it however you like and bake for an additional 10 – 15 minutes until the toppings are done and the crust is golden brown. Alternately, once it’s pre-baked and topped, wrap it up and freeze it to bake later (about 20 minutes from frozen).
Next week I’m going to show you how to make some delicious white pizza!
How do you like your pizza?
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This looks great! We used to go to Little Caesar’s for $5 pizza every Saturday, but now we make our own. Anything’s healthier than Little Caesar’s (especially after my husband got horribly, horribly sick from one of their pizzas, and their manager didn’t even care or act surprised) but I’ve been wishing for a better dough recipe. I’ll definitely make this one next time!
Question: don’t you need an acidic medium for the soaking to be effective? I didn’t think water was enough. Advice? (I’m sort of new to this soaking thing!)
Hi Amy,
Some say you do need an acidic medium, but Amanda Rose’s white paper on the topic showed that wheat easily gives up phytic acid with just warm water. Sometimes I use the acidic medium and sometimes not.
We love to make pizza! My son loves it with sausage, pepperoni, & LOTS of extra cheese. He doesn’t like veggies, so I sometimes mix some finely grated zucchini into the sauce. I love pizza with a little meat and lots of artichoke hearts, fresh tomatoes, herbs…and I have to agree with my son that plenty of cheese IS really good. 🙂 I had been wanting a recipe for a nutritious pizza dough without having to sprout & then dehydrate my wheat to make flour. You have no idea how perfect the timing on this is, since my sprouted flour is almost gone. THANK YOU!!
Do you think spelt flour would work in place of the whole wheat flour?
Sure!
This recipe is simple and delicious! My whole family loved it–even my pizza-snob husband. Thank you for bring pizza night back, healthier and better than ever!
[…] real! Learn to make soaked whole wheat pizza dough (use some white flour to make it lighter if your family isn’t “there yet,” but […]
Could I make several batches and freeze it so I could just thaw and use?
Yes. I have done that before. Or, you can pre-bake crusts for 5 min. and freeze at that point, or add toppings after the pre-baking and then freeze, so you have ready-made pizzas on hand!
This looks delish. Do you think brown rice flour would work??
Hi Nicole,
Not without some sort of gum (xanthan, etc.) because it would just pull apart. Or you could try adding eggs to it.
Hi Katie! I’m loving this recipe but I find I have to be careful with it as it so often sticks to the pan and is hard to get off. I have ruined several crusts…any tips? It seems it happens more if the crust is thinner…
Hi Abby,
I usually use butter or olive oil to coat the pan pretty well, and it’s better then.
I made this and it’s the fluffiest pizza crust. I used parchment paper on a large cookie sheet. Two meals for us.
[…] will first need to get the soaked pizza dough recipe that I posted last week and prepare that. It takes 12 – 18 hours before it’s […]