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Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough

Tired of pizza to go? Have go-to pizza instead by freezing balls of dough or, even more convenient, shells. With one batch of dough, you have enough to make two large pizza shells or eight individual ones (see the recipe for individual pizzas).
Everyday Food, January 2009
  • Prep Time 20 minutes
  • Total Time 20 minutes plus rising
  • Yield Makes 2 1-pound balls
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Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups warm (115 degrees) water
  • 2 packets (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
  • 1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for bowl
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons coarse salt
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for kneading
  • 2 cups whole-wheat flour (spooned and leveled)

Directions

  1. Place water in a large bowl; sprinkle with yeast. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Brush another large bowl with oil.

  2. In bowl with yeast, whisk sugar, oil, and salt. Stir in flours with a wooden spoon until a sticky dough forms. Transfer to oiled bowl; brush top of dough with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; let stand in a warm spot until dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

  3. Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface. With floured hands, knead until smooth, about 15 seconds; divide into two balls.

  4. Set balls on a plate (they should not touch); freeze until firm, about 1 hour. Then freeze in a freezer bag up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in refrigerator.

  5. Divide each ball of dough into 4 pieces. Using your hands, stretch each piece into a 5-inch disk (if dough becomes too elastic to work with, let it rest a few minutes).

Cook's Note

Form the shells before freezing, and skip thawing before using. Pull out just what you need for tonight's dinner; bake as directed.

Recipe Reviews

  • kitchenkat
    29 Feb, 2012

    Great recipe. Easy and better than store-bought dough! Will definitely make this over and over again.

  • trikeridergal
    11 Feb, 2012

    1/4 ounce is .25 ounces. Excellent recipe!

  • kaylarae
    18 May, 2010

    wonderful crust recipe! I used 3 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 cup of white and it turned out great! So handy to have them ready to go in the freezer!

  • WImomma
    8 Feb, 2010

    Baking directions...450 degree oven for 18-20 minutes until crust is golden brown

  • missnecie
    29 Sep, 2009

    What are the baking directions for this, going from frozen crust to oven?

  • poweredbytofu
    8 Jun, 2009

    I love this recipe! I use 1/2 for pizza and then put the other 1/2 in the freezer to make stromboli!

  • Sandy39
    31 Mar, 2009

    Is there something I don't know about yeast doughs? Why do you have to make the dough into balls, freeze, thaw, shape into pizza crusts and freeze again? Why couldn't a person just shape the dough in pizza crusts and freeze them until you want to bake them?

  • joni732
    20 Mar, 2009

    I just went to the Fleischmanns website and it says 1 packet equals 2 1/2 tsps yeast.

  • tourtes
    18 Mar, 2009

    6 teaspoons = 1 ounce
    3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
    2 tablespoons = 1 ounce

  • alice34
    17 Mar, 2009

    They really meant .25 ounce packets. 2 of the little packeges are enough.
    Allice

  • Eclipse
    17 Mar, 2009

    If one packet = 2 1/4 tsp., then 2 packets = 4 1/2 tsp. = 1 1/2 T. since 3 t.= 1 T. Hope this helps.

  • nblack
    17 Mar, 2009

    Chefette86 is right. One packet of yeast is .25 oz or 2 1/4 tsp. I think they made a typo in the recipe by leaving out ".25" I prefer buying yeast in jars because it is so much cheaper. I make pizza a lot and I'm looking forward to trying this crust recipe. My latest favorite uses barbecue sauce, pepper jack cheese, shredded chicken and caramelized onions. Amazingly good!

  • TFriendly
    17 Mar, 2009

    WoW! That is a lot of yeast. I tbsp is enough. Use about a tbsp of honey and drop the sugar. I pre-bake the pies half way using a little Parmesan cheese and olive oil on top. Then freeze. Thaw out when ready and put on your toppings. Bake 350-400 degrees 15 minutes or less.

  • TFriendly
    17 Mar, 2009

    WoW! That is a lot of yeast. I tbsp is enough. Use about a tbsp of honey and drop the sugar. I pre-bake the pies half way using a little Parmesan cheese and olive oil on top. Then freeze. Thaw out when ready and put on your toppings. Bake 350-400 degrees 15 minutes or less.

  • TFriendly
    17 Mar, 2009

    WoW! That is a lot of yeast. I tbsp is enough. Use about a tbsp of honey and drop the sugar. I pre-bake the pies half way using a little Parmesan cheese and olive oil on top. Then freeze. Thaw out when ready and put on your toppings. Bake 350-400 degrees 15 minutes or less.

  • TFriendly
    17 Mar, 2009

    WoW! That is a lot of yeast. I tbsp is enough. Use about a tbsp of honey and drop the sugar. I pre-bake the pies half way using a little Parmesan cheese and olive oil on top. Then freeze. Thaw out when ready and put on your toppings. Bake 350-400 degrees 15 minutes or less.

  • TFriendly
    17 Mar, 2009

    WoW! That is a lot of yeast. I tbsp is enough. Use about a tbsp of honey and drop the sugar. I pre-bake the pies half way using a little Parmesan cheese and olive oil on top. Then freeze. Thaw out when ready and put on your toppings. Bake 350-400 degrees 15 minutes or less.

  • TFriendly
    17 Mar, 2009

    WoW! That is a lot of yeast. I tbsp is enough. Use about a tbsp of honey and drop the sugar. I pre-bake the pies half way using a little Parmesan cheese and olive oil on top. Then freeze. Thaw out when ready and put on your toppings. Bake 350-400 degrees 15 minutes or less.

  • TFriendly
    17 Mar, 2009

    WoW! That is a lot of yeast. I tbsp is enough. Use about a tbsp of honey and drop the sugar. I pre-bake the pies half way using a little Parmesan cheese and olive oil on top. Then freeze. Thaw out when ready and put on your toppings. Bake 350-400 degrees 15 minutes or less.

  • TFriendly
    17 Mar, 2009

    WoW! That is a lot of yeast. I tbsp is enough. Use about a tbsp of honey and drop the sugar. I pre-bake the pies half way using a little Parmesan cheese and olive oil on top. Then freeze. Thaw out when ready and put on your toppings. Bake 350-400 degrees 15 minutes or less.

  • TFriendly
    17 Mar, 2009

    WoW! That is a lot of yeast. I tbsp is enough. Use about a tbsp of honey and drop the sugar. I pre-bake the pies half way using a little Parmesan cheese and olive oil on top. Then freeze. Thaw out when ready and put on your toppings. Bake 350-400 degrees 15 minutes or less.

  • TFriendly
    17 Mar, 2009

    WoW! That is a lot of yeast. I tbsp is enough. Use about a tbsp of honey and drop the sugar. I pre-bake the pies half way using a little Parmesan cheese and olive oil on top. Then freeze. Thaw out when ready and put on your toppings. Bake 350-400 degrees 15 minutes or less.

  • sasserstrom
    14 Mar, 2009

    I'm confused about the yeast... My packets are .25 oz, which is the only way i've ever seen it in the store. But this says two packets ( ounce each), which means I would need EIGHT of my packets??? Then in the other comments someone asked about tsps vs. oz... I'm so confused. 8 packets of yeast seems like WAY too much... I'm going to scoop it out and measure 5 tsp, which is what chefette's comment says to do, and see how that works out. Clarification would be appreciated :)

  • shelleyj
    3 Mar, 2009

    LOVE this crust....and it's great to have it in the freezer.....gave the recipe to my daughter and they all love it too.....

    the whole wheat and white flour combo is great.....not to heavy...

  • chefette86
    2 Mar, 2009

    One packet of yeast is equal to 2 1/4 tsp, so for this recipe you would need 5tsp or 1Tbsp 2tsp.

  • kayjen
    1 Mar, 2009

    i need help converting 1/4 ounce of dry active yeast into tsp or tbsp.please e-mail me @ corrin-e@ hotmail.com .thank you

  • VWD
    15 Feb, 2009

    Fantastic, practical solution to a busy family with teenagers and conflicting schedules. So very much more healthy than those store-bought slabs of cardboard, fat and salt!
    Try low-fat ranch dressing as a base and a little bit of leftover chicken with veggies. Yum!

  • AHuff
    20 Jan, 2009

    This is a great recipe. Really easy, and very good. This is going into our regular dinner rotation.

  • tay2467
    17 Jan, 2009

    This is quite possibly the best pizza dough recipe I've ever seen! So easy and great for our fmaily of pizza lovers. I even tried freezing the individual pizza shells between layers of parchment paper WITHOUT freezing them seperately first, and it worked just fine...be careful when unpeeling the paper from the frozen shells, but this does save one more step for you busy cooks!