This is a whole wheat pizza dough recipe for a beautiful thin crust pizza dough. Delicious nutty flavor in a perfect chewy crust. Step-by-step photos included, as well as directions for preparation with or without a stand-mixer.

a rolling pin on a mound of whole wheat dough

I love homemade pizza especially when I make the dough myself, and this one is my favorite. It’s not that I consider it healthier with the whole wheat or anything other than the fact that I LOVE the flavor.

Honey, olive oil, nutty whole wheat flavor. I find this recipe easier to make than others, more dependable, and just tastier for the types of pizza I make on a regular basis.

This is a recipe for thin crust pizza dough. It makes enough for two large-ish pizzas. I’ve used it a dozen times and find the recipe reliable and dependable when I want to get my Friday-night-pizza-night going on with little fuss about it.

uncooked dough rolled out with a layer of sauce on top

Ingredients

Ingredients for whole wheat pizza dough are thusly:

Sugar, warm water, and yeast to get the process started.
Olive oil, honey, and salt for flavor.
Whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour.

We need the bit of all-purpose flour to get the gluten magic happening and ensure a stretchy dough that can be formed into a pizza pie. But that is really the only reason it’s there.

The whole wheat flour, honey, yeast, salt, and touch of olive oil are what bring this very special recipe such delicious flavor.

collage of 2 photos showing the preparation for the first rise — Left: proofing the yeast. Right: the assembled dough after kneading.

Stages for making this pizza dough

Like making any bread dough, we need to break this down into stages. But start to finish, this dough takes less than 2-1/2 hours to make.

First rise.
Second rise.
Make and bake the pizza pie.

dough hook lifting up dough to show how it is stretchy after the kneading — Perfect stretchy dough after kneading.

Stage 1: Assemble the dough for the first rise.

In the recipe card below, I included instructions for preparation with or without a stand-mixer. Either way, the process is the same:

Allow the yeast to proof. First, we need to wake up the yeast. This is done in warm (not hot) water with a little sugar as incentive.
Add the rest of the ingredients and knead. Kneading is important for this recipe – the only time I have had it fail was when I didn’t knead well enough. It is a whole wheat recipe, but we need that stretch or there will be no pizza pie.
First rise. At this point, we just let the dough sit and let the yeast do its thing.

view of the dough on a white marble surface after the first rise — Dough after the first rise.

Stage 2: Divide dough and rise again.

Also in common with bread and dough recipes, we need a second rise to develop more flavor and improve the texture of the dough.

Turn the dough on a surface, give a quick knead, then divide dough in half. A dough spatula helps, but a sharp knife works just as well.
Form each dough half lightly into a ball. Don’t manhandle the dough, just a little turn-turn and we’re good.
Put each ball in a bowl for the second rise.
Wait again while the yeast does its thing again.

collage of 4 photos showing the process for the second rise — This is the process after the first rise: quick knead to smooth the dough, divide, form 2 balls, and proceed with the second rise.

top down view of the dough after the second rise — Dough after the second rise, ready for rolling and baking.

Stage 3: Assemble and cook pizzas.

So I give some direction in the recipe card below of how I generally use this pizza dough, but it is flexible and can vary with the thickness you go with, toppings, etc.

Regardless of my particular pizza recipe, one thing I ALWAYS do is preheat my pizza stone in the oven while it preheats, then even some more.

The reason is because in a conventional home oven, the challenge is to get the pizza crust to cook all the way through and not be undercooked in the middle.

So by preheating the stone, we dramatically increase our chance for success and a yummy dinner.

the dough rolled out with on a marble surface

Extra tips and nuggets of info

The oil and honey give this dough flavor and help it to cook crisp, as does the preheated pizza stone.
The initial kneading to create the gluten makes the dough stretchy. This step is especially important.
I highly recommend investing in a stand-mixer with a dough hook attachment and a pizza stone if you intend to make pizza regularly. Both appliances help you get the best results with much less effort. Win-win.
Preheating the pizza stone or bake sheet in the oven helps ensure the entire pizza crust cooks. We don’t want to be soggy in the middle.

a cooked cheese pizza showing cooked crust — Toppings for this pizza are in the paragraph below.

Need pizza ideas to use this dough?

Homemade Pizza Sauce.
Buffalo Turkey (or Chicken) Pizza.
Random Veggie Pizza.
Slow Cooker Barbecue Pulled Pork Pizza.
Cheese Pizza (pictured above). Use Homemade Pizza Sauce, thick shred mozzarella, Italian blend shredded cheese, and fresh mozzarella for a simple but extra yummy cheese pizza.
Pepperoni pineapple pizza (my son’s favorite). Layer Homemade Pizza Sauce, pineapple tidbits, mozzarella, Italian blend shredded cheese, and pepperoni.