Bread Machine Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

This bread machine whole wheat pizza dough is great tasting, simple to make and adds some fiber to your family’s diet. This is NOT 100% whole wheat pizza dough. I find that 100% whole wheat dough can be too hard with very little “air” in the crust. Therefore, my dough recipe uses whole wheat flour and bread flour. The whole wheat flour provides the fiber and the bread flour provides the “rise” (and thus creates an airier crust).

Slice of Bread Machine Whole Wheat Pizza (with Red Peppers)

Please be aware that this is not the usual set & forget bread machine recipe. You have to shape the dough and your pizza needs to be finished in an oven (versus a bread machine). However, the prep work is minimal (as the bread machine handles the kneading & rising). It should only take you 10-15 minutes to prepare the ingredients and shape the pizza dough.

Pizza Dough Being Shaped On Cutting Board

Recipe Sections

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Helpful Hints
• Our Newsletter

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 Cups – Water (lukewarm) – 285 milliliters
• 4 Tablespoons – Olive Oil – 60 milliliters
• 2 Cups – Bread Flour – 240 grams
• 1 1/2 Cups – Whole Wheat Flour – 173 grams
• 1 Tablespoon – White Granulated Sugar – 12.5 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Salt – 5 milliliters
• 2 Teaspoons – Bread Machine Yeast – 10 milliliters – not active dry yeast

Serving size – 1 large pizza (8 large slices) or 2 small/medium pizzas (16 small/medium slices)

Equipment – Measuring cup & spoons, flexible spatula, oven mitts, pizza pans or baking sheets, large cutting board (or dough mat), oven… and of course, a bread machine!

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Whole Wheat Pizza Before Being Put In Oven

Instructions – How To Make The Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

• Unplug your bread machine and remove the bread pan.
• Place the water, olive oil and then the rest of the ingredients into the bread pan. You can make a little indent on top of the flour in order to avoid the yeast falling into the water (until the machine starts). Do not combine the salt with the yeast (as the salt can kill the yeast). Place the yeast & salt in separate parts of the bread pan.
• Place the bread pan (with ingredients) into the bread machine and then plug in the machine.
• Put your machine on the Dough setting and press the start button. In our Sunbeam bread machine, the kneading & rising on the dough setting takes about approximately 1:30 hours.
• When your bread machine has finished, unplug the machine & pour the dough onto a cutting board. Wear oven mitts (as the bread pan/bread machine may be hot). Sprinkle some flour on the cutting board (before you pour the dough) in order to avoid the dough sticking to the cutting board.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Shape the pizza dough into a round pizza shape. Don’t press down on the edges of the pizza. You want a little rim around the pizza. The higher edges will help to contain the sauce and cheese as the pizza bakes.
• The pizza dough can be used to create one large pizza or two small/medium pizzas.
• Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this dough successfully.

Instructions – How To Bake Your Whole Wheat Pizza

• Place the pizza-shaped dough on a non-stick baking sheet or pizza pan.
• Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce (or pizza sauce) on the pizza dough.
• Sprinkle on a layer of shredded cheese (i.e. Mozzarella cheese).
• Optional – Add some already cooked toppings (i.e. fried sausages or fried vegetables). These toppings should be pre-cooked because the pizza baking process may not cook them properly or safely.
• Bake pizza in the oven at 400 degrees for 18-22 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Baking time will vary due to the amount & variety of toppings and size & depth of the pizza dough. Check the pizza frequently after 15 minutes to ensure that it has been baked to perfection!
• Wear oven mitts to remove pizza from the oven.
• Place finished pizza on cutting board and cut into pizza slices. Enjoy!

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Related Bread Dad Sections

• Bread Machine Recipes
• Bread Recipes – Oven baked, etc.
• Banana Bread Recipes
• Cookie Recipes
• Sweet “Quick Bread” Recipes

Helpful Tips – Bread Machine Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

• The tips below are designed to help bread machine “novices” and/or people with limited baking experience.
• Click on our “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include our tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• If you do not have any whole wheat flour, you can try our regular Bread Machine Pizza Dough Recipe (which only uses bread flour or all purpose flour). It also uses Italian seasoning in order to give the dough a little extra taste of Italy! I do not use Italian seasoning in this whole wheat recipe as the spice taste seems to get lost in (or even conflict a little bit with) the whole wheat flavor.
• Use FRESH whole wheat flour or your pizza will taste strange (or even bad). Whole wheat flour has been refined less than all-purpose flour or bread flour. This means whole wheat flour has more of its natural bran and germ. Wheat bran & germ are rich in natural oils. Unfortunately, the presence of these oils also means that whole wheat flour is faster to spoil than all-purpose flour or bread flour.
• Whole wheat flour can spoil quickly (turn “rancid”) when left in your pantry at room temperature. Whole wheat flour does not last nearly as long as all-purpose flour or bread flour at room temperature. Whole wheat flour generally only lasts for 2-3 months at room temperature in the pantry. In contrast, white flour can last for 6-12 months at room temperature.
• For longer-term storage, whole wheat flour should be stored in the freezer or refrigerator in an airtight container (in order to prevent any moisture from reaching the flour).

• This recipe uses a mixture of whole wheat flour and bread flour. This helps to the pizza dough to rise and creates an “airier” & softer whole wheat pizza crust (while still providing lots of wheat fiber).
• If you substitute all purpose flour for the bread flour, your crust will have less rise (as all purpose flour has less gluten than bread flour). Less gluten means less ability to capture the CO2 put out by the yeast. Bread flour captures more of the yeast’s CO2 and thus will help you to create a softer & “airier” whole wheat pizza crust.
• According to Wikipedia, “Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called “soft” or “weak” if gluten content is low, and are called “hard” or “strong” if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or bread flour, is high in gluten, with 12% to 14% gluten content, and its dough has elastic toughness that holds its shape well once baked.”
• The pizza baking time will VARY based on the thickness of the bread machine whole wheat pizza dough and the toppings. If you make a thick pizza dough and add lots of extra toppings, your pizza will take longer to bake.
• If you use too much sauce & cheese, it can lead to pizza being too moist in the middle when it is removed from the oven. Start with a thin layer of sauce & cheese when making your first few homemade pizzas. As you get comfortable with the process, you can experiment and add more cheese, etc.

• If you would like a “crispier” pizza crust, you can bake the pizza dough in the oven for 7-8 minutes before adding toppings. After semi-baking the pizza dough, you should add the toppings (i.e. sauce, cheese & other toppings) and place the bread machine pizza back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
• If you would like a thicker crust, you should let your dough rise for 20 minutes on the baking sheet before putting the bread machine pizza in the oven (or adding any toppings). The yeast in the dough will rise naturally and make the dough thicker & airier.
• Optional – For extra thin crust pizza, some people like to use a roller to roll out the dough.
• Caution – For a soft & airy crust, you should use your hands to shape and flatten the dough. A rolling pin can squeeze out all of air pockets in the dough (created by the yeast) and this create a harder crust.
• If you want more tips on how to shape your bread machine whole wheat pizza dough, you might like to watch this YouTube video – How To Shape Pizza Dough
• In case you need some pizza topping ideas, some of the most popular pizza toppings in the US are pepperoni, extra cheese, bacon, sausage, onions, mushrooms, olives, green peppers, pineapple, spinach, etc. Of course, always use your family’s favorite pizza toppings… in order to prevent a riot!!

• Be careful moving your pizza dough from cutting board to the baking sheet. I like to semi-start the pizza dough shaping on the cutting board but finish it on the baking sheet. Make sure to add the toppings AFTER you have moved the dough to the baking sheet.
• You can make pizza dough in the morning and use it later in the day for a delicious dinner. Just place the dough in a greased bowl (with olive oil), cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place in the bowl in the refrigerator. About 30-60 minutes before you want to make your pizza, you should remove the bowl from the refrigerator and let the pizza dough warm up to room temperature. My thanks to Fran for this great tip!
• If you want to make lots of pizzas, you can make several rounds of pizza dough the day before the pizza “occasion”. Store the pizza dough in the refrigerator overnight. Just place each pizza dough ball in a bowl (whose interior has been lightly “greased” with olive oil), tightly cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap (so the pizza dough doesn’t dry out) and place the bowl in the refrigerator. FYI – As stated above, you will need to let each bowl of pizza dough warm up to room temperature before you use the dough to make pizza. This “warmup” usually takes about 30-60 minutes (after you have removed the bowl of dough from the refrigerator).
• Optional – You can also add a pinch of dried hot pepper flakes if you want to add a little “heat” to your pizza dough.

• Always use FRESH ingredients for the best results (i.e. fresh mozzarella, basil, flour, etc.). Stale ingredients can ruin the flavor or impact the rise of the dough (i.e. old yeast).
• If you do not have olive oil, you can use “neutral” flavored vegetable oils such as canola oil, corn oil, etc.
• If you liked this pizza recipe, you should also try our other “Italian restaurant” themed recipes for calzones, Italian bread, breadsticks, garlic bread, rolls, etc.
• This recipe uses bread machine yeast (instant yeast). It does NOT use active dry yeast.
• Bread machine yeast and instant yeast are not the same as active dry yeast. Bread machine yeast and instant yeast are added directly to the recipe’s ingredients. In contrast, active dry yeast must be activated in water/milk before being added to a recipe’s ingredients. If you try to use active dry yeast for this recipe, it is much less likely to work properly (as the recipe instructions & leavening time is based on the use of bread machine yeast). Examples of yeast that can be used for this recipe include Fleischmann’s Bread Machine Yeast, Fleischmann’s Instant Yeast, Saf Instant Yeast, Red Star Instant Yeast, etc. You should not use active dry yeasts for this recipe such as Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast, Red Star Active Dry Yeast, etc.

• When adding the yeast, it should be placed in a position that is separate from the salt (i.e. placed on opposite sides of the bread pan). Close contact with salt can kill or slow the growth of the yeast. I like to make a small “divot” on top of the flour in order to hold the yeast (separate from the salt & liquid) before the bread machine starts mixing the ingredients. Looks sort of like a flour volcano with a yeast crater in the middle.
• If you haven’t used your bread machine or bread maker in a long time, please buy some new bread machine yeast before making your pizza dough. Old yeast can die or lose its potency and this will lead to dough that does not rise properly. Bread machine yeast is not likely to be viable if it has been sitting in your pantry for years.
• Bread machine yeast loses its potency over time. Generally, bread machine yeast lasts for only 3-4 months after you have opened the bottle. However, if the yeast is exposed to air & moisture (i.e. the bottle not sealed tight) or exposed to higher temperatures, the yeast will expire even more quickly.
• Once you have opened the bottle that contains the bread machine yeast, the yeast will last longer if you store the bottle in the refrigerator or freezer. Just make sure the bottle is sealed tight (as yeast will deteriorate quickly if exposed to air, moisture and/or heat).
• Bread machine yeast in a bottle that has never been opened should last until the bottle’s “Best If Used By” date… but only if the bottle has been stored properly (i.e. in a refrigerator, freezer or in a dark, dry & cool spot in the pantry) and the bottle remains unopened.

• Do not use cold water to make your pizza dough. Cold water inhibits the yeast’s ability to grow. Try to use lukewarm or room temperature water. However, you should also be aware that the water should not be too hot because very hot water (i.e. boiling water) can kill the yeast.
• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (i.e. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (i.e. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (i.e. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with ovens & bread machines. They can get very hot.
• For more easy bread machine recipes (i.e. white bread or banana bread), please visit Bread Dad’s main section on Bread Machine Recipes.

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Related Bread Dad Sections

• Bread Machines – My favorites!
• Bread Machine Cookbooks
• Bread Machine Yeast
• Bread & Baking Tools
• Bread Mixes

Reference Sources

• Wikipedia, Bread Machine
• Wikipedia, Dietary Fiber
• Wikipedia, Pizza
• Wikipedia, Wheat Flour

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