Make the most delicious Neapolitan pizza dough using whole wheat flour. After going to culinary school in Italy, I can share all my knowledge about baking pizza from scratch to give you the best whole wheat flour pizza crust.
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When I attended culinary school in Italy, I learned how to make many different types of dough for pizza. Pretty much every Friday night, we would have a big pizza party and although I loved eating the pizza, I enjoyed preparing the dough even more.
Pizza Napoletana has a thick and airy dough, which originated from the city of Naples in the region of Campania. Many people, including myself, really enjoy a whole wheat pizza, so I was determined to create a Neapolitan-style dough with whole wheat flour.
After plenty of recipe testing, I created this amazing pizza dough which uses a combination of bread flour and whole wheat flour to make for a super complex and delicious flavor.
If you love this whole wheat pizza recipe, check out my classic Neapolitan pizza dough and a version using all-purpose flour.
Jump to:
What You'll Learn In This Recipe
- The key techniques for perfect whole wheat Neapolitan pizza crust.
- Helpful tips and tricks for getting your pizza to be a perfect circle.
- Cooking instructions for a home oven and a pizza oven.
Want to make the best Italian pizza? Grab a list of 85+ Italian pizza topping ideas.
Ingredients You Need
While whole wheat flour is not often used for Neapolitan pizza (you can learn more about the strict regulations), it provides a great flavor to the pizza crust. Here's what you'll need to make it:
Whole wheat flour: Whole wheat flour is super flavorful. It has significantly more nutrients than white flour, making it both healthier and tastier when baked. Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks to using exclusively whole wheat flour in the pizza dough, which is why this recipe includes both bread flour and whole wheat flour.
Bread flour: Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour. This is what helps give the pizza its iconic light and chewy texture. Don't be tempted to use all-purpose flour as a substitute. Instead, you can try my all-purpose pizza dough recipe.
Active dry yeast: Yeast is an essential ingredient for creating an airy and light texture. Don't use instant yeast for this pizza dough. The key to quality pizza dough is slow fermentation (rest) in a cold environment. Because of this, you need to use either active dry yeast or fresh yeast (1 gram of dry = 3 grams of fresh).
Water: For flour to form gluten, water has to be added. You don’t need any specific kind of filtered water for this recipe, as tap water will work just fine.
Fine sea salt: Salt provides some flavor to the dough as well as helps the dough hold its shape. I prefer to use fine sea salt (not coarse kosher salt) because it distributes better throughout the dough.
How To Make This Recipe
Time to roll up your sleeves and jump into the process of making delicious whole wheat Neapolitan pizza crust.
1. The first step of this pizza-making process is combining the salt and water in a bowl. Whisk them together until the salt is dissolved.
2. Be sure your stand mixer has the dough hook attached. Then, add the water and salt mixture along with the bread flour to the mixing bowl. Turn your mixer on to a medium speed and let this combine until a loose dough forms.
If you don’t have a stand mixer, check out the recipe card below for hand-kneading instructions.
When you have a loose dough, add the whole wheat flour and the yeast. Keep mixing on medium speed for 7 more minutes.
3. After 7 minutes, your final dough should look like this. It is essential to allow the dough to mix for the full 7 minutes to ensure the proper amount of gluten forms. This is what gives the dough the ideal texture and flavor.
4. The best way to check if the dough is fully kneaded and has come together is by performing the windowpane test.
For this test, pinch off a small piece of the dough and slowly stretch it out as seen in the picture. As the dough stretches, it should stay together until it’s thin enough to see light through it. If you stretch the dough and it breaks right away, continue kneading. When the dough doesn’t tear, you can move on to the next step.
5. Now that your dough is formed, remove it from the mixing bowl and roll it into a tight ball.
Place the tightly rolled dough ball in a large, lightly oiled mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave this to rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
6. After waiting patiently for an hour, it’s time to measure out the 5 individual dough balls. Use a digital kitchen scale to weigh out five- 9.9 ounce (280 gram) portions.
7. Now that you have 5 equal pieces of dough, it’s time to roll the dough balls. Begin by rolling the dough into a rough ball.
Then, cup your hand slightly, and as you pull the dough ball towards yourself, push the dough against the counter. Repeat this cupping movement a few times, slightly rotating the dough ball as you go. You can use a bench scraper to help with this part.
It is super important to make sure your individual dough balls are as evenly round and tightly rolled as possible. The rounder the dough ball, the easier it will be to make a perfectly circular pizza.
8. With your dough balls rolled, use a lightly oiled storage container to place these roughly 3 inches (7 cm) apart from each other. You need the space between the dough balls because while they ferment, the dough will grow.
Seal the container with plastic wrap. I love to use this dough-proofing box to store my pizza dough since it holds the portions perfectly.
Place the dough in the fridge to store for 48 hours to develop flavor. I know this seems like a long time to wait, but if you cut this corner, your pizza dough will not have as much flavor. This 48-hour waiting period is what gives Italian Neapolitan pizza dough its unique texture and taste.
9. When you are ready to cook, preheat your oven to 450ºF (230ºC) or your pizza oven to 810ºF (432ºC). If you are using a regular oven, I suggest placing a pizza stone in the center rack while the oven preheats.
With the oven heating, remove the pizza dough from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature.
Find a place where you’re planning to shape your pizzas. Clean it and then dust it with flour before you begin. Start by flattening one dough ball slightly with your hands. Then, use your fingers to gently indent where the crust is going to be.
10. Once you’ve formed the circular indent, use the outer palm of your hand to gently stretch the dough until it is 13 inches (33 cm) in diameter with an even thickness all around.
33 centimeters is the standard size for a Neapolitan pizza in Italy. In some Italian pizza competitions, you will be disqualified if your pizza is too big or too small.
11. To help form the dough, hang it on your knuckles and allow gravity to pull it downwards. As each part of the dough stretches, rotate to ensure an even roundness. Do not use your fingertips for the dough shaping as they may cause a hole to rip.
12. Before placing the dough back down on the work surface. Be sure there is a layer of flour to avoid any sticking. Then, top your pizza with tomato sauce.
13. Depending on whether you’re using a regular oven or a pizza oven (I love my Ooni Koda oven), the cooking time will differ. Either way, you want to bake until your crust is golden brown and the dough is fully cooked on the bottom. After the pizza is baked, top it with fresh mozzarella cheese and fresh basil.
These are the traditional toppings for a pizza Napoletana, but you can top your homemade pizza with whatever ingredients your heart desires.
Expert Tips
- Making pizza dough requires very few steps, but these steps are all very important for achieving the desired pizza. Be sure to follow each step carefully and avoid cutting corners to guarantee a quality end product.
- Just like everything in life, practice makes perfect. Don’t beat yourself up if you have an oval-shaped pizza, or accidentally rip a hole in your dough. The more delicious homemade pizzas you make, the better you’ll get.
- Neapolitan pizza is traditionally topped with simple tomato sauce, fresh basil, and fresh mozzarella (buffalo mozzarella) or fior di latte. Wait until after the pizza is cooked to add the cheese and the basil.
Recipe FAQs
If you want flavorful and perfectly textured pizza dough, then yes. The cold fermentation in the refrigerator allows the flavors to develop the longer it rests. If you don’t have time to wait the full 48 hours, I strongly recommend at least letting the dough rest overnight (12 hours).
If you notice the dough is very tough, here are some things to check:
1. Did you fully knead the dough and perform the windowpane test? To test that the dough is ready, pinch off a little piece and stretch it out. The dough should stretch thin enough that you can see light through the dough without any tearing. If the dough breaks right away, continue kneading.
2. Check that your yeast is alive. You can add the yeast, along with a pinch of sugar to water heated to 100°F (38°C). If the yeast does not become foamy after 5 minutes, it's likely dead. You should replace the yeast and make the dough again.
3. Be sure not to overcook the dough in the oven or pizza oven.
Round pizzas come with practice. If you notice your pizza isn't perfectly circular, don't worry, it will still taste delicious. Keep working on your technique for stretching pizza. You have to allow gravity to help you stretch the dough.
If the hole is small enough, you can gently pinch the dough back together. If you rip a big enough hole, you may just need to start over!
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Whole Wheat Neapolitan Pizza Dough
Equipment
- bench scraper
- kitchen scale
- pizza stone or pizza oven
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups water (70°F or 21°C)
- 4 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 5 ¾ cups, plus more for stretching the dough bread flour
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon active dry yeast
- pizza sauce for serving
- fresh mozzarella for serving
- fresh basil for serving
- extra virgin olive oil for serving
Instructions
- Whisk together water and salt until combined.
- To a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook add the water mixture along with the bread flour. Mix on medium speed until a loose dough forms. Add the whole wheat flour and yeast, then continue mixing on medium speed for 7 minutes. To test that the dough is ready, pinch off a little piece and stretch it out. The dough should stretch thin enough that you can see light through the dough without any tearing. If the dough breaks right away, continue kneading. If at any time your mixer becomes too hot, take a break or begin hand kneading (see notes below).
- Roll the dough into a tight ball, then place it in a lightly oiled mixing bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 1 hour.
- Divide dough into five 9.9 ounces (280 grams) portions using a bench scraper. Roll each piece of dough into a tight ball. Place rolled dough balls into a lightly greased storage container roughly 3 inches (7 cm) apart from each other and tightly secure with plastic wrap.
- Store the dough in the refrigerator for 48 hours to develop flavor.
- When you're ready to cook the pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature. Arrange the oven rack to the center of the oven. Place a pizza stone on the rack, then heat oven to 450°F (230°C). Allow the oven and pizza stone to preheat for at least 30 minutes. Alternatively, heat pizza oven to 810°F (432°C).
- Lightly flour a clean work surface. Pour some additional flour into a mixing bowl. Grab a dough ball with a bench scraper, place in the mixing bowl, and cover both sides in flour. Flatten one dough ball slightly with your hands, then use your fingers to make an indent for the crust. Once the dough is circular, use the outer palm of your hand to continue stretching the dough until it reaches a 13 inch (33 cm) circle with even thickness. To help stretch the dough, hang it on your knuckles and allow gravity to pull it downwards.
- Top the dough with tomato sauce and transfer with a pizza peel to a pizza stone dusted with cornmeal and bake for 10 - 14 minutes until the crust is golden brown. If you are using a pizza oven, bake for 60 - 90 seconds, rotating as needed, until the crust is golden brown and the bottom of the dough is fully cooked. Once the pizza comes out of the oven, while it’s still hot, top with fresh mozzarella, basil, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Repeat with remaining dough balls.
Jeff
I really enjoyed this pizza crust! The flavor was amazing