I hope you guys are ready for a break from holiday recipes and ready to dive into some pizza! If you are enjoying time with family this year, pizza is sure to be a hit, and I recommend this whole wheat deep dish pizza dough recipe.
I prefer to have a whole wheat crust on pizza. Let me explain why. When you are trying to make a recipe healthier, it is hard to remove tasty ingredients and end up with something you love just as much.
It is much easier to make a recipe healthier by adding something healthy instead of removing those less healthy ingredients. Therefore, you can pile the cheese on this whole wheat deep dish pizza and not feel guilty!
Sauce on my Whole Wheat Deep Dish Pizza
Sauce is put on the top of a deep dish pizza because the crust takes extra time to cook. This way, the cheese won’t burn during the extra cook time.
I like to keep the sauce simple. Try mixing together canned crushed tomatoes with fresh minced garlic and basil, adding sugar and salt to taste.
Make the crust even flakier on this Whole Wheat Deep Dish Pizza Dough recipe
Using whole grains makes baked goods dense. Rolling butter into the crust helps to keep the whole grains moist and soft. If you want an even flakier crust, try using less whole wheat flour and more bread flour. 
- ⅔ cup water
- 1 tsp yeast
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 TBS cornmeal
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup bread flour
- 3 TBS canola oil, plus a splash, divided
- 2 TBS butter, softened
- Cheese, toppings, and sauce for the pizza
- Heat water to 100-110 degrees (or according to the yeast package for a liquid proof). Combine warmed water with yeast and sugar. Let rest until foamy. If it does not foam, discard and get fresh yeast (I should take 5-15 minutes).
- Meanwhile combine whole wheat flour, cornmeal, and salt in a large bowl. Pour in the yeast mixture and 2 TBS of the canola oil. Stir to combine. Mix in half of the bread flour. Dust a clean working surface with more bread flour and pour the dough on top, turning to coat it in flour. Knead the dough, adding more flour 1 TBS at a time when it sticks to your hands or the surface. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.
- Pour a splash of oil back into the large mixing bowl, place the dough ball into the oil and turn to coat. Let this rise in a warm place for 30 minutes to one hour.
- Press the dough out into a rectangle, and spread the softened butter over the top. Roll the rectangle up tightly, and press it flat, gently. Roll it up again (on the short side) and press the end seams together, forming a cinnamon roll-like ball (see pictures above).
- Let the buttered ball rest for another hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Pour the remaining tablespoon canola oil in a 10 inch cast iron skillet, or a round cake pan or springform pan, swirling to coat.
- Press the dough out into an 11 inch circle. (I like to do this on a piece of parchment paper over a 12 inch pizza pan as a guide) Transfer to the cast iron skillet (flip the dough on the parchment paper into the skillet). The dough should reach up the sides of the pan by about 1 inch. You can rework the dough in the skillet if necessary so that it fits properly.
- Fill with cheese, any toppings, and top with sauce.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.
