- Prep-time: / Ready In:
- Makes 2 (8-inch) crusts
- Serving size: 1/12 of recipe
- Print/save recipe
Whole grain, oil-free, and vegan: Finding WFPB pizza crust in retail stores is a tall order. Engine 2-brand prepared crust (in the freezer aisle) and Trader Joe’s whole-wheat pizza dough (in the refrigerator aisle) are two good options. Fortunately, it’s easy to make your own crusts and keep them on hand for impromptu pizza nights.
This tasty WFPB pizza crust recipe is par-baked to ensure your final pizza comes out lightly crispy, not soggy. Simply make the dough, roll it out, and bake it roughly halfway through—that’s the par-baking step—before adding toppings and popping it back into the oven.
Experiment with your own topping combinations, or try these crusts with South-of-the-Border Pizza or Pizza with Creamed Spinach, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Red Onion, and Olives.
Or simply stash your par-baked crusts in the refrigerator or freezer for future use. (Pro tip: Place a piece of wax paper between two crusts if you’re storing them together.) Par-baked crusts will keep for about five days in the refrigerator or two months in the freezer.
Ingredients
For the Sponge
- 1 cup unflavored plant-based milk, room temperature
- ½ tablespoon date paste
- ½ tablespoon active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
For the Crust
- 1¼ cups whole wheat flour
- ½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- To make the sponge, gently heat the milk and date paste in a small saucepan over low heat to around 110°F, stirring to combine. Sprinkle the yeast and flour over the milk, cover pan, and set aside for 30 minutes in a warm place.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, and salt; mix well.
- Add the sponge to the flour mixture and knead to form a dough. If the dough is sticky, add more all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons at a time, until dough is soft and not too sticky. Cover the bowl with a cloth and keep in a warm place for an hour while dough rises.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the ball of dough on a flour-dusted work surface, and use a knife to cut the dough into 2 equal portions.
- Roll each portion of dough into 8-inch crusts; poke the crusts several times with the tines of a fork.
- Transfer the crusts to separate baking sheets.
- Place one of the baking sheets on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 15 minutes to cook the crust halfway through (this is called par-baking). Repeat this process with the second crust.
- Once removed from the oven, top the par-baked crusts with the pizza sauce and toppings of your choice, and return the pizzas to the oven to bake for 20 more minutes or until the toppings are cooked through.
Per serving (1/12 of recipe): 74 calories, 15 g carbohydrates, 2.6 g protein, 0.6 g total fat, 0.1 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 90 mg sodium, 1.7 g fiber, 0.9 g sugar
Note: Nutritional information is provided as an estimate only.
Comments (17)
(5 from 6 votes)In step one how much flour should you add to the pan to form the sponge? Also, then do you stir it or just let it sit there on top of the milk? I have a bad habit of not reading the directions all the way through the first time I make something So I accidentally added ALL of the flour in step one. Also, thank you to the person that mentioned the temperature. You should heat the milk up to.
Hi Angela, in step one you add 2 tablespoons of flour. Once you've added the yeast and flour to the sponge, you don't need to stir it, it's fine sitting on top. Let us know how it goes!
What is a good substitute for the dates?
Hi Sheri, You could use 1/2 tablespoon of another sweetener such as maple syrup or raw sugar.
I can’t eat dates. They trigger migraines. What can I use instead of date paste?
My first thought when I read this recipe is that they didn’t include how warm to heat the milk mixture, which would have been an issue when I was a new cook. Too hot will kill the yeast, too cold will not activate it. Active dry yeast likes temperatures of 100-110 F, so check for that before adding your yeast.
Hi Deb, We've updated the recipe to include the temperature instruction. Thanks for pointing this out!
How could I freeze these?
Easy and turned out crispy and yummy!
My dough didnt rise and I followed this exactly
Hi, Could I use all spelt flour instead of all purpose and whole wheat?
Delicious crust! Nice and crispy on the bottom. I par-baked it for only 7 minutes, and then baked it 13 minutes with the toppings on it. This will be my new ‘go to’ pizza crust. I can’t wait to make it again. The sponge method for the dough is time consuming, but definitely worth it!
Since when is all purpose flour a Whole Food???
It's not. But, from what I've seen, FOK recipes tend to be less about religious-fundamentalist-style adherence to absolutes, and more about maximizing the use of whole foods while creating recipes that appeal to a broad category of people (i.e. not serving a cheeseless veggie pizza, already a stretch for many, on a crust that amounts to a whole-wheat frisbee). So maybe not strictly WFPB, but still miles better for you than AP flour, oil, and too much salt.
We all loved this. I use it now for all of my FOK pizza recipes.
Great recipe but find tweaks that work for you! I always add cornmeal to the bottom of my pan before rolling the dough out. Also, I found that 15 min for the partake was entirely too long and resulted in tough, hard, overbaked crust. I partake for 8 min and then bake my pizza for about 10. It's a very good tasting crust! We've made it several times and it continues to be a favorite in our weekly rotation!
These are very good. They work! I like to add herbs like Rosemary! Mmmm!!!