We make pizza every Friday, either using this spelt pizza dough recipe or my sourdough pizza dough (also made with 100% spelt flour). By making the dough at home I always know that I won’t have an upset stomach after, which is great! If you’re also a bit sensitive to gluten or just love the taste of spelt, this recipe is perfect for you.
The dough only needs just over an hour from start to finish. It’s a single-rise – the dough will get a long enough second rise while you’re adding sauce and toppings – for a thin-crust pizza. This recipe makes enough for two pizzas and we usually freeze half.
Pictured is my winter pizza recipe, but also topped with vegan mozzarella. I can only find this type at Fram Haga here in Gothenburg and it is far and away the best vegan cheese I’ve ever eaten. If you’re reading in the summertime, this vegan pesto pizza is also excellent.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Yeast: pictured is fresh yeast, which must be activated in the same way as traditional dry yeast. Instant yeast can be added along with the dry ingredients.
- Flour: pictured is a mix of light and whole grain spelt flour. Use all light spelt for a dough that’s more similar to plain wheat dough.
Step by Step
1. Mix wet ingredients: whisk the water, yeast, and oil together, then activate the yeast.
2. Add flour: stir in the flour and salt to form a sticky dough ball.
3. Knead: for 6-8 minutes, until the dough is soft and quite smooth.
4. Rise: set the dough in a warm, draft-free place to rise, covered, until doubled.
5. Form the crust: roll and press the dough out into a rough circle or your preferred shape.
6. Bake: add any desired toppings and bake until golden.
If you can’t see the recipe video, please watch it here on YouTube instead.
Recipe Notes
You can use a standing mixer for this recipe, but be careful not to over-mix the dough. Depending on the speed at which the mixer is set, usually 4-5 minutes will be plenty of time for kneading with spelt flour.
Pictured are two types of flour – these are light or sifted spelt, and whole grain spelt. I usually do around a 60:40 mix based on weight and prefer the flavour with a bit of whole grain flour mixed in, but note that doing a blend will result in a slightly denser crumb.
This is a fairly high hydration dough, but resist adding more flour when kneading. It will come together as you knead, and a bench scraper can be helpful. You want this higher hydration for a more open crumb.
I don’t have a pizza stone or pizza oven and haven’t tested making the pizza with either of these. This regular oven method works well.
How to Store
Storage: you can slow the rising time through refrigeration, but the uncooked dough can’t be stored for any length of time. Extend the proving period by 2-3 hours through refrigeration if nedded.
Freezing: uncooked dough can be frozen in an airtight container for up to a month. Thaw in the refrigerator, then roll out as usual and allow the dough to come back to room temperature before baking.
Expert Tips
- Use a damp tea towel: no need for plastic wrap. Just dampen your tea towel with a bit of water to prevent the top of the dough from drying out when rising.
- Do a longer rise for softer crust: if you like a really soft, pillowy crust rather than thin crust pizza, let the rolled out dough rest for 20-25 minutes before topping and baking.
- Check your yeast: dry or fresh, yeast should be stored in the refrigerator for longest shelf life. Test it by adding a pinch to a bit of warm water before starting to see if it’s still active.
More Spelt Flour Basics
Vegan Spelt Naan
Simple Spelt Bread
Spelt Sourdough Bread
Spelt Flour Buns
If you make this Spelt Pizza Dough or any other ancient grain bread recipes on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.
Spelt Flour Pizza Dough
Description
Ingredients
- 250 ml (1 cup) water room temperature
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast or ½ cube fresh yeast
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 400 grams (2 ⅔ cups) spelt flour
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Add the water and olive oil to a large mixing bowl and whisk in the yeast. Set aside for 10-15 minutes to allow the yeast to bloom. If using instant yeast, it can be added with the flour.250 ml (1 cup) water, 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast, 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Add the flour and salt, then mix with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms.400 grams (2 ⅔ cups) spelt flour, 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until fairly smooth and soft, about 6-8 minutes. Don't add more flour. Scrape the dough off the counter with a bench scraper if needed.
- Once kneaded, place the dough back into the mixing bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Set in a warm, draft-free place to rise until doubled in size, about one hour.
- Once the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 220°C (430°F) and gently punch the dough down to deflate. Divide the dough in half and freeze half for later, or make two pizzas now.
- Roll the dough out into a circle (or desired shape) to the thickness you'd like. Mine is usually about 1.5 cm at the edges and a little less than 1cm in the middle.
- Place the dough onto a lined or greased baking sheet and top with any desired toppings. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
I made this pizza with fresh milled spelt and everyone loved it! We made veggie, pepperoni, and margherita and boy did it taste good! The flavors were spot on with the thin crust. Definitely must try if you are considering this recipe!
I am curious if using 13.5 inch instead of 16 inch pizza- would you recommend splitting the dough 3 ways instead of 2 ways to get the thin crust? My husband wants more of this pizza so we bought 13.5in pizza pans instead of regular sized pizza pans.
Hi Ruth, thanks for your comment – I’m so glad you like the recipe. You definitely could split the dough three ways for a thin crust. I often do make three slightly smaller pizzas if serving a group.
Really great recipe! I added oregano and onion powder to the dough as well. Chef’s kiss 💋
I love your recipe. This is the second time I made the pizza dough. I cannot work the dough properly because of my weak wrists so today I tried with my stand mixer for 4 minutes. It came out quite sticky although I could manage it well once I sprinkled a bit of flour as I was shaping it. I used no. 5 which is a medium speed but I’m wondering if I should have used a lower speed. Nevertheless, it was well cook although quite thick so next time I will try to make it thinner. I would appreciate any suggestions with the speed and time for a stand mixer. Thank you very much for your recipe and help. Montserrat
Hi Montserrat, I think what might be helpful is letting the dough rest for a couple of minutes partway through kneading with the stand mixer. So mix for a bit, then stop the mixer and let the dough relax, and then continue mixing until it’s soft and smooth. I made this a couple of weeks ago with a stand mixer and that’s exactly what I did – about 5 minutes mixing time in total, on a low speed. Letting the dough rest again for a couple of minutes when shaping, if it’s tricky to roll out, will help with getting it thinner as well. I hope this is helpful!
Many thanks for your reply Alexandra.
Warm regards from Devon, UK
Montserrat
I gotta say I do like this recipe but I feel like your 1 2/3 cups flour is a typo because I tried it a few times when I first found this recipe and it’s like flour soup. So I have been experimenting for a while but I settled in on an extra cup of whole grain spelt flour which would make it 2 2/3 cups. It comes out perfect every time like that. Sometimes I proof my yeast now with a little maple sugar because I like the bottom crispier than without it. It’s good without the maple sugar too though as it’s like an airy inside of soft pretzel texture. I use an 11” x 7” rectangle baking sheet and get 12 slices. I do load it up with tops too and it’s fine!
Hi Bo, you’re right, it should be 2 2/3 – I make this recipe a lot but only ever use the weight measurements, so I never noticed that the cup measurement had a typo. Thanks for letting me know, it’s corrected now, and I’m happy you like the recipe.
Anytime, I am just glad we got that cleared up so everything makes sense again for me lol. I am trying my first taco pizza today with this pizza dough recipe. This is the only one I use now. Anyway I can’t wait to see how this turns out. Thanks again for a great spelt pizza dough recipe!
Loved this recipe. So so simple and made 2 perfect pizzas. Our guests agreed
Sorry but how much in grams is half of the cube fresh yeast? I always try to use fresh instead of dry… Thanks.
Hi there, half a cube is about 21 grams.
After having such a good experience with your other bread recipes I used this one this evening to make a white pizza with beetroot, honey and rocket. It was perfect! The dough was quite sticky but after working with it, it became soft and really easy to roll out and shape! When you wrote ‘ but the uncooked dough can’t be stored for any length of time.’ does this mean that it can’t be kept in the fridge for a few days like a wheat dough would? I froze the second half anyway but just checking how long can the dough be kept in the fridge after an initial rise (at room temp)? Thanks!
Hi Jackie, the dough isn’t meant to be refrigerated because it uses a standard amount of yeast. If refrigerated, it will over-prove and essentially explode out of its container – to prevent that for a dough that can be refrigerated for longer, it either needs less yeast or a higher fat content (butter gets so hard when refrigerated, for example, that it will prevent this from happening for longer). If you want to keep it in the fridge for a day, I would suggest reducing the amount of yeast used.