Spelt Flour Pizza Dough
Speed - 95%
Simplicity - 95%
Tastiness - 98%
96%
Delicious!!
The dough came out very similar to a traditional pizza crust. Flavorful, airy, and a bit chewy.
Ingredients
For the Spelt Flour Pizza Dough
- 3 Cups Spelt Flour
- 1 Cup Water
- 2 Teaspoons Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Yeast
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
For the Toppings
- 1/3 Cup Mozzarella Cheese
- 1/3 Cup Parmesan cheese
- 1/3 Cup Cheddar Cheese
Instructions
- Combine yeast, sugar, salt, and warm water in a bowl. Leave for ten minutes.
- Stir in the yeast mixture into the spelt flour.
- Knead for 5-10 minutes.
- Leave the dough to rise for an hour in a lightly oiled bowl.
- Stretch the dough onto a pizza pan.
- Top your pizza.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes at 425F.
Out of all the alternative grain-based flours I’ve used for making gluten-free pizza doughs, I could say that this spelt flour version by far has come out having a texture very close to a typical pizza crust made out of all-purpose flour. Slightly more dense, but also a bit chewy just like any other bread.
That’s because it’s not gluten free. Many times it’s listed as such because it’s a wheat alternative, but it does actually contain gluten.
The ‘bready’ characteristics of this dough may certainly be attributed to the use of yeast in this recipe. The yeast gave it that freshly baked bread flavor and the airy, chewy texture with a decent amount of pull.
After activating the yeast with some sugar and warm water, its time to stir it into the spelt flour. Your dough will turn out really dry and crumbly at first but will develop into a smooth and shiny mass as you continue working on it.
Turn your dough onto a work surface and aggressively knead it for about 10 minutes until it turns out smooth. Don’t worry about overworking your dough.
Leave the dough to rise for about 30 minutes to an hour in a lightly oiled bowl.
Work the ball of dough into a pizza crust, sprinkling some flour like tapioca or rice flour to keep it from sticking to your hands and your work surface. You’ll notice how this dough feels so similar to an ordinary one – smooth and decently elastic.
Set your crust onto a pizza pan, forming the edges thicker to keep your toppings centered.
The dough looks and feels pretty much like an ordinary pizza crust. Hence, I’m enjoying this one as I would my favorite pizza – all cheese. Add any assortment of cheeses you wish or already have. I went with a simple mix of mozzarella, parmesan, and cheddar.
This bakes at 425F for 15-20 minutes or until that cheese is bubbly and well-gratinated.
Spelt Flour
Spelt flour is commonly included in lists of gluten-free flours and is even sometimes marketed as being wheat-free or a wheat alternative. But, as mentioned earlier, those claims are misleading. In particular, spelt flour does still contain gluten, which is why the dough in this recipe behaved in a similar way to wheat-containing flour.
So, what’s the difference?
Basically, spelt is a type of ancient grain, often referred to as ‘ancient wheat’. As that name suggests, spelt is closely related to the wheat that we use in modern flour. However, spelt has gone through much less manipulation and selective breeding. In theory, this difference can make it healthier overall and does result in some nutritional differences.
Indeed, many people swear by the health benefits of spelt flour, feeling that it truly is better than wheat flour for most purposes. It is also an especially common addition to artisan breads – although you can use it with basic recipes just as easily. You can even make wood-fired pizza using spelt.
This means that spelt is appealing as an alternative to wheat – but only for people who can tolerate gluten. If you can’t, you would need to look at another option, like coconut flour, almond flour or brown rice flour.
Personally, I loved the way this spelt flour pizza turned out and I would certainly try it again. If nothing else, the end result is appealing for anyone who simply wants a change from boring pizza dough.
Working With Spelt Flour
Spelt is fairly similar to wheat, which means that spelt flour should immediately feel familiar (like it did in this recipe). This similarity also means that you can typically substitute regular white flour with spelt flour at a 1:1 ratio. That makes cooking easy, even if the recipe wasn’t designed with spelt flour in mind.
However, one of the most common approaches is to use spelt and all-purpose flour in a 50:50 mix. Doing so helps make sure you get a good structure no matter what, particularly for bread and muffins. Still, you can easily use 100% spelt for recipes where less structure is required, such as options like pie crusts, pizza or flatbreads.
You could even substitute spelt flour into some of the flavored pizza dough recipes that I’ve made, like Beer-Infused Pizza Dough or Pimiento and Chili Pizza Dough.
Nevertheless, there are some key factors to consider. For one thing, spelt flour has a different taste to regular flour. It tends to be somewhat sweet and nutty. This is another reason why many people choose spelt flour over regular wheat flour.
Another aspect is the gluten, which behaves in a slightly different manner than you may expect. With wheat flour, the gluten tends to be resilient. This is why a long kneading time is often needed. In contrast, the gluten in spelt bread breaks down faster. So, overmixing can result in a crumbly texture.
That issue is particularly significant if spelt is the only flour that you’re using. Still, with a little experimentation, it’s easy enough to get accustomed to the differences and learn what kneading time will suit the recipe you’re following.
Ingredients
For the Spelt Flour Pizza Dough
- 3 Cups Spelt Flour
- 1 Cup Water
- 2 Teaspoons Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Yeast
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
For the Toppings
- 1/3 Cup Mozzarella Cheese
- 1/3 Cup Parmesan cheese
- 1/3 Cup Cheddar Cheese
Instructions
- Combine yeast, sugar, salt, and warm water in a bowl. Leave for ten minutes.
- Stir in the yeast mixture into the spelt flour.
- Knead for 5-10 minutes.
- Leave the dough to rise for an hour in a lightly oiled bowl.
- Stretch the dough onto a pizza pan.
- Top your pizza.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes at 425F.
Raylene Fraser
I tried this recipe today using my thermomix instead and it was a complete flop wasting at least $7 worth of flour!! Im really keen to use this type of flour as my daughters health requires it but this is the 2nd time and im feeling pretty discouraged at this point of time. Any helpful tips would be much appreciated as i cannot afford to keep wasting ingredients. cheers
Raylene
Food For Net
Have you tried making it by hand like in the photos? If your dough is sticky, perhaps reduce the amount of water. Add it gradually until you get a firmness that you want. You can also try one of our other pizza dough recipes (most are made with non-wheat flour.
Holly
I have found that kneading spelt flour only requires half the time of wheat flour. Less kneading and less water as wheat
Raylene Fraser
The end result with my pizza dough was quite a sticky and gooey texture with no firmness at all. maybe this recipe is not suited for making in a thermomix.