We make this cheat’s pizza dough recipe almost every other Friday night. When we are not making Mexican burrito bowls or Thai green curry, then pizza is on the menu. This homemade pizza dough comes together in under 30 minutes and requires no bulk fermentation. We love this quick and easy, yeast-free and thin homemade pizza crust. Further you can put any of your favourite sauces, cheeses and toppings . Then just bake in a pre-heated oven and have your pizza ready in 30 minutes. That is almost as fast as any takeaway or pizza delivery option. Thus also making this pizza a great meal for movie nights at home. The key to nailing this pizza is using spelt flour for the dough and a cast iron griddle pan for baking it in the oven. More on that below. Besides this, all the other ingredients are pantry staples and should be readily accessible to everyone.
Cast Iron Pan for the Pizza Dough Recipe
Using a round cast iron griddle pan to bake the pizza in, is a good alternative to using a pizza stone. And a cast iron griddle is what I use to bake my pizza in as well. If you have a pizza stone, by all means go ahead and use it. However I do not own a pizza stone. Further I am always looking to reuse existing kitchen equipment/gadgets, instead of buying more gadgets. The beauty of cast iron pans and skillets is that you can cook on the stove top , then pop them into an oven to carry on the cooking (or baking). Cast iron gets super hot and spreads the heat evenly. So they are great for home baking breads and pizzas to create that nice charred effect of an outdoor charcoal oven. I know using, cleaning and maintaining cast iron cookware can be a nightmare for some folks. So do check out this useful article with lots of tips on how to buy, season and maintain cast iron cookware.
Making Homemade Spelt Pizza Dough
I am a big fan of baking with whole grains and flours. Spelt flour is an excellent variety of an ancient wheat grain. I use spelt flour in most of my baked goods that call for all purpose flour. Think loaf cakes, muffins, cookies and pizza bread. Spelt on its own has an adequate gluten content for baking but it is more water soluble. So spelt makes it easier to digest as compared to a normal processed wheat variety. More on spelt flour and its benefits here.
So do check out this easy spelt flour pizza dough recipe and try to bake using it. Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions or if you have any easy dinner recipes to share. If you like this recipe, please do leave a rating below. Don’t forget to tag #urbanfoodlover and follow along on Instagram for lots of foodie inspiration 🙂
Pizza Recipe Dough (Homemade and Yeast-free)
Equipment
- Oven, Cast Iron Griddle Pan
Ingredients
For the cheat Pizza Dough
- 300 grams whole spelt flour
- 150 ml luke warm water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
For the Basil Pesto sauce (vegan)
- 1 bunch sweet basil leaves
- 1/4 cup soaked cashews
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2 medium lemon squeezed
- 1 tsp sea salt
Instructions
For the cheat Pizza Dough
- Preheat an oven to 250 deg centigrade
- In a large mixing bowl assemble and mix together the spelt flour, baking powder, sea salt , olive oil and warm water
- Begin kneading the dough by hand or using a stand mixer for a few minutes until it all comes together in a round mass. Let it sit for 10 minutes
- As the dough is resting for 10 min, prep the toppings, cheese and pasta sauce (see the simple Basil pesto sauce below)
- Divide the dough into 2 balls. Then using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to make a circular shape the size of your cast iron skillet / pan.
- Put together the rolled dough onto the cast iron pan and evenly spread the pasta sauce, cheese and toppings of your choice.
- Then bake in a pre-heated oven for 8-10 minutes at 230 deg centigrade. Keep checking the oven to ensure the pizza base is not getting burnt as different ovens have different heating times.
- Repeat the process with the second half of the dough ball to bake the second pizza.
Simple Quick Basil Pesto Sauce (Vegan)
- In a high speed blender blend all the pesto ingredients . Then spread on the pizza base before baking
