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This rye pizza dough cracker crust makes for a healthy & easy pizza night! Spread it with hummus for a vegan pizza, or simply pizza sauce and cheese.
This post was created in partnership with One Degree Organic Foods. All opinions are our own.
“They’re here!” It’s that moment when the baby is screaming, the oven timer’s dangerously close to needing your attention, you’re stirring a sizzling skillet, the peaches for your salad have gone moldy, and your tiny furball is seconds away from hurtling herself at lightning speed at the unwitting guests making their way up your front steps. True story, this weekend. In that moment, my mind panicked: “Why didn’t I just order takeout? What was I thinking making pizza for guests during my 5-month old’s witching hour?”
Years ago, I would have given up. Answered the door full of excuses, talking a mile a minute. Today, my mind snapped back into gear. “Cooking is your love language. You love making delicious, homemade nourishment for people. Breathe.” I took a breath, Alex tended to Larson. Our dog Luna stopped barking. We baked the cracker crust rye pizza dough, and loaded them with hummus and pesto white bean dip and all sorts of vegetables. Tomatoes stood in for my salad peaches. We laughed. Our guests toddler hit his head repeatedly on the corner of our table. Larson giggled. By the end of the night, it was all worth it. Keep reading for the cracker crust rye pizza dough recipe!
Related: Homemade Pizza for Beginners | Thin Crust Pizza Dough
How to make cracker crust rye pizza dough
And that’s why we do it. Making homemade, wholesome food that nourishes the people around our table is ultimately worth it to us. Because you could just order takeout pizza. But we developed this rye cracker crust to make an easier, healthier way to enjoy pizza at home. Made with rye flour and naturally plant-based, it’s one of our favorite vegan healthy dinner ideas. Here are a few of the features of this rye pizza dough cracker crust:
- It’s made with rye flour and whole wheat flour, making it fully whole grain.
- Rye flour adds a nutty flavor to the dough.
- Typical pizza dough requires yeast and a rise time. Since this is a cracker crust, there’s no rise time required. Just mix up the dough, roll out into a thin sheet, and bake.
- Essentially a vegan pizza, this rye pizza dough flatbread is fully plant-based. Spreading hummus onto the flatbread before topping with fresh vegetables and herbs adds a savory flavor that makes up for the lack of cheese. Or, you could go traditional with pizza sauce and cheese.
What is sprouted rye flour?
For this flatbread, we used sprouted rye flour. Why use sprouted flour versus conventional? Sprouted flours are less processed than the typical flour, have increased nutritional benefits, and are more easily digestible. If you’re able to access a sprouted flour, like this one from One Degree Organics, it’s a great added nutritional boost. (If not, you can also use conventional rye flour.)
When we served these rye pizza dough flatbreads to guests, we baked them up before the guests arrived and topped them right before eating. Spreading the cracker crusts with a savory, garlicky spread and topping with crunchy vegetables is a new take on “pizza night” that we all enjoyed–including the toddler! Three cracker crusts was the perfect portion for four adults. Here are a few ideas for serving this rye pizza dough cracker crust:
- This herby tomato flatbread got high marks: it’s covered in hummus and topped with fresh tomatoes and thinly sliced basil.
- Another variation we tried is with sauteed mushrooms, thinly sliced shallot, and this kale pesto white bean dip, also very good.
- On our final rye pizza dough crust, we used a combination of all of the ingredients and some goat cheese crumbles left over from our salad. Delicious!
- On a separate occasion, we’ve tried this rye pizza dough cracker crust spread with pizza sauce, mozzarella, and thinly sliced fresh basil. Instant pizza margherita!
We hope you enjoy this cracker crust version of a pizza night and that it fits into your list of healthy dinner ideas. We’d love to know what toppings you enjoy; let us know in the comments below.
Featured partner: One Degree Organics
We developed this recipe especially for One Degree Organic Foods and their sprouted rye flour. One Degree Organics is a family’s business we’ve connected with whose goal is to bring food straight from a farm to your table so there’s only one degree of separation between you and person who grew your food. All of One Degree’s products are sprouted, traceable, organic, and non-GMO project verified. An incredible amount of care goes into all of their products (sprouted grain flours, cereals, breads, and granolas), and it was easy to see the passion that drives this company forward.
Another feature we love is you can read about the story of the farmer behind your food by scanning a QR code on the product. The farmer for our rye flour is Bernie Ehnes; you can read about him here. In our work with One Degree, we create vegan recipes using their organic products. For another recipe example, see Chocolate Brownie Spelt Vegan Pancakes.
This recipe is…
This rye pizza dough cracker crust is vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, and refined sugar free.
Rye Pizza Dough Cracker Crust
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 flatbreads 1x
Description
This rye pizza dough cracker crust makes for a healthy & easy pizza night! Spread it with hummus for a vegan pizza, or simply pizza sauce and cheese.
Ingredients
For the rye cracker crust
- 1 cup rye flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¾ cup water
For the tomato flatbread
- 2 cups Classic Homemade Hummus or purchased high-quality hummus
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 1 handful fresh basil leaves
- 1 handful fresh chives
- 1 small shallot (optional)
- Kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 450F.
- In a large mixing bowl combine rye flour, whole wheat flour, kosher salt, and baking powder and stir to thoroughly combine. Add the olive oil and water, and stir until roughly combined. Turn onto floured surface and knead several times until smooth, adding a bit of flour if the dough is very sticky.
- Divide into even two balls.
- Place one dough on a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out one dough into a large oval, to very thin, just less than 1/8” (the shape can be somewhat irregular and free form). If the dough sticks, lightly dust it with flour and continue to roll (if necessary, turn the entire dough over and continue to roll). When the dough is rolled out, transfer the dough to a baking sheet (by rolling half of it up onto the rolling pin and gently placing it on the sheet). Prick the dough with a fork across the entire surface to prevent bubbles.
- Bake 7 minutes*, then remove from oven and flip. Bake another 5 to 7 minutes, until lightly browned on the outsides and crispy (ours needed 14 total for perfect crispness). If not lightly crisp, flip and continue to cook another minute or two until crispy. Keep in mind that all ovens are different, so watch closely! The goal is that the flatbread would be lightly browned at the edges and crisp: it should not be soft and supple (underdone, in which case it will be tough when serving) or dark brown (overdone, in which case it will shatter when cutting). Repeat with the remaining dough. If desired, crusts can be cooled and served a few hours after baking.
- When ready to serve, chop the cherry tomatoes (we cut them into eighths) and sprinkle them with a few pinches of kosher salt. Chiffonade the basil. Thinly slice the chives. If using shallot, thinly slice it into rings.
- Spread the crust with a layer of hummus and top with tomatoes and herbs. Cut into pieces (it is very crisp but can be cut with a knife or pizza cutter) and serve.
Notes
*Note: The timing for baking the crusts depends on how thick you roll the dough and your specific oven. Make sure to keep an eye on the first crust and then adjust timing accordingly. We’ve made these quite a bit, and worked out the thickness and timing for our oven; the goal is that it would be just crisp enough, but not too crisp or it will shatter when cutting.
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
wow, this looks so great :-)
Thank you so much! Let us know if you try it out!
love the rye-wheat flour combination, great recipe too, love the ingredients with a completely different serving than I’m used to, which are basically some form of crackers, this is much more elevated, so thank you for this recipe!
You are welcome! Let us know if you give it a try.