Homemade Healthy Pizzas

Homemade Healthy Pizzas

Making the dough from scratch teaches us what ingredients are in some of our common foods and here we can ensure it is all fresh and with a fabulous taste and texture. To speed up the process, you can purchase multigrain wraps as the pizza base, be careful not to burn them though. The dough can be covered in plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight or frozen (after it has doubled in size the first time), and then it can easily be brought back to room temperature before continuing the subsequent steps. Load up on the vegetable toppings, and try to limit additional sauces or deli meats to make it healthy and attractive.

Serves 2-3 (makes two thin crust 20cm pizzas)

Method:

Preparation: 2 hours (if making the dough)
Cooking: 5-6 minutes

To make the dough.
Put the yeast, salt, sugar and warm water in a small bowl and whisk until just combined. Gradually whisk in oil then leave in a warm place for 10 minutes or until the mixture starts to double.

Add the flour and knead for 15 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. At this point you can add herbs (such as the optional parsley). Rub the inside of a large bowl with olive oil. Roll the dough around the bowl to coat it with oil, then place in the bowl, cover with a clean cloth and leave in a draught-free place for 1-1.5 hours or until doubled in size.

Punch down the dough. Place the dough on a baking tray lined with baking paper, cover and leave in a draught-free spot for 15 minutes or until risen by half again. The dough is now ready to use!

Place a pizza stone or heavy-based oven tray in the oven and preheat to 250 degrees.

Lightly dust your workbench with semolina then roll out dough into two thin pizzas 20cm round. Place onto try and prick all over with a fork.

Spread the base with sauce then scatter remaining ingredients and season to taste.

Cook for 5-6 minutes or until the base is golden and crisp and the cheese has melted.

Nutrition Information (per serve)

(per serve if serving 3)

Energy: 1406kJ
Carbohydrates: 43.4g
Protein: 31.9g
Fat: 17.3g
Fibre: 3g
Salt: 1620mg

Ingredients

For the dough

  • 1 tsp dried active yeast
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 100ml warm water
  • 2 tsp olive oil plus extra for greasing
  • 160g plain flour sifted
  • Fresh parsley chopped (optional)

Pizza toppings

  • 2 tbsp tomato based pizza/pasta sauce
  • 150g lean shaved ham
  • 1 tomato sliced
  • A handful of reduced-fat  mozzarella cheese
  • ¼ cup olives pitted and thinly sliced
  • ~8 Semi-sundried tomatoes halves
  • ½ small capsicum thinly sliced
  • A handful of spinach

Notes:

Sourced: Adapted from John Lanzafame’s (World Pizza Champion) book “Pizza Modo Mio”

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