All musing aside, I love pizza and I'm always trying to figure out a way to feel less guilty indulging in it. That's why I was so excited when I found ready-made whole wheat pizza dough for sale at Trader Joes. I picked up a jar of their pizza sauce and nice log of mozzarella cheese. Now, don't get on my case for buying ready made items please! I'm sure that one day I will attempt to make healthy and delicious pizza from scratch, but I figured that this would be a nice simple way to wade into pizza-making.
I don't really have a recipe to offer you, except for the topping. I really wanted to make a healthier version of a pepperoni pizza, and after wading through the salted meats, I found that prosciutto had the least amount of fat and calories per serving. I took the prosciutto and layed it out on a cooling rack fitted inside a baking sheet. Then I baked it for around 20-30 minutes at 450 degrees until it was dark and crispy. I tell you, it tasted almost exactly like pepperoni! Not to mention that the flavor was so strong that I didn't even end up using it all. (You'll notice that a quarter of the pizza is missing the topping. That's because I was feeding a friend of mine who doesn't eat beef or pork products.)
The results? Well, frankly I wasn't crazy about the crust. It had the same tang to it that white whole wheat flour gives to baked goods. It doesn't seem to bother everyone, but I definitely notice it. Otherwise, the cheese and sauce were delicious and almost made up for the funny tasting crust. Maybe I'll just have to forego the whole grains and give the white flour crust a try.
4 comments:
I rather like the whole-wheat tang, but I can understand finding it unpleasant. Did you notice what the carb and fiber numbers were for a serving? I love pizza but it spikes my blood sugars like anything.
Stephen, I don't have the label anymore, but I looked it up and it seems to be 120 calories, 2g of fat and 4g of fiber per serving with 8 servings in the package. The amount of carbs wasn't listed unfortunately, but I'll try to remember to check next time I'm at Trader Joe's.
I love pizza, but as healthy as I try to make it, pizza does not love me. I love it enough to eat a whole 12-inch in one sitting after copious amounts of alcohol, so I guess it's my fault, not pizza's. That looks delicious. I like really thin crust though, I think that makes it healthier because bread is the devil. The best thing I can recommend is to roast a bulb (a BULB, not a CLOVE) of garlic in olive oil in the oven, season it, mash (remove the skin - this can be sucked) and add more oil. Pure. Dipping. Bliss...
They have an herb crust that I like, but I think the plain is best. The whole wheat one is kinda funky - you're right. I happen to like Whole Foods' pizza dough better, but Trader Joe's is awesome as well. Your 'za looks great. I'd eat a slice...or two!
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