Homemade Healthy Pizza Recipe
Easy to make pizza recipe from the basics without any processed food, colorants or artificial ingredients. Just like we were in Italy.
Although, it takes a bit longer than pick up the phone and order pizza from the local restaurant, with this easy pizza recipe anyone can please oneself on any weekday or weekend. Unfortunately it isn’t as low in carbohydrates as the ones we make from cauliflower or buckwheat but this is the closest to low carb pizza as we can get using the original ingredients.
The best thing is that it doesn’t have sugar, preservatives or any additives that we don’t put there. It’s as plain as could be wished for. This is the very basic recipe without any bells and whistles. When this stage is mastered we have built a very strong foundation for further expansions.
There are endless variation to play with the sauce, topping or the thickness of the crust but that’s another story so let’s dive into basics:
Ingredients
Starter
- ⅞ cup / 100g Flour
- ½ cup / 100ml Water
- 1g Fresh yeast
Dough
- 6¼ cup / 750g All purpose flour
- ½ oz / 10g Fresh yeast
- 2 cups / 500ml Lukewarm Water
- ¾ oz / 20g Extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoon / 10g Salt
Sauce
- 2 medium Onion (finely cut)
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup / 150ml Oil
- 2 cloves Garlic (crushed)
- 29 oz / 700g Tomato pure
- 3-4 leaf Fresh basil
- 5-10 leaf Fresh oregano
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Topping
- 10 oz / 300g Cheese of choice (Mozzarella, Gouda, Edam…)
How to make Healthy pizza
Starter
- Making a starter is not absolutely necessary but it will provide a more complex flavor for the dough. Combine flour, water and the yeast in an airtight container and put it into the fridge for 4 – 6 hours. It will double in size so choose a big enough box.
Dough
- Measure flour into a kneading bowl and sprinkle fresh yeast on top. No need to dissolve the yeast.
- Pour in the olive oil and at least half of the water.
- Add the starter in too. It tends to stick to the box but mixing it with some flour from the bowl will help salvage every bit without much effort. If starter is not used just add the equivalent amount of flour and water to the bowl.
- Knead the dough until it comes together gradually adding the remaining water and the salt. We are after a sticky humid dough as we are going to bake the pizza in a low temperature home oven. Flouring our hand will prevent the dough to stick to it.
- Cover the dough and place it to a 68°F – 81°F / 20°C – 27°C corner to raise.
- It could take anything from 40 – 90 minutes depending on the temperature to double in size.
Sauce
- Pour oil into a pan and caramelize the onions then add the crushed garlic and fry it until it gets fragrant. (Check out the Low Carb Condiments for detailed Tomato Sauce recipe)
- Pour the pureed tomato and add basil, oregano and salt then cook it on low heat until about quarter of the liquid evaporates. Add salt to taste.
Topping
- Grate the cheese and cut the necessary ingredients up
Assembly
- Take the dough out onto a floured surface.
- Separate into two and shape the dough into elongated forms for easier measuring.
- Cut the dough up into 6 equal parts that will results 8 oz / 230g pizza dough.
- Sprinkle a bit of water on a cleaned surface then flour our hands.
- Roll balls from the dough. Check out how to roll dough
- Place the rolled dough onto a floured surface and sprinkle water on top.
- Cover it with a kitchen towel then sprinkle water onto the kitchen towel too. If we are lucky this will prevent the dough sticking to it. Alternatively we can use a high walled container with a lid, anything that will let the dough rise while not letting it to dry out.
- Place it into a 68°F – 81°F / 20°C – 27°C corner again for 60 – 90 minutes until it doubles.
- Dust a spatula with flour and take a dough off the tray.
- Place it onto a floured working surface upside down then flour the top of the dough and our hands too.
- Start shaping the pizza by pressing down the top of the dough by moving from one side of the dough to the opposite. Check out How to shape a pizza!
- Create the side of the crust by leaving out a ½” / 1cm part of the dough down along the side of the crust.
- Press down gently the middle the second time.
- Flip the dough then repeat the shaping process on this side too.
- It’s time to give the dough its final shape. Hold the dough still with one hand while grabbing the dough with the other and stretching it mildly about double of the original size.
- Rotate the dough a quarter and stretch that side as well.
- Repeat the turning and stretching until the desired size is achieved. A 10″ / 30cm size pizza can easily achievable with this method. Alternatively use a rolling pin.
- Spread tomato sauce on top of the dough
- Add some topping.
- Place the dough into a preheated oven at maximum temperature which means 480°F / 250°C in most cases for about 6 – 8 minutes. Turn around the pizza after 4 minutes if necessary.
Enjoy!
Note: Home ovens aren’t really made to make pizza so we have to try our best to imitate a real oven. Place the baking tray on the top shelf and place the pizza there. The best results can be achieved by using pizza baking steel but in lack of that we can use the standard metal baking sheet. If we don’t have a pizza peel to move the dough into the hot tray in the oven preheat a baking tray in the oven. Once its hot take it out with a heat resistant glove, slide the prepared pizza onto it and put it quickly back into the oven.
Ever tried swapping tomato sauce to sour cream?
Delicious!
We can prepare all the pizzas at once or place some of the dough onto a tray, cover them with transparent foil and place them into the fridge for another day. If a crust forms on the top of the dough before we can prepare them then whisk it with a bit of water. Cover it back and leave it for an hour and the crust should be solved.
We can store unprepared dough in the fridge for several days or even freeze them. If we choose to put them into the fridge we have to knead them a little bit every day to show we still love them.
Storing them in the freezer isn’t that taxing luckily. Make sure to brush the dough with a bit of olive oil before foil wrap them and we are good to go.
F.A.Q.
Can homemade pizza be healthy?
Homemade food is as healthy as we make them to be. It’s true that plain white flour isn’t the healthiest ingredients out there but a thin crust topped with some good protein and vitamins every now and then shouldn’t ruin our life.
What is the healthiest pizza?
The one we make at home. No store bought pizza can be healthy given the amount of sugary sauce and preservatives are stuffed in them.
Is pizza really that bad?
No, if it’s made at home with good ingredients without sugar, preservatives and flavor enhancers.
Deliciously healthy pizza recipe
Ingredients
Dough:
- ½ oz / 10g Fresh yeast
- 1 cup / 250ml Lukewarm milk or water
- 4 cup / 850g All purpose flour
- 1 cup / 250ml Water
- ¾ oz / 20g Extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoon / 10g Salt
Sauce:
- 3 medium sized Tomatoes
- 3-4 leaf Fresh basil
- 5-10 leaf Fresh oregano
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Topping:
- 10 oz / 300g Cheese of choice Mozzarella, Gouda, Edam...
Instructions
- Combine lukewarm milk or water and yeast in a cup. Set it aside for about 5 minutes. If it gets foamy don't worry. It's perfectly normal.
- In the meantime add the flour, water, olive oil and salt to a big bowl.
- Pour the yeast and water mixture into the bowl too; knead until all the flour is incorporated, and the dough is smooth and elastic. If the dough seems to be dry, flaky on the sides and it looks like climbing too much up on the hooks we may add a bit of extra water to it. Be careful and only add one teaspoon at a time.
- Leave the pizza dough in the big bowl, cover it with a clean kitchen towel on top and set it aside in a warm place whilst we prepare the pizza toppings. In case the kitchen is cold we may want to pop the bowl with the dough into the oven at no more than 100°F / 40°C. Make sure that it isn't more than that as too high temperature will kill the yeast before it could raise the dough! Check the temperature several times during this proofing period. As a general rule if it's too hot for the hands it's too hot for the dough too. This will take an hour and we know it's ready when the dough grows about the double of its original size.
- Wash tomatoes, cut in quarters and put them into the food chopper with 4 basil leaves, oregano and a pinch of salt to chop and mix them a bit. Try to use fresh herbs as it will really make a difference! (If we feel adventurous then slip in a bit of garlic and fried onion too.)
- Pour chopped tomatoes into a frying pan and cook about 5 to 10 minutes on medium heat to get a somewhat thicker texture. Stir whilst cooking. We can skip this step entirely and spread a couple of spoonful tomato directly onto the pizza. (Check out the Low Carb Condiments for detailed Tomato Sauce recipe)
- Grate cheese and get it ready to put on.
- Take pizza dough out of the bowl onto a floured work surface when we finished preparing toppings, in about 60 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 6 oz / 250g balls. Take one out onto a floured surface and cover the rest with a cloth.
- Don't forget to mildly flour the work surface where we are going to work with the dough as it will stick down otherwise. Form one of the dough into a large disk with hands or a rolling pin and lay it on the baking tray. If a pizza shovel (peel) is not available then mind not to put the topping on until the dough isn't on the tray!
- Work from the middle of the dough outwards, using rolling pin or by hands. Stretch the dough until it's the size of the baking tray. Optionally we can try to master the pizza throwing technique but first just get on with the not that sexy method.
- Spoon some sauce into the center of the pizza and spread it out to the edges. Spread it evenly and don't fall into the temptation to put too much on there as it will make the dough soggy. One tablespoon should do but try not to go over two on a 10 inch / 30cm thin pizza.
- Pile on the toppings.
- Slide the pizza into the 450°F - 500° / 250°C - 300°C preheated oven and bake it about 15 minutes until crust is golden-brown and the cheese looks toasty. If a pizza stone is used then don't forget to preheat that as well.
- Whilst baking the first pizza repeat the process with the second one.
- We can prepare all the pizzas at once or place some of the dough onto a tray, cover them with transparent foil and place them into the fridge for another day. If a crust forms on the top of the dough before we can prepare them then whisk it with a bit of water. Cover it back and leave it for an hour and the crust should be solved.
- Let pizzas cool for a little bit then slice, serve and enjoy!
- We can store unprepared dough in the fridge for several days or even freeze them. If we choose to put them into the fridge we have to knead them a little bit every day to show we still love them.
- Storing them in the freezer isn't that taxing luckily. Make sure to brush the dough with a bit of olive oil before foil wrap them and we are good to go.
Notes
Pin now, Enjoy later!
Kneading out the every day life nuisances under the low humming noise of the airflow oven.
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Tried and tested. Thank you for this great and delicious recipe. I have to tell you that, this one is one of my favorite pizza recipe from now on.Keep sharing, please! 🙂
Thank you for your kind comment. I’m glad you liked this easy pizza recipe. You might want to try cheese scones too. http://www.suncakemom.com/cheese-scone-game-night-snack/