Ah, pizza. Gooey cheese, drippy sauce, lots of meaty toppings, and greasy crusts. No matter how you slice it (literally), it seems like pizza shouldn’t be good for you. But in moderation, anything is fine—especially when you follow these recipes that remove so much of the unnecessary oils.
What Goes Into the Perfect Pizza?
The Crust
Whether you like crusts that are thick and chewy or thin and crispy, I’ve found that it’s easy to eliminate a lot of fat and calories by using little or no oil in the dough. If you want to taste the flavor of oil in your finished crust, simply rub a small amount of a full-bodied extra virgin olive oil in the pan before putting the crust in it. The oil will soak into the crust, providing a crunchy, rich taste like Pizza Hut’s, without excess oil or fat. If you prefer a buttery crust, like Domino’s, simply substitute a bit of light butter for the oil.
Horrified by the thought of tossing your pizza dough into the air and watching it stick to your ceiling? You’re not alone. But you don’t have to toss your dough to get a perfectly shaped pie. To get foolproof results every time, keep these five easy steps in mind.
1. Start with a ball. You’ll never achieve a perfectly flat circle shape if you don’t start off with a round ball first, so toss it back and forth in your hands a few times to reshape it before placing it on a lightly floured surface.
2. Flatten the dough into a disk. Use the palm of your hand to press down gently and evenly on the dough, making sure to press and reshape the outer edge so the dough remains circular.
3. Start in the center and press outward. Using either lightly floured hands or a rolling pin, gently stretch the dough with long, firm strokes.
4. Turn the dough regularly as you work. To avoid stretching the dough into an oblong shape, make sure to work opposite sides evenly.
5. Use a pan. To put the finishing touches on your masterpiece, transfer it to your pan for final shaping. Press it flat with your hands to ensure that it’s as even as possible.
The Sauce
Time after time, the people who helped me test all of the dishes in this book raved that the sauces in this chapter are probably some of the most dead-on recipes in the book. Whether we happened to use exactly the same ingredients, we’ll never know, but we do know that batch after batch and pizza after pizza, the sauces tasted extremely similar to the restaurant originals . . . without adding any oils.
The Cheese
It’s important to use a low-fat mozzarella that tastes good to you. Remember, not all low-fat cheeses taste the same. Some are rubbery, while others closely resemble their full-fat counterparts (see Appendix B: Sources for more information). I’ve tried so-called mozzarella cheeses that taste like a bad American cheese at best; others, however, are delicious. Also, it is critical that you always shred low-fat cheeses finely. Not only will you be able to cover more area of the pizza with less cheese, it will melt better. This means that you’ll need less to be guaranteed plenty of cheese in every bite. If I’m shredding more than a few ounces of cheese, I use the shredder attachment on my food processor, which saves a ton of time. If I’m throwing together a quick pizza and need only a bit, I’ll use a box grater to avoid pulling out the food processor. If you don’t have a scale, use the conversion chart in chapter 1 to measure your cheese.
The Toppings
You may have noticed that this chapter has a lot of pizzas with plenty of meat toppings and not so many with veggies. That’s because meats more frequently push the calories and fats over the top on pizzas. Too many pieces of broccoli, spinach, and mushrooms have sent few people (if any) to the doctor. So I wanted to show you that you can actually enjoy a version of Pizza Hut Meat Lover’s pizza, though I would recommend serving it with a salad or some steamed broccoli on the side.
When making meat toppings, I always use the leanest cuts of meat (96% lean ground beef and pork) because I want the toppings to taste as close to the originals as possible. You could save even more calories and fat by instead using extra-lean ground turkey, which is 99 percent fat-free. It tastes slightly different, but I promise the finished product will still be delicious.
Because there are so many great herbs and spices in these toppings, I’ve found it nearly impossible to taste a difference between the original topping and my leaner versions. Texture, on the other hand, is another matter. That’s why I’ve added egg white or egg substitute and bread crumbs to the meats. This strategy adds moisture without adding unnecessary fat, making the consistency similar to that of the full-fat counterparts.
As for veggie toppings, my advice is to go crazy with whatever you like. Throw on plenty of bell peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, spinach, fresh tomatoes, zucchini, etc. Just be aware that many veggies expel moisture as they are cooked, which could, if you’re not careful, turn your pizza into a soggy mess. If you’re using a small amount, this is not an issue. However, if you want to place a significant amount of bell peppers, mushrooms, or zucchini on your pizza, be sure to partially cook them before adding them to your pizza. You can either place the cut veggies in a single layer on a nonstick baking sheet that has been sprayed with olive oil spray and bake them at 400°F until they seem to be about halfway cooked (the time will vary depending on the vegetable and the thickness of it, but you’ll notice liquid on the baking sheet); or you can cook them over medium heat in a nonstick skillet misted with olive oil spray. Again, the time will vary, but they should be about halfway between cooked and raw. The idea is simply to release some of the liquid so that it won’t puddle on your pizza.