Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Easy, healthy and delicious pizza dough recipe

Pizza dough can help prevent diabetes and certain cancers. Read more about the facts on how to cook healthy dough and get ideas for tasty toppings 

Generally, pizza is not perceived as a bowl of choice for health freaks. But can this change. Food chemists from the University of Maryland has found that the pizza dough may help prevent diabetes and certain cancers. All it takes is to choose an optimum fermenting period, baking length and the right oven temperature. Even more uplifting for pizza fans - the recipe is easy. 

The key to creating healthy pizza dough is to maximize the amount of antioxidants There are four key factors in achieving this. 

First you choose the right meal. Whole wheat flour is a healthy choice because it contains more of the antioxidant-rich bran and endosperm components than fore example, refined flour. 

Secondly, let the dough fermentation longer. The Food chemists at the University of Maryland experimented with fermentation periods between zero minutes and 48 hours. It was found that antioxidant levels can increase 100 percent by using a longer fermentation period. 

Thirdly, turning up the temperature in the oven. The researchers found temperatures between 204 and 285 degrees Celsius, and found that higher temperatures increased antioxidant levels by 82 percent. 

Finally, let the pizza stays in the oven for a longer period. Baking times between 7 and 14 minutes were tested, and the longer periods of increased antioxidant levels in pizza dough with as much as 60 percent. 

A thicker pizza can take higher temperatures and longer baking times. Thus, deep dish pizzas are apparently healthy choices. In addition, plan your dinner menu a few days before would have a good idea because this will give the dough plenty of time for fermentation is the following recipe created to fit more spontaneous individual. 
Potato and Bacon Pizza Recipe 

After initial preparation. Such as the ingredients from your kitchen drawers and chef pour a tall glass of fine wine, pizza can be prepared in just one hour 

Serves: two people 

Ingredients for dough: 

    * 330 grams of whole wheat flour 
    * ½ teaspoon salt 
    * 1 teaspoon basil 
    * 1 tablespoon olive oil 
    * 2 dl lukewarm water 
    * 2 teaspoons of dry yeast 

Toppings:

    * Enough of Your Favorite tomato / pasta sauce 
    * 2 hands full of mozzarella 
    * 4-5 potatoes 
    * ½ package bacon 
    * 1 tablespoon rosemary 

Directions:

   1st First you prepare the dough. Add flour, salt, basil and olive oil in a bowl. Mix warm water and dry yeast. Then pour it into the bowl and mix dough with your hands in about 2 minutes. Cover dough and let it rest in a warm place for 30 minutes. 
   2nd While dough rests, you peel potatoes. When they are peeled, cut potatoes into ½ inch thick slices and place them in a pot filled with water. Put pot on stove and turn up the heat. Let the water boil for 70-10 minutes, pour the water out and let the potatoes rest until the dough is done resting. 
   3rd The dough has rested for 30 minutes. Put the dough on some parchment paper and flatten the dough until it is just a half inch think. Roll up edges of creating what will be the crust of the pizza. 
   4th Now add the topping, beginning with pasta sauce. Just apply a thin layer of pasta sauce - you could see trough the sauce. Distribute cheese evenly, followed by potato slices. After sprinkling the rosemary into the pizza is the (raw) bacon added. 
   5th Turn up the heat in the oven to 220 degrees Celsius and put in the pizza. The pizza must be in the oven for 20-25 minutes. This gives you just enough time to clean up the kitchen and set the table. 

Healthier and Vegetarian Pizza Topping Alternative

Critics of the Maryland Food Chemists' performance is stressed that the choice of pizza topping also matters. An even healthier alternative to the recipe found above can easily be done by exchanging the bacon with thin slices of fresh tomato and spinach. These two toppings should be added after the pizza is removed from the oven. Moreover, the amount of mozzarella cheese down to a bare minimum and add some salt and pepper.

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