EAT: Healthier Friday Pizza Night

As an Italian-American living in the Northeast, it may come as no surprise to learn Friday is pizza night. And living in the pizza belt for 30 years, choices are endless for delicious, crisp, cheesy, goodness. The problem I am facing now is how does this fit into my New Year’s Resolution to eat more vegetables but also eat less fat ? Sure, I could order a pie with vegetables instead of meat toppings from any place in New Haven which would be heaven, but it would also come with a still high caloric price I am trying to avoid.

So making my own pizza came to mind to help keep tabs on the calories. But I have such snobby standards given I have eaten from the best places in the country for years. It has to be thin, crisp, and out of this world New Haven delicious.

First came finding the perfect sauce. Yes, I can make a good sauce (thanks, Mom and Grandma) but when you want pizza, you usually are in the mood for easy. Cut to store bought.

My choice, you ask? Sclafani Filetto di Pomodoro. It’s my go-to sauce when I do not want to put in the effort making my own. If you want your pie a little spicier, mixing it 50/50 with another of Sclafani’s – the Fra Diavolo – works well.  Other picky sauce approved options if you cannot find Sclafani on sale are Victoria’s Marinara (you may know them for their Vodka sauce) and Nature’s Promise Organic Tomato Basil from Stop & Shop.

Now when it comes to adding vegetables, some people prefer their pizza white rather than red. If you are that person, forget about the store bought and mix up a béchamel-like sauce on your own. My simple white pie solution is a mixture of low fat ricotta or cottage cheese, a grated hard Italian cheese (Parmeggiano or Romano), and a milder cheese such as smoked provolone or part skim mozzarella. A blend from Target’s Market Pantry will do the trick as it combines Parmeggiano with Mozzarella for an easy addition to my cottage cheese.*When using cottage cheese, drain using a coffee filter to remove excess moisture otherwise you may compromise the crispiness of your crust and may require extra cooking time.

Remember with pizza, a lot is up to your taste. I love crispy, thin pizza, but if you prefer it a little thicker, stretch the dough a little less. More cheese and no concern for fat? Pile it on. Whatever you do, keep it simple and have fun.

SBT Pizza Dough

Adapted from Bobby Flay http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/pizza-dough-recipe/index.html

3 3/4 cups bread flour

**bread flour is the key to New Haven thin crispy crust. If you can't find bread flour, you can substitute it with all-purpose flour but I cannot guarantee you’ll love the chewier result**

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1 envelope instant dry yeast

2 teaspoons kosher salt

**you can cut this by ½ tsp if you are watching sodium intake, but realize this is a key ingredient to crisp the crust as well**

1 1/2 cups water, 100-110 degrees F

 **Too cold? Lazy, inactivated yeast. Too hot? Dead useless yeast**

1 tablespoon olive oil

Cooking spray for greasing the bowl

Semolina flour for dusting the cookie sheet

1.       Combine

Measure out all dry ingredients to a stand mixing bowl.

2.       Mix

Add the water and oil to the dry mixture and mix until dough forms on low

3.       Knead

If using a high quality stand mixer, continue to mix the dough at a higher speed for 5 minutes. And do watch this process, as there have been times when making yeast dough that I almost lost my mixer off the edge (of the counter).

If you do not have a high quality mixer, knead the dough for 5 minutes on a well-floured surface.

4.       Let rest and rise

Using the cooking spray, cover every inch of a glass bowl. Transfer the dough ball to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap for an hour to rise. If not using today, refrigerate up to 3 days (after that, weird yeast esters start to form and you’ll have more of a sourdough on your hands than pizza crust).

SBT Crispy Thin Formaggio Pizza

½ recipe Pizza Dough above

1 cup Sclafani Filetto di Pomodoro

**or your favorite marinara**

1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella blend

1.       Nonstick

Generously sprinkle a foil lined 13 x 9 cookie sheet with semolina flour or cornmeal. Trust me, you need the coarse crunchy stuff here, as neither your typical baking flour nor nonstick cooking spray work for this destickifying application. And yes, I recommend a cookie sheet rather than a pizza stone. I find those things to be highly overrated and difficult to clean.

2.       Stretch

Take your dough between two dry hands and stretch. If you can’t stretch in the air without making holes, it’s ok to use a rolling pin on the cookie sheet surface. Either way, stretch into a somewhat rectangular shape as close as you can to the pan edges. The dough will fight you like hell. After a couple minutes of stretching let it rest in the shape you have it and go at it again later. It will be more willing to cooperate the second time around.

3.       Sauce

Once the dough is stretched, spread your sauce all over, leaving a ½ inch perimeter. If you like crust, leave more of a perimeter and cut down on the sauce.

4.       Sprinkle

Sprinkle the cup of cheese evenly over the sauce

5.       Bake

Bake at 475 for 11 minutes or until desired level of crisp. If you have a convection oven setting, 475 will almost get you to New Haven brick oven quality.

SBT White Broccoli Pizza

½ recipe Pizza Dough above

White Sauce:

1 cup 1% cottage cheese, drained in coffee filter to remove excess water

½ cup shredded mozzarella

½ cup shredded parmeggiano

1 teaspoon garlic powder or 1 medium clove garlic minced

1 tablespoon milk

12 oz frozen broccoli florets

Ground black pepper

1.       Nonstick

Generously sprinkle a foil lined cookie sheet with semolina flour or cornmeal. Trust me, you need the coarse crunchy stuff here, as neither your typical baking flour nor nonstick cooking spray work for this destickifying application. And yes, I recommend a cookie sheet rather than a pizza stone. I find those things to be highly overrated and difficult to clean.

2.       Stretch

Take your dough between two dry hands and stretch. If you can’t stretch in the air without making holes, it’s ok to use a rolling pin on the cookie sheet surface. Either way, stretch into a somewhat rectangular shape as close as you can to the pan edges. The dough will fight you like hell. After a couple minutes of stretching let it rest in the shape you have it and go at it again later. It will be more willing to cooperate the second time around.

3.       Sauce

Mix all sauce ingredients in a bowl and season with pepper to taste. Once the dough is stretched, spread your sauce all over, leaving a ½ inch perimeter. If you like crust, leave more of a perimeter and cut down on the sauce.

4.       Sprinkle

Sprinkle the cup of cheese evenly over the sauce. Add the broccoli on top. I like my broccoli oven roasted, so I put on top of the cheese. If you do not want your broccoli roasted, reverse the order.

5.       Bake

Bake at 475 for 11 minutes or until desired level of crisp. If you have a convection oven setting, 475 will almost get you to New Haven brick oven quality.