Playoff pizza with healthy options

Improbable as it might be given our personal histories with organized sports, ours is a football household. Throughout the fall and into winter, we watch a lot of games. We are particularly fond of those that are broadcast during the early dinner hour. We call them the ‶pizza games″ because we often watch while eating a homemade pizza and drinking wine. (The NFL beer advertisers would be appalled, but we don’t care. We mute their commercials anyway.)

This couch-potato indulgence isn’t always the healthiest. We might toss pepperoni or some other sausage on top, or use a tomato sauce filled with crumbled bacon. Full-fat fresh mozzarella is sometimes in the mix.We might even go for an extreme like a walnut-based white sauce topped with fig jam and crumbled prosciutto.

But playoff season comes in January, when we’ve foresworn extra calories, extra fat, extra everything. So we make healthier pizzas.

Pizza as lean as a wide receiver

Mind you, we’re not pizza fanatics. We’ve been using the same two supermarket pizza pans for years. We do not bother with a pizza stone or steel or even a pizza peel. Our convection oven can heat to well over 600°F, but we find that without a stone or steel to sear the bottom of a crust, it’s wiser to cook at 475°-500° for a little longer.

As for making the pizza healthier, that starts with a whole wheat pizza dough (recipe below). Our tomato sauce consists of a little bit of canned crushed tomatoes mixed with straight tomato paste and generously dusted with garlic powder and oregano. We follow with a liberal application of thinly sliced mushrooms that have been lightly sautéed with fresh thyme. Pearl mozzarella (well-drained) dots the surface along with well-distributed crumbles of fresh goat cheese. (A small amount of pungent cheese imparts more flavor than calories.) We then dust everything with a little grated Pecorino Romano and cook for 10 minutes at 500°F. It’s a tasty treat in front of the TV and we don’t end up looking like backup tackles.

Here’s the crust recipe, which evolved from a Jim Lahey refrigerator dough recipe that was third-hand by the time we got it. We’ve made lots and lots of alterations of ingredients and techniques over the years. We usually mix it up right after breakfast so it’s ready to shape and top around halftime of the late afternoon game.

THIN CRUST WHOLE WHEAT PIZZA DOUGH

  • Yield: one 12″-14″ pizza
  • 100 grams white whole wheat flour
  • 100 grams bread flour (plus more for work surface)
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon instant dry yeast
  • 142 grams ice water
  • 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil (plus more for pan)
  • 1-2 tablespoons corn meal (for pan)

Add both flours, sugar, and dry yeast to food processor bowl. Turn on machine and drizzle in the ice water through the feed tube. Process until dough is just combined (about 10 seconds). Open food processor and push dough down evenly around the bottom of bowl. Let dough stand 10-20 minutes.

Sprinkle salt over dough and drizzle on olive oil. Put lid back on and process until dough forms a sticky but satiny ball that separates from the side of work bowl (about 30 seconds). Remove dough from bowl and turn into a lightly greased 1 quart storage container. Cover loosely and let stand to rise for 4-6 hours on countertop.

Forty-five minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to 4-5 inches below top of oven and begin preheating oven to 500° F.

Turn dough out onto well-floured silicone pastry mat or onto well-floured countertop. Using heel of your palm, gently flatten into a roughly 10-inch round, dusting with extra flour as needed. Let rest for 15 minutes.

While dough is resting, prepare pizza pan. Gently rub a little bit of oil on pizza pan. Dust with cornmeal, turning pan on its side to remove excess.

When dough has rested, roll out to roughly 15″ diameter, turning dough to roll evenly. Roll up on rolling pin and unroll onto pizza pan. Pinch up excess to make a rim on the crust, cutting away any excess.

It’s ready for toppings! Depending on how juicy your toppings are, pizza cooks in roughly 10 minutes with crisp edges and firm bottom.