Amazing Pizza

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This is Maria's husband Craig doing another guest post.  Like a lot of guys out there I grew up loving pizza. Coming from Medford Wisconsin, the birthplace of Tombstone Pizza, we of course grew up eating lots of frozen pizzas.  During high school I worked at Dirt Fighters with some friends.  We cleaned the local bank and factories after school.  Every night after school we would have several Tombstone pizzas that the 5 or 6 of us would split before we started work.  Every single day after school.  I know this is a familiar tale to so many as this was all we knew.  Here are the ingredients in a Tombstone Pizza, Garlic Bread, Pepperoni.

Ingredients: Wheat Flour, Water, Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese (Part-Skim Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes), Pepperoni Made with Pork, Chicken and Beef (Pork, Mechanically Separated Chicken, Beef, Salt, Contains 2% or Less of Spices, Dextrose, Pork Stock, Lactic Acid Starter Culture, Oleoresin of Paprika, Flavoring, Sodium Ascorbate, Sodium Nitrite, BHA, BHT, Citric Acid, May also Contain Paprika, Natural Smoke Flavor), Tomato Paste, Corn Oil, Contains Less than 2% of Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Sugar, Salt, Yeast, Spice, Flavor, Garlic, Beta Carotene (Color).

So now that I understand about all the transfat, preservatives, petrolatum based ingredients BHA and BHT, and other "food like" substances (we remember what the mechanically separated meat looks like from my chicken nugget post!), I know I should avoid frozen pizzas.  

Sure, I was 16 with a great metabolism and very active in sports so I was 145 pounds and very lean.  But that isn't the whole story.  Just because our kids aren't overweight doesn't mean that they are healthy.  Here is some great information and studies showing how you can be "Skinny fat".  When my metabolism and activity level slowed down in college, I gained 40 pounds and ballooned up to 185.  I am sure I was on my way to pre-diabetes, digestive issues, etc.  Thankfully I married this wonderful woman with a passion for health.  Since finally following 100% of what she teaches (about 3 years ago), without changing my activity level, I slowly lost the weight and am now back to my college weight of 150. :)

So here is my "healthified" version.  This crust tastes so much better than any frozen crust or pizza delivery ever did and with no inflammatory grains or sugar!

FAST FAMILY TIP: I made 3 of these one night and froze them for fast and easy family dinners!  I just bake the crust as directed, remove and add toppings and wrap in tin foil to freeze.  Then you just pull it out of the freezer and finish baking as instructed below! 

"Healthified" Pizza Crust

1 1/4 cup blanched almond flour (or 1/2 cup coconut flour)
1/4 cup Jay Robb protein powder (unflavored, optional)
4 TBS Psyllium husk powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBS grated parmesan
1 TBS Italian spices
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs (4 eggs for coconut flour)
1 cup boiling water

butter or coconut oil (for brushing)

(Toppings of your choice)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients and mix until blended. Add eggs and mix until well combined. Add boiling water and mix until dough thickens and start to stick to beaters. Place ball on greased baking sheet. Spray a piece of parchment with oil and place on to of the dough to help spread without sticking. Use a rolling pin or your hands to spread the dough into a 16 inch round. Dough will raise 2-3 times its size so make the thickness one third of what you want the final pizza to be (I like a 1/4 inch thick crust so I start with about 1/8 inch or less thickness).

Place in oven and Bake for 25 minutes. Remove crust from oven and brush with butter of coconut oil and return to oven. Broil for 3-8 minutes or until crust is crisp (Be careful, watch closely during this step to make sure it doesn't burn, just crisps up). I start the broil with it flipped over to crisp the bottom and then flip over and broil the top.  Add topping and broil for another 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted and starts to brown. Makes 6 servings.

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per serving)
Traditional Pizza Crust = 262 calories, 7.6g fat, 6g protein, 43g carbs, 1.7g fiber (41.3g effective carbs)
"Healthified" Pizza crust = 197 calories, 13.7g fat, 9.4g protein, 9.4g carbs, 5.5g fiber (3.9g effective carbs)