Homemade Pizza For The Exhausted One
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Everybody needs to eat, but when one gets tired, preparing food can feel like climbing a mountain with a heavy backpack. Moments like the end of an exhausting day of work, family, then add insomnia, illness, depression, I would simply not cook.
I will share with you ways to transform a pizza recipe into a homemade healthier version, adjusted to you and your own food staples. But first, a short history or pizza.
Pizza’s History
Pizza’s ancestors originated from Middle-East’s fertile crescent. Travelers brought the meal all around the Mediterranean sea. As History progressed, people traveled. Each region developed its own recipes. As time went by, pizza was born.
A Balanced Meal
Yes, you can cook a healthy pizza if you know its basics :
- a bottom layer or the crust,
- a bit of sauce,
- lots of vegetables,
- a good amount of proteins,
- maybe cheese, or its equivalent if you are vegan.
Let’s create each parts with your own food. Keep in mind my way of seeing the pizza is far from the purists’ and traditional version.
Bottom Layer
These days, any food is used as the support part of your pizza. Here are suggestions:
- cauliflower;
- any flat bread: pita, naan, chapati, tortilla;
- cooked grain like rice, quinoa;
- sliced bread: your preferred one;
- vegetables like : potatoes, sweet potatoes.
You can also home bake your own recipe.
- Whisk together 1/2 cup lukewarm water, a pinch of salt, a pinch of a sugar of your choice — sugar, maple syrup, honey, 1 tablespoon of oil — any fat will do, 1 small pouch of yeast (use the fast rising).
- Add flour (2 cups) and knead. You can also add shredded parmesan, or dry herbs in the flour.
- If accessible, use a tool like a stand mixer for that part of the process, if you don’t have strength. You could also double the recipe and trade a portion of the pizza for a pair of arms to knead it.
- Shape it, and leave it in the refrigerator in an airtight container (or a bag) until later, when you have more energy (max. 10 days).
- Later, take it out.
- Turn on the oven.
- Shape it, garnish with one of each next sections.
The Sauce
Who says you need to use pizza sauce? You can replace it with any pesto, any leftovers of gravy, any vinaigrette or salad dressing. A couple of tablespoons will do the work.
Vegetables
Here’s a way to have them in a pleasant plate: lay them on the sauce to make them taste better. No need to dice them. Spread evenly them on the top.
Any canned or frozen vegetable can be used, as long as you like it, you will eat it.
Proteins and Cheese
Depending on your needs, you can put meat, fish, poultry, tofu, cold cuts, eggs. Of course, cheese will always be a great addition!
Change Order
Put cold cuts on top of the cheese, or spread the shredded or sliced cheese at another level on the pizza: under the the sauce, under the vegetables, or on the last thing on top. You do you!
Heat and cook
You can also cook your pizza in your frying pan, with the lid on, for it to cook through. Then you uncover a few minutes so it dries and browns a bit. Try it: you could be surprised.
As long as you know the basic principles of your recipes, anything is possible.
I recommend taking notes, so you don’t repeat the same mistakes, moreover, take note of your successes : it will become your own pizza recipe, easier to prepare as you practice!
What’s your experience ? How do you prepare your effortless homemade pizza ? Share results of your own easy peasy pizza down below!
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