Low(er) calorie pizza recipes (UK)

Hi there,

My husband and I LOVE pizza on a Friday night. So, last night I decided I would make one homemade. After buying loads of fresh veggies and finding a homemade sauce online, I was all ready to go. I also had planned to make a homemade dough...but ran out of time! Soooo, what did I do? I went to the local and bought this pastry thing that you roll out and top with pizza toppings. Imagine my HORROR when I found that it had 610 calories per half sheet (which by looking at it is what my husband and I would have eaten). Well, I did not eat any of it and since hubby has way more calories than I do, he was able to eat some of it and save the rest for another day.

I would love to read some of your ideas of how one can make a low(er) calorie pizza - especially for the crust! I know I can use reduced calorie mozzarella and my homemade sauce and veggies - but the crust seems to be the high calorie part!

Thanks in advance for any ideas

Reactively I'm thinking a wet pizza dough over a dry one. With a wet dough you should be able to make the pie larger using a small amount of flour. Another option would be to consider and lookup low-calorie focaccia recipes and use that as your pie base. Many opt for a tortilla, a roti or a pita pie base, loading it with their toppings. A vegan option would be to use vegetables as your pie base. Think cauliflower, zucchini, broccoli plus a low-fat cheese (many choose parmesan), bake it up first, then add sauce and toppings later.

Paleo and Gluten-free options may offer lower calories but not by much flour mixes. I don't rightly know if pre-mixed versions are readily available where you are. Off the hip, i'm thinking coconut flour and whole wheat flour; A 75%: 25% split or a 25%: 25%: 25% : 25% split of whole wheat, rice, coconut and chickpea flour, should help you achieve your dough, which should retain enough of a normal pizza-based flavoured texture, to help keep things interesting enough and real; Maintaining the flavour profile integrity.

In the summertime we make pizzas on the grill. We use tortillas, pizza sauce, moz. cheese, and any other toppings that anyone wants.

Everyone makes their own and put on the grill until done (2-3 minutes usually).

they are a huge hit when we have people over as well.

Nice part about it is it is easy to figure out your own calories. They are yummy too.

I have also made these in a toaster oven.

Thanks so much. I don't think I've ever seen anything but white and whole wheat flour here in Scotland I'll google however and see as this seems like a great idea!

Besan Flour is Chickpea flour . Dosa Flour is Rice flour. Wheat ladoo flour is whole wheat flour. Singoda flour is water chestnut flour. Rajagara flour is lentil flour (you could easily use this one for your pizza dough). Corn flour is another one you may consider mixing with regular flour. All these are available at ASDA along your baking aisle and international foods aisle. If not at ASDA then you may look into your closest Indian/Pakistani Grocers.' They should also have the coconut flour in stock and if they don't, simply purchase unsweetened coconut flakes, soak them for about 4 hours in a water to coconut ratio of 4:1, pop it into your food processor, drain as much of the water as you can out of it, layer over a baking sheet, bake in 200 degrees Fahrenheit oven 'til it is dry, pop it into a spice grinder (or a food processor) 'til it is finely pulverised and voila ~ your very own coconut flour. Using more coconut flour or any of the above to all purpose flour ratio, lowers your calorie markers. Oat flour is another option. And if you can't find that, simply throw your rolled oats into a spice grinder, zing it through and voila - your oat flour.

Good luck!

ETA: Cassava Flour to All Purpose Flour to Coconut Flour mix would better@Flavour profile. You might want to knead your dough in corn flour to attain the crispy crust.

My favourite is a tortilla, sauce and then vegetarian style: baby tomatoes cut up & mushrooms - the best part is to top it with one of those spice mixes - Greek seasoning is the best. My family loves these -- never had a complaint!

Another possibility is "spinach-crust pizza" which isn't a true pizza but good none the less. There are lots of recipes on the web. The first two pics are of one with lots of ricotta, red pepper, bacon and summer squash on it. The third one has mozzarella, mushrooms, salami and a butternut-squash-red-pepper sauce.





Basically, whir spinach, eggs, grated cheese, and salt & pepper in the food processor and pour it out onto a parchment-lined pizza pan. Bake at 400F for about 15 minutes. While it's baking prepare the toppings, e.g. saute mushrooms, etc. Top with whatever you wish and shove it under the broiler until it is brown and bubbly. Voila: pizza-like substance. We've had it several times with all sorts of stuff on top and using anything from parmesan to cheddar in the "crust," which is really more like a thin layer of baked spinach mousse.

These aren't really proper pizza, but I love to use warburton Square wraps, pitta breads or left over french bread as pizza bases. I will make pizza out of anything .