Heart Healthy Pizza... Absolutely Delicious!

This pizza was made by my daughter-in-law and was superb.

A truly great pizza needs to have just the right crust, and the proper combination and amount of delicious toppings. This one had all that as well as a heart-shape making it even better for a heart-healthy pizza.

The dough was homemade following the recipe below.  This is a personal-sized pizza and was custom made for me with my dietary restrictions, so it contained no sugar; the entire dough ball had just one teaspoon of natural honey in it for flavor and this pizza represented just one-quarter of that. The toppings were health-conscious as well, and consisted of fresh green bell peppers, red bell peppers, mushrooms, white onion, Roma tomatoes, minced garlic, turkey pepperoni, with just a very thin layer of Prego brand traditional sauce.

Ingredients:

·        1 package of dry active yeast (2 1/4 tsp)

·        1 tsp honey

·        1 cup warm water (105 degrees F)

·        3 cups all-purpose flour

·        1 tsp kosher salt

·        1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plush more for brushing

·        Toppings of your choice

In a mixing bowl, mix yeast, honey, and 1/4 cup of the warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes to activate yeast. Then, stir in salt, olive oil, and the rest of the warm water. Finally, add about 2 1/2 cups of the flour and stir until a dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead in the final 1/2 cup of flour until you form a soft, springy dough.

Let rise 30-45 minutes in a lightly oiled bowl in a warm place.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface again and cut dough ball into 4 parts. Roll each part into its own small dough ball. Place them all on a parchment lined cookie sheet or cutting board, cover, and leave them in a warm place to rise again for 20 minutes.

Lightly dust a pizza pan with flour or cornmeal. Preheat the oven to 450.

Take one of the balls and flatten it out into a shape desired with your hands and fingers. Brush the dough with olive oil.  Now, top with desired toppings. Be sure not to overdue it or the crust won’t bake evenly. Use a light hand if applying sauce (2-3 tablespoons).

Bake on the lowest rack of the oven for 5 minutes. Then, move it to the middle rack for an additional 5 minutes.

Serve and enjoy.

Tip: You can place any leftover dough in separate ziplock bags in the fridge for up to 3 days. When you are ready to use one, pull it out of the fridge and let it rest covered in a warm place for about 2 hours. Then resume instructions of spreading the dough, topping, and baking.