Healthy pepperoni pizza

Healthy recipe for homemade thin pizza crust with pepperoni and mozzarella made with wholemeal flour. Easy to make and delicious to eat.

Why make this recipe?

• healthy version of a traditional pepperoni pizza
• make in advance & freeze for later

Any specialist equipment needed?

There is no need to buy any specialist baking equipment a simple baking tray will do. If you have a pizza stone or a pizza baking sheet that’s great, but don’t worry if you don’t.

If you decide to bake pizza more often, it’s worth getting the pizza baking sheet as it’s usually cheaper and bakes your pizza nice and without the soggy crust. The pizza tray has small holes, which help to bake your pizza from the bottom as well as from the top.

Ingredients & Possible Substitutions

Wholemeal flour

I’ve used wholemeal bread or wholemeal plain flour for my pizza to make it a bit more healthy than a traditional pizza base baked with white bread flour.

You are welcome to use white bread flour, the recipe will work the same, but you might need a little bit less water when you are making your dough.

Pepperoni

Delicious pepperoni of your own choice and taste. Anything goes… and if you don’t have pepperoni just add salami or pieces of cut up sausage or pre-cooked meat.

Mozarella cheese

I use firmer mozzarella cheese that doesn’t melt too much when you bake it, but you are welcome to use any mozzarella cheese you have.

MORE PIZZA RECIPES

Making your pizza & timings

If you are making your pizza from scratch, which is what we are doing in this recipe, you need to start with a bit of forward planning. When do you want to eat? If it’s within the next 30 minutes, then I’m afraid, it won’t happen and you are better off with a cheaters omelette pizza instead.

Normal timetable for baking pizza

Make it the same day or evening for your lunch or dinner

Preparing ingredients, mixing pizza dough, kneading	20 min
Leaving dough to prove	30 min
Rolling dough, adding toppings, pre-heating oven	10 min
Leaving dough to quickly prove	5 min
Baking (depends on pizza size)	15-25 min
Time needed before you bake/eat	90 min
TOTAL TIME	90 min

Longer timetable for baking pizza

Perfect if you have a bit of time in the morning to prepare your dough and then want to bake the pizza for dinner. The evening preparation is much easier and quicker and you can be sitting at the table a lot quicker.

Preparing ingredients, mixing pizza dough, kneading	20 min
Leaving dough to prove in the fridge	6-8 hrs
Rolling dough, adding toppings, pre-heating oven	10 min
Leaving dough to warm up & prove	10 min
Baking (depends on pizza size)	15-25 min
Time need for the final stage	50 min
TOTAL TIME	9 hrs

Interupted timetable for baking pizza

Pizza making done in stages – it’s the quickest way to make pizza on the day, but you need to prepare the dough in advance (any time) and freeze it (rolled out like a pizza base)

Preparing ingredients, mixing pizza dough, kneading	20 min
Leaving dough to prove	30 min
Rolling dough	10 min
Freeze on a greaseproof paper & tray uncovered	2-3 hrs
Wrap individually & stack in the freezer	20 min
Take out pizza base, add toppings, leave to quickly prove	10 min
Baking (depends on pizza size)	40 min
Time needed before you eat	50 min
TOTAL TIME	5 hr

How else you can make this recipe?

You can easily use sourdough or gluten free pizza base for this recipe as well as any specialist flours.

What can you serve pepperoni pizza with?

• Side salad of any kind
• Coleslaw
• Garlic bread
• Sourdough style bread without starter >>

Serving size & scalling up or down

It’s totally fine to make this recipe from 1/2 the dough or double/triple the recipe if you are cooking for a large family. I find it’s particularly useful to double the recipe, leave it to prove and then roll out my pizza bases and freeze them separately to use at a later day.

My top tips on making this pizza recipe successfully the first time

• The gluten in the flour will be fighting you, so roll out the dough from the middle and out to the sides. You can also pull the dough rather than roll it out, its much easier that way.
• Make your oven as hot as you can and then reduce the heat to about 180C or 350F – this will give your pizza a lovely crust

Can this recipe be made in advance?

Yes, like any other pizza, make it in advance and re-heat it in the oven or microwave just before you want to serve it. But to be honest it’s probably better to served straight from the oven.

How to store your pizza if you have any leftovers

Leftovers? You lucky thing! Put it in the fridge wrapped and reheat in the microwave (or oven) when you are ready to polish the rest. Meet pizzas should be eaten within 1-2 days.

You can also freeze your pizza (providing you have not used frozen pizza base) and store it in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.

How to re-heat this recipe

• Few seconds in the microwave
• 10 minutes on 180C or 350F in the oven
• It’s perfectly O.K to eat it cold too

More healthy recipe ideas

• Scotch Eggs (oven baked) >>
• Meatloaf Muffins >>
• Chocolate & Peanut Butter Smoothie >>
• Sugar free blueberry pancakes >>