Healthy Pizza
World Vegan Day 1st Nov 2008
Recipe for a ‘ Healthy Vegan Pizzaz Pizza’ with 64 ingredients is a Recipe for Success for Restaurant Trade Say Foods for Life
To celebrate 64 years of veganism (64 years since Donald Watson founded The Vegan Society and created the word ‘Vegan’) Foods for Life Nutrition has devised a special birthday healthy vegan ‘Pizzaz Pizza’ recipe.
Inspired by The Paul McCartney song lyrics, ‘Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64’, The ‘Foods for Life Pizzaz Pizza’ encompasses all the core values and fundamental elements that 64 years of veganism stand for. These include compassion for the environment, people, health and animals.
The pizza recipe has 64 ingredients, an ingredient to mark every year of The Vegan Society’s 64 year history in which they have encouraged people to eat more fruit and vegetables and plant based protein.
Celebrity Foods for Life TV Nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston says “Over 88% of us still don’t eat enough fruit and vegetables. It’s estimated 12% of the UK don’t eat any fruit and vegetables at all! As one of the most ubiquitous fast foods and probably the least healthy we decided to target the humble mass produced Pizza and give it a gourmet, optimum nutrition makeover”
Yvonne’s vegan husband Tony, author of a new vegan cookbook by Lorenz called ‘The Complete Book of Vegan Cooking’ says “We thought it would be a good way to mark World Vegan Day on November 1st and Veganism’s 64th birthday with a vegan pizza recipe with 64 nutritious ingredients”
“Our pizzaz pizza recipe is not only a delicious feast but is veggie-liciously packed with vegetables, complex carbohydrates, protein, essential fats, vitamins, minerals – rich in the basic nutrients you need to move towards a healthier lifestyle” says Yvonne.
At around 730 calories a typical pepperoni pizza has nearly as much fat, even more carbohydrates and less protein than a McDonalds double Quarter pounder with cheese.
A 6 slice medium pan Pizza Hut Pepperoni Pizza has 2112 Kcals, 117g of fat, 164g of carbohydrates, 10g of salt and 101g of protein.
Foods for Life are committed to encouraging a healthier choice on restaurant menus.
Foods for Life 64 Ingredient Healthy Pizzaz Pizza
For the Dough Base
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· Wholemeal flour, baking powder or yeast
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· Cold pressed virgin olive and rapeseed oils
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· Soya milk (apple sweetened, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B12)
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· Himalayan rock salt, black pepper, rosemary, marjoram, parsley,
For the Tomato Sauce
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· Chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, peppadew peppers
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· Onions, red peppers, celery, cauliflower, aubergine, (finely chopped)
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· Carrots, sweet potato, parsnip, (grated)
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· Spinach , watercress, cabbage, courgettes, kale, (finely chopped)
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· Mango or whole mango juice (whole fruit , sugar free)
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· Ground almonds, ground hazelnuts, ground buck wheat flour,
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· Garlic, oregano, nutmeg, Black pepper, Himalayan Rock salt, sage, basil, bay leaves, nori seaweed
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· Cold pressed virgin rapeseed oil
For the Rainbow Toppings
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· Pickled wild mushroom mix ( Button Mushrooms, Oyster Mushrooms, Shitake Mushrooms, porcini, ceps, etc in truffle infused flax oil)
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· Green veg mix ( broccoli, peas, mange tout, green beans, broad beans )
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· Yellow veg Mix ( sweet corn, pineapple, yellow peppers, chickpeas, pine-nuts)
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· Red veg Mix (Red peppers, cherry tomato, red onions, chopped red cabbage, kidney beans)
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· Nut and seed mix (shelled hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cashew nuts, pistachios, brazil nuts)
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· Asparagus and delicatessen mix (artichoke, green olives, black olives, capers, pickled figs)
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· Selection of dairy free cheeses (such as Redwoods super melting cheddar or mozzarella)
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· Or a cheesy sauce made from soya milk and rapeseed oil emulsified with balsamic vinegar and flavoured with mustard, ketchup, yeast extract /bouillon powder or yeast flakes and thickened if necessary with mashed potato.
Whoelwheat Pizza Dough increases Antioxidants for Healthier Pizza
Findings of a study showing how a wholewheat pizza dough antioxidents can be increased by 60-100% were presented at the 233rd national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
“We may have found the potential to deliver higher levels of antioxidants in comparison to other pizza styles,” said study co-author Jeffrey Moore, a doctoral student in food chemistry at the University of Maryland, College Park. Diets rich in antioxidants are thought to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease.
“We chose to investigate pizza dough because it’s one of the most popular wheat-based food products in the U.S.,” says Moore. “Making popular food more healthy using the tools of chemistry may have a larger impact on public health.”
The study is part of an ongoing effort by researchers at the university to discover and develop new technologies that enhance the levels of natural antioxidants in grain-based food ingredients such as whole wheat flour. That effort is lead by Liangli Lucy Yu, Ph.D., an associate professor of food chemistry at the school and Moore’s graduate advisor.
A number of tests were used to measure changes in antioxidant properties including changes in baking time, temperature and wheat varieties yeilding 60 - 80% increases in antioxidants.
As pizza dough is often allowed to ferment before baking, Moore also tested the effect of different fermentation times, ranging from zero to 48 hours, on antioxidant properties. Longer fermentation times also boosted antioxidant levels, in some cases by as much as 100 percent, he says. The increase likely resulted from chemical reactions induced by yeasts, which had more time to release the antioxidant components that were bound in the dough, Moore says.
Most of the antioxidants in wheat are found in the bran and endosperm components which are removed from refined white flour.
Funding for this study was supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Research Initiative, along with grants from the Colorado Wheat Research Foundation, Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board, the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station and the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station. This research was not funded by the pizza industry, Moore says. Eurekaalert
New Essential fats from Algae could Make Pizza a Superfood
A new stronger more adaptable and stable version of algal oil suitable for the manufacturing has now been brought to market. Niutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston says "V Pure has now been improved to make it suitable for use in a superfood pizza dough that has good levels of DHA and EPA essential fats. Trials of the fats have shown consisistent results paving the way for a super healthy pizza base" Ethical Junction