Best Artisan Pizza Ever That's Also Pritikin Friendly

Earlier this week I got bit by the artisan pizza bug. Have you ever wanted to have a perfect artisan pizza crust? That's happened a few times to me, and it all started when Mitzi and I had one of the best pizzas ever on our motorhome trip last year in Dana Point, CA.

We ate this at Angelina's Pizzeria:

After returning home I wanted to recreate this. I experimented with multiple recipes and learned to make one we love.

In January 2018 I had a 99% block in one of my heart arteries. I haven't blogged about it yet, but will someday – I'm actually writing a book about it called Hearts – and in September 2018 I spent 3 weeks at Pritikin resetting my health.

Which means that now I eat much better. I'm getting good at modifying recipes to massively reduce sodium, fat, oils, and other heart clogging and damaging ingredients.

So when the artisan pizza crust bug hit me this week, I wanted to make a wonderful crust, like what we had, but one that is healthy and tasty. And I must say – SUCCESS!

Before showing you what I came up with, here is the original recipe I used to start my experimenting. It comes from the wonderful bakers at King Arthur Flour:

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2015/01/05/best-pizza-youll-ever-make

I made it 5 times. Each time I made adjustments and modifications for health, taste, texture, and all around awesomeness.

Here's what I came up with, and it is truly the best pizza I've ever made:

• 125g King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (approximately 1 cup + ½ tablespoon)
• 125g King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour (approximately 1 cup and ½ tablespoon)
• 195g lukewarm water (¾ cup + 2 tablespoon, about 97-105 degrees)
• ⅛ teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1½ g salt (1/4 teaspoon which is 580mg of sodium which is 290mg per large pizza or 145mg per personal pizza).
• ½ teaspoon Splenda

Mix the dry ingredients, then add the water. Stir until just combined.

Cover and let rise at room temp for 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 550 F with baking steel or stone inside.

Cut dough into 2 equal pieces (or 4 if doing personal sized pizzas). Use lots of flour so it doesn’t stick.

Stretch and fold each piece. Pull one side, fold over, then pull other side, fold over. The do it again in the opposite sides. Then flip upside-down and tuck in the sides. See the King Arthur Blog Post above for pictures and a video, it's really helpful.

Cover each piece separately in a bowl for 45-60 minutes to proof.

When ready to bake, punch in middle with fingers then stretch without pressing the outside edge, so it will stay nice and fluffy when it cooks. See the blog post for pictures.

Put on thick sauce, less water is better. Add other toppings and bake until the crust is a little charred.

Here are the final results...

Mitzi has her pizza ready for baking.

Here's my finished pizza. Perfection!

UPDATE! August 18, 2019

I made another batch of this pizza dough last week. Instead of making 4 small pizzas, I made 2 medium sized pizzas. Mitzi and I had one tonight and mmmmm it was good!

We purchased a King Arthur Baking Steel for cooking the pizza and are very pleased with the results.

We also added a bit of lobster tail. Pizza perfection and Pritikin friendly.