Dinner - May 28, 2009

This week I am going to try out some recipes from the New York Times. I would make nice links to them with their pretty picture but I don't want to get threatening letters like Apartment Therapy did. (Hint to New York Times: Links from blogs equal more traffic.)

These are healthy recipes that show up in the health section of the paper. Search for "Recipes for Health" on the Times website.

The first one that I tried might be the least healthy since it is pizza and I made it with some actual cheese. I only used a total of about 2 oz of Parmesan for 3 to 4 servings so like I told Matt, don't get too excited.

The first picture is from a potato pizza. The second picture is from a fennel and onion pizza. The third picture is showing both halves of the pizza before it went into the oven.

I don't have any fancy pizza pans or pizza stones. I stuck with the 50% whole wheat crust recipe from the Healthy Hedonist that I have used on previous posts. My recipe is about 2/3 per volume of the recipe in the Times. The Times recipe makes two crusts and the toppings are for one. I made one rectangular pizza that would be below the same area as the Times for toppings but I compensated by reducing the border area. I ended up with one crust at 2/3 the volume for the same area as the two separate crusts. (Yes, I am an engineer.)


Not having a pizza pan I am always working for the way to get a crispy crust. This time I over baked the pizza making it dry, but I think I am on the right track. I baked in the pan at 450 degrees for 10 minutes then removed it from the pan and baked for 10 minutes and then turned on the broiler for 5 mintues. Next time I will try 8 in pan, 4 out of pan, and 4 under the broiler. I had the oven shelf one step below the middle.

Besides overcooking this pizza I also over salted it. I am blaming my inexperience with cooking with cheese. I really should have backed way down on the salt due to the salt in the cheese.

I liked the potato pizza and thought the fennel pizza was okay. It was nice to have the two different parts to break up the meal a bit. These really don't have much cheese and it is located inconspicuously below the toppings, so I am interested to try them with out the cheese.

I will not be sharing these pizzas with any one yet.