Easy Homemade Protein Pizza 🍕

During March of 2020 when Covid-19 hit my business was shutdown for 2 months. During this time I adopted a new hobby of cooking but also like true 2020 fashion I adopted 19lbs to stay thematic for the year. 

As I've worked on cutting the excessive weight I've experimented with a few recipes to cut calories without sacrificing taste. You will never convince me that cauliflower crust is just as good as pizza crust or even "not bad" for that matter. Another thing that drives me crazy is when looking for recipes online they are long formed blogs that are littered with ads. Every time I scroll I end up accidently hitting an ad and it redirects me to another spam site. So without further ado here is an easy AD FREE recipe for pizza that gives you an extra dose of protein. 

Ingredients

Dough
◦ 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons self-rising flour
◦ 1 cup Greek yogurt

Sauce
◦ 1 can of Fire roasted crushed tomatoes
◦ To taste Oregano, Garlic, salt, pepper, or Italian blend
OR.....

◦ Rao’s sauce

Toppings
◦ Cheese
◦ Italian sausage (apply raw in small pieces)
◦ Mike’s hot honey  

Extra
◦ Baking soda mixed in hot water

Directions

Dough:
1. For the dough mix the ingredients in a mixture with bread hook or by hand. If it is too sticky add more flour. I find that I am a good 2 tablespoons over on the flour.

2. Wrap the dough in cellophane and set in the refrigerator to make it easier to work. Once the dough begins to warm up from working yet it will become stickier.

3. Put flour down on a counter (not self-rising) and stretch the dough. Once I have it decently stretched out I will move it to the pizza stone to finish it off as it will get sticky.

Extra Step:
1. If you want the crust to brown a little more heat up water just below boiling and add a good tablespoon of baking soda. Mix it together and brush it on to the crust. It will not change the flavor.

Sauce:
1. In my opinion fire roasted crushed tomatoes is the perfect base. Add olive oil, oregano, or any other Italian blend to taste. do not refrigerate the sauce. If you go with a canned sauce make sure it is meatless in the higher the quality the better it will taste. I am a huge fan of Rao’s vodka sauce or really anything they make.

Toppings
1. This is where the midwestern in me comes out. I am used to a lot of meat and a lot of cheese and all the toppings on pizza until it is completely covered. I also am used to cooking the meat in a pan first and then putting it on the pizza. This makes for a greasy your pizza and hides the flavor of the sauce and the crust. Add as much sauce as you would like then tear up little pieces of raw meat to spread, then sprinkle on a mixture of Parmesan and mozzarella. I recommend getting a brand of cheese that is at least better than store brand. I use Crystal Farms for the mozzarella and BelGioiso for the Parmesan and really love it!

Baking
1. Set your oven between 475 to 500+ make sure that it gets two full temperature. Then bake until cheese and crust is at desired appearance.

Final Touch
1. This part could be looked at as optional but in our house it’s an absolute necessity. Drizzle on Mike’s hot honey. Hard to find at stores buy easily available online.