, nutritional review by Franziska Spritzler, RD, CDE
in Recipes, Dinner, Meal Low carb deep dish pan pizza
Ingredients
- ½ tsp ½ tsp granulated sugar
- 1½ tsp 1½ tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tbsp 1 tbsp hot water
- 1 cup (4 oz.) 240 ml (110 g) almond flour
- ¼ cup (¾ oz.) 60 ml (25 g) whey protein isolate (unflavored)
- 4 tbsp 4 tbsp baking powder
- 3 cups (12 oz.) 700 ml (325 g) shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup (8 oz.) 240 ml (230 g) cream cheese, softened
- 4 4 large egglarge eggs
- 1 tsp 1 tsp olive oil, plus more for hands
- 3 oz. 85 g tomato paste
- 1 tsp 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 6 oz. 170 g fresh Italian sausage, cooked and crumbled
- 2 oz. 55 g sliced pepperoni
- 1½ oz. (42⁄3 tbsp) 45 g (70 ml) sliced green bell peppersliced green bell peppers
- 1 oz. 28 g sliced white onionsliced white onions
- 8 oz. (2 cups) 230 g (475 ml) shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, yeast, and hot water. Set aside, uncovered, to activate the yeast.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the almond flour, whey protein isolate, and baking powder. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, stir together and melt the mozzarella and cream cheese. Remove from heat. Add the melted cheese mixture to the almond flour mixture, and stir to combine. Add the eggs and yeast mixture. Using a wooden spoon or your hands, mix the dough until smooth. Cover the dough, and set aside in a warm place to rise for 30 to 35 minutes. The dough will be very wet.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Coat a 14" (35 cm), non-stick, deep-dish pizza pan with olive oil.
- Pour the dough into the prepared pan. Coat your hands with olive oil and smooth the dough to the edges and at least ½" (1 cm) up the sides of the pan. The dough should not be more than ¼" (0.5 cm) thick across the bottom of the pan. Keep your hands covered in oil to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands.
- Dollop small spoonfuls of tomato paste onto the crust, and spread gently over the dough. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning evenly over the tomato paste. Top with the sausage, pepperoni, bell peppers, onions, and mozzarella cheese.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes on the middle rack, or until the top, is bubbly and browned. Remove from oven and let sit for at least 10 minutes before serving.
- Refrigerate leftovers for up to 5 days or freeze the baked pizza slices wrapped in freezer paper for up to 3 months.
Crust
Toppings
Tip
You might want to sauté the onions and bell peppers in butter before using them as toppings, but you don’t have to.
Notes about pans
For this recipe, using different pans will yield different results. This recipe provides instructions for using a 14" (35 cm) deep dish pizza pan.
You can use a 10" (25 cm) by 15" (38 cm) baking dish, cast-iron skillet, or a combination of smaller deep dish pizza pans such as two 9” pans. To determine which size pan to use, consider how thick you want the crust to be
Dark coated metal pans work best. Glass or ceramic pans do not conduct heat as well. If you use glass or ceramic, then you will need to extend the cooking time.
Should you use tomato paste or tomato sauce?
This recipe uses a thin layer of tomato paste instead of tomato sauce or pizza sauce.
Tomato paste is thicker and has far less moisture which allows the crust to bake more evenly. Using tomato sauce can make the crust soggy unless you prebake the crust for 10-12 minutes before adding toppings.
Using the best baking powder
Yes, 4 tbsp of baking powder is the correct measurement. The yeast and the baking powder are what cause the crust to rise like a true deep dish pizza.
Be sure to use baking powder that is aluminum-free. If your baking powder has aluminum in it, the crust will have an undesirable metallic taste.
Also, check the baking powder for sodium. Some brands have more than 60 mg of sodium per serving, which yields a salty crust. Ideally, look for brands with 50 to 60 mg of sodium per serving.
Should I really use sugar in this recipe?
Yes! The small amount of sugar is needed to activate the yeast. A small packet from a coffee shop is really all you need
Great tips!! Thank you for sharing your insights!
If you cut it into 8 slices then yes, 1 slice is a serving. This is rich and surprisingly filling. Please keep in mind that adding a salad adds additional carbohydrates.
The sugar is to activate the yeast. The yeast eats the sugar so it’s consumed. As for whey protein isolate, you might try egg white protein powder. Also, the original recipe used oat fiber, so you might try potato fiber since you are in the U.K.
You could try an egg white protein powder, oat fiber or potato fiber. Being in Ireland, potato fiber may be the most easy to obtain.
We have not tried using collagen in this recipe, but it behaves pretty differently in baked goods and may not work well.
Using something strong like that may risk overmixing which may make the cheese proteins too tough. I usually have the best luck kneading it with my hands.
The sugar is needed to activate the yeast.
This dough should not have had a mushy texture. If it did, the most common culprit is if you used tomato sauce instead of tomato paste. If you did use tomato paste, it may have needed to be baked longer.
This recipe, one of my family's favorites, relies heavily on patience and technique. Be sure you're giving the dough sufficient time at each step. It may be the step of mixing the dough well with your hands that is causing the issue. It does need to be mixed well to avoid those lumps. Also, the pan makes a big difference. If at all possible use a pan with holes in the bottom that you've lined with a bit of parchment. It allows for more heat directly on the crust.
As I was making it it never reached a "dough" consistency so I thought it wasn't going to work out but in the end it did. I ended up getting two standard cake tin size pizzas out of it which was plenty and yes it was rich so two slices per person was plenty. I followed the recipe to a tee and cooked my meat and veggies off so it didn't make the dough soggy but it still wasn't as crispy as I would have liked. The outside was ok but the inside of the crust was quite spongy. All in all a nice recipe. It's nice to try something new but I think I'll stick to fathead pizza x
We have not tested this recipe with whey protein concentrate.
Thanks for the feedback! So glad you enjoyed it!
Awesome! So glad you love it!