Angela… and more about the benefits of spelt.
I love pizza
Like many people, I love love pizza. But not just any pizza: I like to have a really good quality pizza. Unfortunately, most pizza’s lack this quality. Therefore, I prefer not to buy pre-baked pizza’s from the supermarket or pizza’s from take-away restaurants of whom I don’t know what kind of ingredients they use, for the pizza dough for instance. Therefore I prefer to bake my own pizza. I use fresh ingredients, of which some of them directly come from my own herb garden or from my parents vegetable garden or glass house.
Spelt flour
Besides, I can choose the ingredients myself of which I want to prepare my pizza dough. Many times, I make the dough out of spelt flour
Spelt over wheat
Spelt is easier to digest than wheat, has a higher protein and vitamin B3 (33% RDI per portion) content, which aids in energy metabolism, promotes producing sex and stress hormones and also reduces cholesterol levels. Unlike wheat, spelt is not pesticide treated, because of its protecting husk, which is a natural pollutant and insect protection. Spelt also contains more soluble fiber than wheat flour, which lowers blood cholesterol and regulates blood sugar levels.
Other nutrients in spelt
Moreover, spelt flour contain choline and beating (helps decrease inflammation), folate, pantothenic acid, iron, thiamine, copper, magnesium, phosphorous, manganese and selenium, vitamins B6, C, E and K. The mineral content of spelt flour in comparison with wheat flour are about the same, differences are minimal.
Spelt and weight loss
Weight loss means burning more than you consume. It’s as simple as that. However, if you choose the right foods to eat within your diet and caloric need, you can promote your weight loss. Some of the choices you can make here is choosing couscous over white pasta, stevia over sugar, home made cereals over sugary commercial cereals and a healthy home made chia pudding over processed pudding.
But also choosing spelt flour (products) over wheat flour (products). The reasons for this have been mentioned above: spelt flour contains more soluble fiber and protein than wheat, giving you a more satisfied feeling, a greater feeling of fulness and asks your body for more energy to burn it.
Spelt and gluten
Just one more thing: spelt is NOT free from gluten. Not all people that have celiac disease or are gluten-intolerant, are automatically intolerant to all gluten though; it could be the case that you’re intolerant to wheat gluten, but not to spelt gluten, which are more fragile. It is therefore worth testing if you are also intolerant to spelt gluten.
Recipe
Are you convinced that from now on, you will make your own fresh ingredients spelt pizza? Get started with this easy, only 47 minutes to prepare spelt pizza recipe. Be creative: anything on this pizza can be swapped for your fav fresh ingredients.
Total time: 47 minutes Prep: 10 minutes Wait: 25 minutes Oven: 12 minutes Kitchen aid: oven, mixing bowl, rolling pin, baking paper.
Ingredients for 2 medium pizza’s:
For the dough:
- 200 ml/7 oz luke warm water
- 0.5 tbs olive oil (normal, not the extra virgin!)
- 230 gram/1.8 cup spelt flour
- 7 gram/2.5 tsp dry yeast
- 0.5 tsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp of fine raw pink Himalayan sea salt
- flour to roll out the dough
- fist size bundle of rosemary, finely chopped
For the sauce:
- 200 gram/7 oz ounce organic tomato sauce
- Fresh/dried Italian herbs, to taste
For the topping:
- 1/2 zucchini, thinly sliced and slightly oiled with olive oil
- 1 tomatoes, thinly sliced
- 200 gram/7 oz mozzarella, thinly sliced
- fist size bundle of rocket
- 20 gram/3 tbs pine nuts
- home made cress pesto
Directions
1. Mix the flour, olive oil and salt in a bowl.
2. Mix the water, maple syrup and yeast in another bowl.
3. Mix these ingredients together and keep kneading for 10 minutes.
4. Cover dough with a (warm, moisty) towel and set aside at a warm temperature for 25 minutes to let the dough rise.
5. Meanwhile, preheat the (electric) oven at 200oC /392oF and prepare the sauce by mixing the tomato sauce with the herbs. Add as much herbs as you like, until the sauce gets its desired flavor.
6. Knead the dough a little bit again, form 2 balls from the dough, cover the kitchen counter with flower and roll out each ball with a rolling pin, forming medium sized pizza bottoms.
7. Cover the pizza bottoms with the tomato sauce and top with the zucchini slices, tomato slices and mozzarella.
8. Cover baking sheet with baking paper and shove the pizza’s into the oven. Bake for 12 minutes (depending on your oven and thickness of the pizza bottoms).
9. When ready, take out the pizza’s and cover with rocket and top with pine nuts and cress pesto.
Serve with (organic) red wine outside in the autumn evening sun. Santé!
Nutritional value per serving:
Kcal 604 Fiber 4.5 Protein 30 Carbs 81 Fat 5.7
Shop spelt flour
Bob’s Red Mill Organic Spelt Flour, 24-Ounce (Pack of 4)
TerraSana 5 KG à € 16,49 (VitaminStore)
* Note: Using spelt flour for bakings can make your bakings a little more dense and heavy than wheat flour bakings.
Follow me at Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Bloglovin‘ | Pinterest |Newsletter
