Healthy homemade pizza dough that’s super easy to make. This dough is made out of all-purpose flour and the secret healthy ingredient is garbanzo fava bean flour. Just put all the ingredients into a stand mixer and let it do all the work for you!
It’s a family tradition of ours to have pizza every Saturday night for the last two years. Each time I make three large pizzas, so I’ve made over 300 pizzas by now!
I always try to find ways to make meals just a bit healthier, so I experimented with hiding different healthy ingredients in the dough. All-purpose flour isn’t the healthiest of flours so I add some garbanzo fava bean flour to give the dough an extra boost of nutrition.
My family doesn’t notice any difference in the crust! It still comes out very nicely with the trademarks of a good pizza crust with pockets of air and a slight chewy texture.
Why are Garbanzo beans (also known as chickpeas) good for you?
- Rich in fiber and protein
- 1 cup of chickpeas has 14g of protein and 12g of fiber
- Fiber helps you feel full longer and may help with weight management
- Full of key vitamins and minerals such as iron, calcium, potassium, B vitamins, magnesium
- Antioxidants such as selenium and beta carotene to fight free radicals
Why are fava beans good for you?
- Rich in fiber and protein
- 1 cup of fava beans has 13g of protein and 8g of fiber
- High concentrations of thiamin, vitamin K, vitamin B-6, potassium, copper, selenium, zinc and magnesium
- Beneficial for bone health, may help lower cholesterol, may help improve high blood pressure
What if I don’t have a stand mixer?
No problem at all. Simply stir the ingredients until well-combined and then knead the dough on your counter for approximately 15 mins. This takes a bit of time, but I find kneading dough can be quite fun and therapeutic. The kids also love helping here! If the dough is very sticky, add a tablespoon of flour at a time.
What’s the best way to form the dough into pizza crust?
If you are like me and haven’t mastered how to toss pizza dough in the air, the best way I’ve found is to pat it out and stretch it. I’ve tried using a rolling pin, but the pizza crust doesn’t turn out as airy because the air bubbles in the dough get pushed out.
What’s the best way to cook the pizza?
I love using a cast iron pizza pan. I brush a bit of oil on the pan before putting the pizza dough on it. After my pizza is assembled, I heat up the pan on the stove using high heat before putting the pizza in the oven. That way, the pizza crust has a nice crispy texture on the bottom.
Give this healthy homemade pizza dough a try the next time you make pizza. Also, check out my recipe for a healthy pizza sauce and ham, mushroom and black olive pizza.
Best part is, no one will know they ate beans!
Healthy Homemade Pizza Dough
Equipment
- Stand mixer If no stand mixer can knead the dough by hand instead
Ingredients
- 5 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 cup of garbanzo fava bean flour
- 3 teaspoon sugar
- 4 teaspoon salt
- 5 teaspoon instant dry yeast
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 1/4 cups water 110 °F or 43 °C
Instructions
- In a stand mixer, add all-purpose flour, garbanzo fava bean flour, sugar, salt, yeast and olive oil.5 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 cup of garbanzo fava bean flour, 3 teaspoon sugar, 4 teaspoon salt, 5 teaspoon instant dry yeast, 3 tablespoons olive oil, 2 1/4 cups water
- Turn mixer on low speed with the dough hook. Add water slowly. Turn the mixer to medium speed and mix until the dough forms a ball. If the dough is too sticky add more flour, one tablespoon at a time. If it’s too dry, add water, one tablespoon at a time.
- Take the dough out and knead into a ball.
- Put the dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Or use a greased large pot and simply cover with the lid. That way you don’t need to waste any plastic wrap. I like to brush a little olive oil in the pot to grease it.
- Let the dough rest and double in size, about 1.5hrs.
- Punch the dough and knead into a ball. Divide the dough into 3 balls for 3 large pizzas.
- Put them back in the pot and rest for 30 minutes with the lid covered.
- Brush oil on cast iron pizza pan.
- Pat out and stretch the pizza dough. Then put it on the pizza pan.
- Put on the toppings.
- Heat the cast iron pizza pan on high heat until the bottom of the crust is slightly browned. Use a wok spatula or tongs to lift the crust up slightly so you can see if its browned nicely. Careful to not burn it. This will give your crust a nice texture, slightly crispy on the outside but still soft on the inside.
- Finish cooking the pizza in the oven at 450 °F for 5 minutes or until the cheese is nicely browned the way you like it. The pizza will cook faster since the bottom of the crust is already cooked.
