Ham, mushrooms and black olives…make this classic delicious combination of toppings for your next pizza at home. Much healthier than delivery or take out!
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!
The classic combination of ham, mushrooms, black olives, topped with fresh basil is a staple on our pizza menu every week. The second pizza is always a basic one for the kids with ham and sausage. And the third one, is always my experiment pizza where I try new flavours.
Pizza is usually considered fast food or junk food, especially if you are ordering the typical delivery pizza. But here, I have a few tips to make a family favourite meal a bit healthier so you can serve it happily any day.
How do you make a healthier pizza?
Try my healthy homemade pizza dough recipe that uses garbanzo bean flour. This boosts the fiber and protein versus a dough made up of only white flour. Just a 1/4 cup has 7g of protein and 6g of fiber!
Choose a ham that is nitrate free. Nitrates are preservatives that are potentially cancer causing.
Load up the veggies on the pizza. Once it’s all covered in cheese, all the veggies will taste terrific!
Instead of mozzarella, try a mix of cheeses with stronger flavour such as parmesan, asiago and mozzarella mixed together. With more intense flavour you’ll need less cheese.
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 homemade ham, mushroom and black olive pizza a try!
Ham, Mushroom and Black Olive Pizza
Ham, mushrooms and black olives…make this classic delicious combination of toppings for your next pizza at home. Much healthier than delivery or take out!
200gof shredded cheeseI prefer a blend of cheeses like parmesan, asiago, mozarella
1tablespoonof canola oil
Instructions
Make pizza dough and pizza sauce. If you are short on time, store bought is perfectly fine.
Pizza dough, Pizza sauce
Prepare the toppings. Sauté the mushrooms. This gives them some caramelization and a sweeter flavour. Slice the olives, cut the ham.
4 cremini mushrooms, 5 olives, 2 slices of ham cut into quarters
Brush oil on cast iron pizza pan.
1 tablespoon of canola oil
Pat out and stretch the pizza dough. Then put it on the pizza pan.
Put on the cheese, then toppings except basil.
200 g of shredded cheese
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 475 °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.
