Hello All,
I am in the process of making my menu and was asked by a freind of mine if I was going to be offering any type of “diet” or healthier type of pizza. She mentioned things like a whole wheat crust and less fattening cheeses…
Im just wondering if any of you offer pizzas like this and if so, how well do they sell, and would you share some of your ideas?..
Thanks So Much.
Re: Anyone making a “Diet” or “Healthy”
We have tried making a low fat pizza etc over the years. We find the cheese doesn’t melt so good and not a big enough interest to keep it on hand.
We used to do crustless pizza (toppings in a bowl) when atkins was popular. Again, not much of an interest.
Kris
Re: Anyone making a “Diet” or “Healthy”
We have a pizza of the month to try out new ideas and last month it was the “health nut” pizza. It was thin crust, olive oil, light mozza, roasted walnuts, onions, mandarin oranges and feta cheese. I argued about whether it would sell or not but it did sell quite nicely.
Re: Anyone making a “Diet” or “Healthy”
We also have a pizza of the month and in February we did a Greek pizza that was “healthier”…
Hummus base…kalamata olives…cucumbers…feta cheese…onions…feta cheese
Went over very well!
Re: Anyone making a “Diet” or “Healthy”
did you cook those cucumbers on the pie? or put them on cold after it came out of the oven? sounds interesting…lol…
Re: Anyone making a “Diet” or “Healthy”
Put them on just like any other topping! Worked great!
This created quite a few questions in the chat on tuesday too. Can’t believe I am the only one!
Re: Anyone making a “Diet” or “Healthy”
Did you use shredded pizza cheese atop, or just the feta? Seems you listed it twice above. Made me curious.
Re: Anyone making a “Diet” or “Healthy”
Ooops…sorry Nick!
We used the pizza cheese as well but a light dusting…
Re: Anyone making a “Diet” or “Healthy”
That hummus base has mind mind spinning with curiosity and interest. I make a mean hummus myself, and now think ti could launch a new line of “Mediterranean” pizzas. Hummus, pesto, tomato, garlic butter, garlic cream/alfredo
. . . .sauces are taking over the world!!
We may end up with so many “signature” pies that our menu requires a slide ruler to figure out . . . like Aussie Dave’s 
Well, maybe not, since we have a much simpler price structure that people can figure out.
Some of the lighter sauces are showing up in conversation around here: olive oil, simple crushed tomato. Every now and then someone asks for gluten free. NO ONE has asked for soy-cheese or reduced fat cheese in over a year and a half. We do offer a “flat crust”, which is overstretched from the next smaller doughball, as a lower carb option. We carry flour tortillas as well to reduce bread of sandwiches.
Re: Anyone making a “Diet” or “Healthy”
Sure, we make them all the time. Begin with using a whole-wheat, or wheat (partial wheat) crust, don’t add more than 2% olive oil to the dough. Brush the shaped dough skin with canola oil, then drop on a few fresh basil leaves, and add some minced garlic, now add several slices of fresh tomato (garden variety will work just fine) or use drained tomato fillets, as for the cheese, you have three options. (1) Use one of the mozzarella cheese analogs such as that made by Galaxy Nutritional Foods, Orlando, FL. (2) Use a 50/50 blend of low fat, part skim Mozzarella and the cheese analog (trust me, it ain’t too bad) or (3) My favorite is to use a high quality cheese such as a fresh, wet Mozzarella cheese, but use it sparingly. We only use 3-ounces on a 12-inch pizza. Apply the cheese in thinly torn pieces spotted over the top of the pie. The presentation looks more “gourmet” than healthy. As for toppings, look at poultry pepperoni, turkey or chicken meat, even bison pepperoni (much leaner than regular pepperoni) can work well in this application, then of course, there are the great tasting vegetable toppings too, and don’t forget about an upgraded pizza with salmon and a little dill weed. If you’ve ever been to The Tom Lehmann Dough Center at the Orlando Pizza Show (coming up this September) or the NAPICS Show (Test Kitchen), you may have had one or more of these pizzas as we make them quite regularly at the shows.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor