Lo-Dough Pizza 101 - Ultimate Do's and Don'ts
Low-Calorie and/or Low-Carb pizzas are a few easy steps away, but it can be just as easy to get a Lo-Dough pizza wrong and taint the experience.
Here at Lo-Dough we eat delicious pizza every day and it breaks our hearts to know that not everybody is having that same experience. It’s easy to make, but there are a few top tips you should read first.
So, it’s back to school for a lesson in Lo-Do's and Lo-Don’ts. The teacher might sound a bit stern when it’s not looking good, but she’s got everyone’s best interests at heart…
Lesson 1. Saucing the base (Probably the most important step of the lot)
Don’t use tomato puree; that’s a big mistake as far as we’re concerned. Well okay – you can if you absolutely must, but please water it down a little first as dry paste will burn during cooking. Far better is to use a good quality tomato passata or pizza sauce. We make no secret of the fact that our favourite is Nowt Poncy’s L’Amore É Pizza Sauce – it’s just so damn tasty. There are other passatas that work too – look for a loose textured sauce with garlic and herbs.
Whatever you use, make sure to spread it right to the edge – exposed Lo-Dough will dry out during the time it takes to cook. Most people throw crusts away anyway - plus, who has ever complained about having more sauce and cheese?
Lesson 2. Cheese
BE GENEROUS. We can’t emphasise this enough. The calories being saved by using the Lo-Dough base gives you the option to enjoy the tasty toppings – and the main topping on any pizza is cheese. So, no less than 70g (unless you are on a very restrictive diet), but add more if desired. We recommend grated mozzarella to begin with, but after that, let the experimentation begin.
Lesson 3. Other Toppings
Again – be generous! Make sure you look at the distribution of the meat and vegetables a little – if you were to share your pizza with a friend, you don’t want them to get a slice with no ham/veg on it do you (Well you might, but that’s something you’re gonna have to work out with your friend).
We recommend pre-cooking toppings raw meat and vegetables first. There are a couple of advantages to this:
- You won’t get food poisoning from eating uncooked meat. Massive advantage.
- You can add flavour to the veg – fry off the mushrooms with garlic and/or add fresh herbs, caramelise the onions, chargrill your peppers and courgettes. You can also get seasoning/spice into the meat and veg.
You can get away with raw veg and the teacher may turn a blind eye – but only if you chop them finely, giving them the chance to cook through in the 7-10 minutes it takes to cook the pizza.
Lesson 4. The Finished Pizza (The teacher is always right!)
We told you the teacher knew best! Look at the two and ask yourself which one you want? Both will be under 400 calories, so you really aren’t saving much by scrimping on the cheese or rushing the toppings (seriously, just a few extra minutes care). But you are definitely gaining a lot by being generous. You can go further – add fresh rocket or basil – or indeed any herbs you like.
Make your first Lo-Dough pizza one to remember - follow a few simple rules for a perfect pizza experience with Lo-Dough.