Piece Of Mind: Deep Dish Pizza May Be On The Menu Of Nouveau Health Foods

We’ve all been told to steer clear of the health-damaging tans fats found in most of our favorite “foods” (and I use the term loosely), including fried food such as fish fillets and even pizza.

But, now it seems as if there may be some good news on the horizon for “junk food junkies”, at least those that enjoy a “slice of life” from time to time.

A team of researchers is currently in the process of trying to make this North American staple a bit healthier based on its popularity. In fact, other than the dough, there is little that terribly “bad” about pizza. After all, what’s so bad about Lycopene-packed tomato (sauce), herbs and garlic, calcium-fortified cheese, and antioxidant packed olive oil?

So, scientists are trying to make the rest of the pie just as nutritionally appealing by increasing the antioxidant levels in the dough, commonly made from refined white flour, in which most healthful nutrients and antioxidants have been removed.

They are “experimenting” with whole-grain pizza comprised of two different types of what, noting that whole-grain wheat is replete with bran and endosperm, both, which offer antioxidant properties.

In addition, they are cooking the dough at temperatures between 204 and 285 degrees Celsius (400 to 545 degrees Fahrenheit) and for about seven to 14 minutes.

What they found was that by cooking the dough longer, they were able to increase its antioxidant traits by 60 percent. Also, baking it at higher temperatures increased antioxidant properties by up to 82 percent. But, these figures and levels are directly related to the type of wheat and antioxidant uses. Furthermore, researchers reveal that allowing the dough to ferment for up to 48 hours also helped boost antioxidant levels.