The Problem With Pizza

The only problem with pizza is pizza. There are many reasons why this is so.

The toppings:

these are the 5 commonest fillings in the USA: http://bit.ly/1RxzEPr

As you will note the usual meats are in the first five. 

Pepperoni:- this most popular of all meat component is raw and  mostly a mix of beef and pork though it can contain turkey and in some countries goat, horse-meat and donkey.

The amount of fat is 35% of which one third is saturated. http://bit.ly/1P2Xwfn

This has its particular vascular health risks. The cuts of meat are likely to be those that won’t sell in their own right or, in other words, scrap. The casings might not be natural especially in western countries.

                   :- the preservatives are salt, sodium nitrite and nitrate, and some versions are smoked to improve keeping qualities as well as flavour. These can cause a mix of heart and cancer conditions.

                   :- spices such as cayenne and paprika give the ‘hot’ flavour.

Hot spices are know to contribute to cancer of the gut.

                   :- other additives may be corn syrup and dextrose, presumably for flavour, binding and texture. These substances are implicated in eating habits which lead to diabetes.

Sausage 
This is the fourth most popular filling. I don’t think this is popular in the UK. Here there are some similar issues as apply to pepperoni, especially the preservative used called sodium metabisulphite which can cause allergic respiratory and gut reactions.

I personally would not expect such sausage to be of a high standard and all the tricks of the trade to used to expand the content such as fat, biscuit and binders. Casings also might be synthetic.

Bacon 
The fifth most popular filling, this carries fat, the nitrate/nitrite preservatives, and salt with the risks of those and if the bacon is smoked further risk still.

The Bread or Dough.

The flour for this is high in gluten and is of course a refined carbohydrate with a high glycemic index. It sadly lacks even a reasonable amount of fibre. The high gluten content, mostly around 12.5% is a reflection of the gluten content and the inherent need to get a risen crust.

The use of the oven on the dough ensures a crunchy but fairly burned crust and consequently a source of acrylamides, which are known to promote some cancers.

The Cheese.

It is easy to check what is most popular wherever but for the mass marketing of pizzas the cheese mixture are designed for browning and chewiness. Sadly the former is again what seems to be a imperative in making pizzas and that is browning or caramelising of protein, fat and carbohydrate. This changes the chemistry of the food such that it irritates cells lining the gut and might over time promote a cancer.

The Vegetables.

Onion is a very popular filling and I must concede that cooking onion a little for many makes it more palatable. However cooking of any vegetable except tomatoes depletes it nutrition. Of course if the vegetables, raw but grated were put on after removing the pizza from the oven that would be better - of course they would not have sunk into the melted cheese which many find so delicious.

In summary.

Pizza is a popular savoury food which is not healthy by virtue of the kind and quality of the ingredients. The burning of the crust and the fact that the ingredients are similarly singed or caramelised imparts much of the flavour. Spicy hotness is popular and so are salami type toppings.

It is expensive for what is is and is eminently suited to be easily made at home.

So what will make a pizza healthy, easy to make and easy on the pocket?.

The dough: use a wrap - these are convenient, thin, already cooked and usually are not burned. Their thinness means less refined carbohydrate. They are cheap and available and some with seeds and grain mixed in.

They can be heated in a warm oven or a microwave with or without the toppings.

The sauce. A matter of choice but the passata, purée or tomato paste is best spread on the wrap directly before brushing with virgin olive oil. This helps it adhere better.

The cheese. Hard cheese melts especially well if grated or shaved and if of the soft variety thin slices spread about do well.

The meat, its kind and quality is what you choose. You can avoid fat, preservatives and additives if are using your own prepared meats. One doesn't have to depend on pepperoni to get that spiciness. A little olive oil and the chopped meat of your choice mixed with cayenne, chilli, or harissa will do nicely instead but remember hot spices can cause cancer changes so do go easy.

Pizzas are perfect for leftovers so use them up. Chicken would be a favourite.

The vegetables are anything you want but grated, finely chopped. Julienne of vegetables is fine but cut the strands up short so they stay on the fork. Garlic is great but go easy on your friend unless you know them. They can be prepared as a warm raw vegetable already flavoured and tossed with olive oil. Always check the stoned olives you use are in fact stoned - other wise a broken tooth or choking can occur. Chopping up the olives is a good way of ensuring this.

The nature of crust, the upper crust and what have you.

I was told when I was young eat up your crusts and I think the 'or else' bit was 'you won't get curly hair. I'm unsure of the imperative but definitely crusts were left when we were kids. Now I'm inclined to wonder if some in the innocence of childhood there was a wisdom to all that.
Crusts are something of an adult thing with boutique loaves pouting proud on bread stalls in shops and markets everywhere and demarcate themselves from the pallid regularity of mass produced and sliced and wrapped versions.
A crust is de novo a thinnish and dryish condensation of the softer  mix it is covering. In the presence of modest cooking or heat it remains thin, supple and pretty much the same colour with a little accentuation of the taste of the mix. With more and more heat it darkens considerably through to black, thickens and stiffens so much that it becomes brittle and sharp edged. The taste sharpens from an enjoyable  caramelised taint to the outright bitterness of carbonised dough.
All this is just taste you might say but of course this is true as long as you take on board the rider that 'burnt is bad'. thus:
   More information about this is in a very helpful summary by the USA National Cancer Institute. Note that one of the studies quoted looked at cooking at 200ºC or 250ºC, which is much hotter than ordinary baking/roasting. However, that is the kind of temperature you use to cook a pizza... Apologies to the reference in that it is me who has emphasised pizza, for obvious reasons of course.  
It reasonably follows that heat producing our bread and gently cindering the outer to us the so much liked crust is doing the same to that food.

Why oh why is it time to stop buying pizza and make your own?

Hands up those who like pizza. 
Well, hardly a hand not up in the air. 
So what is so good about pizza? 
Hands up for taste. Well that's about half of you. 
Hands up if its cost. Once again that's about half of you. 
Now hands up for convenience. Goodness gracious, every hand is up.
Yes pizza is nothing if it's not convenient. From the respectability of malls and the high street pizzerias, to the road side parlours or to the coolers in your supermarket or local convenience store pizza is everywhere.
So why am I picking on pizza.
I want pizza to become more healthy.
The problems now with pizza that you buy are the cost to one's health, first and foremost, for all takers.
Then there is the good food for which it may be an alternative,
But way down, there is for some, the price. As I'll explain in due course it really isn't worth anything if it affects your health.

Health. The stuff of which they are made.

       The food for which they are an alternative.

The food of which they are made

 The basic concept:- a slab of dough with a variety of mostly savoury toppings which is baked.

  the dough:- It is by virtue of this that the pizza is a potent source of refined carbohydrate. The flour is mostly white and mostly therefore of little fibre.

It is cooked at great heat to produce the beginnings of burned crust and therefore offers a spectrum of carbonised chemicals including acrylamides which may contribute to gut cancer. Like bread it has a high glycemic index and should be said to be diabetogenic and at the very least a fattening product.

  the toppings:-these can be what you like but mostly when bought they are dairy, very spicy and strong savory salami type sausage, ham, bacon and other salty products (olives,anchovies, capers, dill cucumbers) and sometime salted chillies.

Yes some offer a sprinkling of rocket,and other saladings, and some garlic and onions. With luck any greens will go on after it has been baked. It is fair to say that the meat mentioned is hardly likely to be the best. This is simply because thin sliced, pulled, broken and sizzling hot in a caramelised and savoury milieu its fat is unnoticed and really knowing what animal it comes from could be impossible to tell.

The cost. Pizzerias charge something like twenty five times the material costs for a pizza. Of course their overheads have to be made and they provide a nice place to dine which brings up the matter of...

Convenience:- In or out of house, its made for you and it’s not grossly prohibitive cost wise, a glass of wine, a starter, finish with a sweet and you have

the makings of a visually present and filling meal all without thinking . It’s so conveniently a meal that its seductive, kid’s love it and that makes it very popular.

However people should think about not eating pizza for it is, in most situations, really unhealthy.Fundamentally unhealthy because overcooked and burned crust dough is unhealthy and because most of the toppings are unhealthy.

The food for which they are an alternative
First and foremost would be healthy 'pizza'and this needs defining and after that any wholesome meal.