Dear Chef Kathleen,

What do you think about cutting out all white carbs? My family loves pizza. Isn't whole-wheat pizza crust tough as leather?

Juanita


Dear Juanita,

We've all heard by now that brown rice is better for us than white, and that we should eat whole-grain bread instead of enriched white. In fact, according to the Food and Drug Administration, "Diets rich in whole-grain foods and other plant foods may help reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers."

Yet, trying to imagine a world without white starches such as potatoes, toasted sourdough bread, warm baked cookies or a steaming plate of pasta with marinara sauce every now and then just seems, well wrong. In fact, entire cultures exist on white rice.

"Rice provides 25 to 80 percent of the calories in the daily diet of 2.7 billion Asians, or half the world's population—rice is the world's number one food crop," says Oldways Preservation and Trust, a nonprofit food issues think tank praised for translating the complex details of nutrition science into the familiar language of food.

I agree that some people consume too many refined carbohydrate products containing white flours, white sugar, white rice and potatoes and not enough products containing whole grains, whole-wheat flour, brown rice and other potatoes such as sweet potatoes and yams.

There's also no debating that to produce white flour, the outer layer of the wheat—the bran—and the germ are removed, both of which contain vital nutrients that the final product—white flour—does not. This makes white flour less nutritious and in the opinion of some, void of all nutrition.

Our bodies digest refined carbohydrates (the white ones) quicker than we process the less and unrefined products (foods containing whole grains). This means, among other things, that we digest them quicker and are hungrier faster.

There's nothing bulky and "filling" about spaghetti with tomato sauce, or else people wouldn't feel the need to have a half a loaf of garlic bread with it. By contrast, a dinner of Mostly Whole-Wheat Pizza and a heaping plate of salad I make at home is filling, satisfying and delicious.

My recipe uses 70 percent whole-wheat flour and only 30 percent white flour (most commercial whole-wheat pizzas contain as little as 10 percent whole-wheat flour). The more whole-wheat flour you use, the chewier the crust. This recipe uses the right balance of flours, yielding a much more nutrient-dense dough than most pizza recipes.

It's been kid and family tested and is kid and family approved.

Mostly Whole-wheat Pizza
Place 2 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour, 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, 2 packages dry active yeast, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon sugar in a mixer fitted with a dough hook. While mixer is running, gradually add 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water and knead on low speed until dough is firm and smooth, about 10 minutes. Turn machine off.

Pour 1/2 teaspoon oil down inside of bowl. Turn on low once more for 15 seconds to coat inside of bowl and all surfaces of dough with the oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap.

Let rise in warm spot until doubled in bulk, about two hours.

Preheat oven to highest setting, 500-550 degrees. If using a pizza stone, place stone in oven on bottom rack, preheat oven one hour ahead.

Punch dough down, cut into quarters. On generously floured work surface, place one quarter of dough. By hand, form dough loosely into a ball, stretch into a circle.

Using a floured rolling pin, roll dough into large circle until very thin. Don't worry if your circle isn't perfect and if you get a hole; just pinch edges back together.

To prevent dough from sticking to counter, turn dough over, add flour to dough, counter and rolling pin as needed. Sprinkle pizza peel or cookie sheet generously with a sprinkling of cornmeal. Transfer dough to pizza peel or cookie sheet with no lip.

Add toppings as desired.

Slide dough onto pizza stone or place cookie sheet with pizza on bottom rack. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden. To remove pizza from oven stone, slide cookie sheet under dough onto another cookie sheet, slice and serve immediately.

Roll out remaining dough and top with desired toppings, or freeze in freezer bags. Makes 4 thin-crusted 10-inch pizzas or divide dough in half to make 2 thick crust 10-inch pizzas.

kd@chefkathleen.com