Improving the superior pizza.

University of Maryland food chemists said on Monday they had found ways to enhance the antioxidant content of whole-grain wheat pizza dough by baking it longer at higher temperatures and giving the dough lots of time to rise. . . .

Antioxidant levels rose by up to 60 percent with longer baking times and up to 82 percent with higher baking temperatures, depending on the type of wheat flour and the antioxidant test used, they said. The precise mechanisms involved are unclear, they said.

Baking time and temperature can be increased together without burning the pizza when done carefully, the researchers said. They used oven temperatures from 400 to 550 degrees Fahrenheit (204 to 287 degrees Celsius), and baking times from 7 to 14 minutes.

They looked at fermentation times up to two full days, and found that longer periods in some cases doubled the dough's antioxidant levels. This probably stemmed from chemical reactions caused by yeasts in the dough that had more time to release the antioxidant components, Moore said.

A common fermentation time is about 18 hours, Moore said.

While you're digesting that, this recipe for pan pizza from Cooking for Engineers is absolutely perfect. In fact, I'm making one right now.

It makes two 9-inch pizzas, but you can just make one large one. If you increase all the ingredients by 50% it seems better suited to a larger pizza pan.


And, for those who are thorough,

Billy Reisinger's Ridiculously Thorough Guide to Making Your Own Pizza.