You have probably heard much about the negative health effects of eating fast foods and why you should avoid them if you want to stay healthy.

You have also probably been warned that Pizza should not be on your list of healthy foods.

Mind you, we mostly agree with that. In spite of this, you may be surprised to learn that pizza, though classified as one of the fast foods, is actually much healthier than you might have imagined or as you may have been led to believe. Or it can be made to be, depending on the reasons mentioned below.

So what are the benefits of eating pizza? What makes pizza a healthier choice compared to many take-out foods like burgers or chicken?

Because it’s not fried in oil like most fast foods, it has less fat content. Many pizza cooks prefer whole-wheat flour, which is healthier than your regular white bread flour.

The commonly-used type of flour that makes pizza is good for fiber, which is good for digestion. We're discussing the most commonly used pizza ingredients here, have a look!

Most pizza cooks use whole wheat dough rather than the white bread-making dough. Whole wheat is the kind of dough used to make brown bread.

Wheat, especially whole-grain wheat, is rich in Vitamin B. Whole grain wheat also has folic acid, which is great for red blood cells formation and helps prevent defects in unborn babies.

Commonly, a pizza contains a lot of tomatoes, which is great of lycopene antioxidant. This is said to reduce risks of heart disease and cancer. And yes, tomatoes certainly make your pizza more tasty than not!

Another common ingredient is onions, rich in Vitamin C, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, and potassium. Onions have numerous benefits in your body, including a healthy heart by reducing high blood pressure risk, helps in clotting of blood. Onions are also an antioxidant, helping keep harmful stuff out of your system.

Cheese, another common pizza ingredient, contains calcium, vitamin A, protein, zinc, and vitamin B12. This delicious ingredient is good not only for muscles build-up but calories as well.

Meat: A great source of proteins, but try to avoid fatty meats. The fresh meat is rich in zinc as well as iron and selenium. Iron helps in forming hemoglobin to transfer oxygen to different body organs, while zinc is good for the formation of body tissues and metabolism. Selenium helps break down body fats and chemicals. Generally, meat is good for your skin, bones, hair, and blood.

Pizza toppings like carrot, peanuts, mushrooms, spinach, almonds can be another great option for healthy eating.

This is easy to guess. Type of ingredients, of course. In case you decide on home-made pizza [which is advisable], try to use beneficial and healthy ingredients. Try to balance your pizza ingredients for health benefits.

The source. Home-made pizzas tend to be healthier than take-outs, due to better or more topping choices. Home-made pizzas are also more likely to be more hygienic in their cooking than take-outs. This is not a vendetta against the pizza sellers.

Also, avoiding fatty options in the making of the pizza is highly encouraged.

Fresh ingredients. No matter how good your ingredients, if they comprise of stale flour, stale tomatoes etc, they will never taste or be as healthy as fresh ones!

An example of a healthy and unhealthy pizza portion based on a 100-gram slice of pizza:

Eating too many pizzas can lead to high cholesterol levels, and this can lead to heart complications. Some pizza-makers use refined flour rather than whole grain flour, and this is not a very healthy option.

You may be consuming too many carbohydrates and proteins by eating too many pizzas in a short span of time. Too much of anything is not a good thing. Therefore, pizza can be a healthy option especially if you are careful about the ingredients or if you order pizza with the right ingredients, or make your own pizza at home and take control of what goes into your pizza and how you cook it.

Pizza can be unhealthy depending on the ingredients, cooking method, or how often you eat it. It is advisable to order pizza from sources you know, whereby you know the ingredients, the hygiene and the cooking reputation of the source or take-out restaurant.

In a nutshell, a healthy pizza or an unhealthy can depend on where [source], how [cooking], what [ingredients] and what you decide to do to ensure that you eat the healthiest pizza possible because you can!

The pizza stone is a fundamental equipment if you wish to achieve that tasty, crispy texture you want with your baking dish.

This tool is made of either ceramic, stone, or clay that comes in a variety of sizes and forms.

It is a cooking slab that comes in a circular shape that will make you think of pizza right away.

There’s an even dispersion of heat on the surface of the stone during heating. This process wicks your dough’s moisture, resulting in that crispiness and appetizing smell you crave for in a pizza.

What’s more satisfying than digging into that delicious pie dappled with tomato sauce, melted cheese, and your other favorite ingredients in the word? Making one.

It’s just not enough to receive that blissfully wonderful taste and comfort only pizza can bring, you have to create one of your own.

Using your pizza stone for the first time to bake your homemade pizza is easy enough to go through. Just follow the simple step-by-step instructions below:

          1. Position your pizza stone in the lowest rack of your oven.

          2. Take note that there is no need to oil or grease your pizza stone.

          3. Pre-heat the stone with 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

          4. Continue to let the stone heat for 30 minutes, at least.

While you’re heating the stone up, you can create your pizza dough and top it with all the goodness and cheese you can put in.

         5. When all is set, slide the pizza on to the hot stone in the oven using a flour-dusted pizza peel.

But first, ensure that the dough is down to room temperature before placing it in the oven.

If the stone is introduced to a very cold temperature while it’s all heated up, it may crack.

          6. Allow the pizza to bake for 10-15 minutes in the oven.

          7. After 15 minutes, you can remove the pizza using your pizza peel but leave the pizza stone.

          8. Leaving the pizza stone for 5 more minutes will allow the entire residue from the previous use to burn out.

          9. Turn off the oven and leave the pizza inside to cool off.

The last thing you want is to have crusty fingers if you take it out right away.

The most common pizza stone is made of clay or stone. These are the most porous materials for a pizza stone.

Therefore, using soap to clean it up and soaking it with water might not be a good idea for caring your pizza stone.

Here’s a tip on properly cleaning your baking stone:

            • Let the pizza stone cool down first. This may take a few hours or to be sure, do it overnight. You definitely wouldn’t want to burn your hand with it.

            • Use a metal spatula or blunt knife to scrape off any remnants off of the stone. Remember to gently scrape the surface to avoid damaging it.

            • Quickly dap or swipe your pizza stone with a towel to get rid of the crumbs. Ensure that your pizza stone is very dry inside.
o You can use water to clean it, but you will have to re-heat your pizza stone to dry it up before storing it.

            • For a deep-clean, toss your pizza stone inside the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. This will burn off the bits that are stuck on your stone so you can just easily scrape it off after.

Nowadays, Manufacturers come up with the newest ideas to save the consumers time and effort. You don't need to pre-season your pizza stone when you buy it from a better manufacturer. 

But in case, you need your stone to be pre-seasoned. Here is the quick solution:

You Need to Wipe the Pizza Stone first with a fresh wet cloth. But remember, You shouldn't use soap or any other cleaning item here. 

Just Wipe it with a soft hand.

After that, you have to dry the stone up. You can make this process quicker using the oven. 

You should use extremely low heat to make things happen slowly, otherwise it can be cracked.

Now, Use a little amount of vegetable oil on the pizza stone. You can apply the oil with  the towel you've used earlier to wipe the stone.

Now, just left the stone in the oven setting up the heat at the mid or mid-high range. Let the oil stick to the stone.

So, you've made it! If you've properly followed the procedure, your pizza stone should make things easier for you. The excerpt of the food you made with it would not stick to the stone.

The color of the stone can be darker than before when you finish up the seasoning process. But don't worry! It's normal.

I simply adore pizza. That’s the truth.

But just because it’s called pizza stone doesn’t mean it’s just for pizza. It can be used with a lot of other dishes.

The pizza stone also called a Baking Stone, is a very good tool in absorbing and retaining heat from the oven. When your dough or bread is placed directly on top of a pre-heated stone, the heat directly transfers to the bottom of the baked good.

Some of the popular dishes to use on a pizza stone are the following:

The pizza stone is great for anything that involves baking doughs. Flatbreads are perfect! The same baking steps apply. Just ensure to coat the surface with cooking oil so it won’t stick to the stone. Example of which are pita and naan bread.

If you have a sweet tooth, then feel free to bake some cookies! You can shape it like a pizza on top of the stone and cut it the same! It would be a fantastic cookie pizza. You can use a pizza peel or metallic spatula to retrieve the cookies from the stone.

Since pizza stone is able to retain a lot of heat and evenly distribute it on the surface, a bread loaf needs just that. Personally, the best part of the loaf is its crust. If there’s an even distribution of the crusting part of the bread loaf, I’m all for that. The stone is also able to produce a great smell for the bread loaf – it smells way better than an ordinary baking pan.

If you want to go a healthier route, you can just slice up your zucchini, potatoes, and radishes. Throw it in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the edges look brown and dry.

Although personally, pizza will always be the winner of the lot, trying different alternatives is also amazingly effective.

You don’t have to feel shorthanded when you invite friends over to your home. Just get that oven heated up with the pizza stone at the ready.

When cooking for your friends, your loved ones, and even for yourself, you simply just want to be satiated. Sometimes, however, it is not enough to cook well – you need tools to allow you to cook efficiently.

A pizza stone is like a regular go-to kitchen item to help you with your baking needs. True, there are a lot of pizza pans available for purchase, but with the natural way a pizza stone bakes your food – it will always have its edge.

Never hold back in trying to gratify that amorous aroma in baking as well as the juicy end-product on your taste buds.