Pizza with Kamut Khorasan: light, nutritious and easy to digest

talians who emigrated from Italy 30 or 50 years ago will find that, culinary speaking, many things have changed. Yes Italians still love their spaghetti, cannelloni and pizza but they make their favourite meals using a wider variety of ingredients.

As a home cook I love the fact that you can find several types of flours: from spelt, to buckwheat, to teff, to traditional local wheat and kamut khorasan. I wrote about alternative types of pasta on a previous article.

One of my favourites is Kamut Khorasan which is an ancient type of wheat that has not been altered through modern plant breeding programs. It is very popular in Italy and you can also find it served in fine restaurants. I had it when I went on a trip to lake Garda. 

Kamut Khorasan also known just as Kamut, is twice the size of modern wheat and it is prized for its nutrition and ease of digestibility. It is sweet and nutty, it has a firm texture and it is organic because it does not need any pesticides or artificial fertilizers to grow. Many people with sensitivity to modern wheat find that they have no problems with Kamut.

Compared to modern wheat it has more protein, vitamins, minerals and much less gluten.

I use Kamut a lot, mainly for bread and pizza making, I love its sweet and nutty taste and I find its texture quite interesting.

I am sharing my Kamut pizza recipe today, basically the recipe is just the same as the traditional wheat pizza although the quantity of water might vary as the flour is different.

Enjoy!

• Prep Time : 30 minutes
• Cook Time : 15 minutes
• Yield : 4

Ingredients

• For the dough:
• kamut khorasan flour – 500 g – 4 + ¼ cup + extra to sprinkle
• lukewarm water – 300 ml – 10 fluid oz
• olive oil – 2 tbsp
• active dry yeast – 1 sachet (2 tsp)
• salt – pinch
• For the topping:
• mozzarella cheese – 500 g – 4 + 1/2 cups
• tomato sauce – 400 ml – 14 fluid oz
• fresh basil leaves – handful
• dried oregano – 1 tsp
• olive oil – for greasing

Instructions

In a bowl pour the lukewarm water and mix it with the yeast. Let it sit there for a few minutes until foamy.

Add the flour and mix well. Add the salt and 2 tbsp of olive oil then mix again.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes (you can use a food processor for this too). You might need a little extra flour if the dough feels too sticky.

Place the dough in a lightly floured bowl, cover it with a cloth and let it rest in a draft-free area until it will have doubled in size. This will take about an hour to 90 minutes.

Divide the dough into 4 balls and roll them onto 4 standard well greased round pizza trays or you can use two rectangular trays if you don’t have them. If you can use your hands instead of a rolling pin. Grease your hands with a little oil to help you with this.

Let them rest for 20 minutes then spread the tomato sauce on them, the chopped mozzarella and some dried oregano.

Bake at 250 C or 500 F  for about 15 minutes or until golden and crunchy. Serve with fresh basil leaves and a drizzle of olive oil.