Pizza Makers Consider Low-Carb Dough

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...low_carb_pizza

Pizza Makers Consider Low-Carb Dough
28 minutes ago Add Health - AP to My Yahoo!

By MARTIN FINUCANE, Associated Press Writer

BOSTON - Pizza might be hailed as the food of the gods, one of
America's best-loved meals, a hearty delectable dish that fills the stomach
and seems to soothe the soul. But to low-carb dieters, it's just a
gut-busting disk of dough.

And that has caused pizza makers around the nation to wonder if the
low-carb craze will force changes in one of America's best-loved foods.

They're saying, "Hey, we've got a problem here. Pizza's built on
bread. It's the No. 1 enemy of the Atkinites," said Tom Boyles, senior
editor of PMQ Magazine, a publication that follows the pizza industry.

Boyles has a word for those who want to avoid carbohydrates:
"carbavoids."

Although industry sales haven't taken a hit yet, some pizza operators
are considering offering customers low-carb pizzas.

"Pizza operators are asking themselves, 'Do I want to do this?' and
they're bouncing the idea back and forth," Boyles said. "It's at that point
where they're going, 'Just how far is this going to go?'"


According to the National Association of Pizzeria Operators, about 3
billion pizzas are sold each year in the United States by about 40,000
shops.

At the same time, low-carb diets like the Atkins, South Beach and Zone
have gained wider popularity. A Harris Interactive poll done last summer for
Novartis Consumer Health Inc. estimated that 32 million Americans were on
some kind of high-protein, low-carb diet.

Doug Ferriman, owner of Crazy Dough's Pizza Co. in Cambridge's Harvard
Square, said he didn't think low-carb dieters would put "too much of a dent"
in the pizza business, but he had clipped a recipe for low-carb dough from
an industry publication and was going to try it in the spring.

"We're going to have to fiddle around with it for a while," he said.

Some local pizza shop owners and some smaller chains have already
moved to meet low-carb dieters' demands.

In Columbus, Ohio, Donatos Pizzeria has announced it will roll out a
pizza with a low-carb crust in its 182 outlets. Spokesman Tom Santor said
the pizza dough, made out of soy protein and other ingredients, "tastes
fabulous."

In Louisville, Ky., Bearno's Pizza, a small chain, offers a crustless
pizza on the usual circular baking pan.

And in Escondido, Calif., John Pontrelli, owner of Pit Stop Pasta,
offers what may be a traditionalist's worst nightma "pizza in a bucket."
It has all the pizza toppings placed in a crock or, for takeout customers, a
metal can.

While it's not a big item, he said, some people have asked for it, and
"Our motto here is: you want to say no to people as little as possible."

At Low-Carb Creations in Vancouver, Wash., Craig Adams, vice president
and general manager, said sales of low-carb pizza dough had risen 300
percent to 400 percent in the past six months. Adams said the small company,
which has 17 employees, had signed agreements to provide the skins to
several smaller chains and dozens of other stores.

Tom Lehmann, of the American Institute of Baking in Manhattan, Kansas,
a consultant who works with bakeries and pizza operations worldwide, said,
"Low-carb is probably the biggest pebble to be dropped in this little pizza
pond for a long time. There's just a huge, huge amount of interest."

Lehmann, who writes in industry publications as "The Dough Doctor,"
said he has received an average of five requests per day for the past three
months on how to make low-carb dough.

He said his own experiments so far with making a low-carb dough had
turned out a product that tasted, well, different.

"If you consider a pizza crust as being an edible breadlike product
that's located beneath the toppings, the cheese and tomato sauce, OK, that's
all we can say about it. ... Wipe away any memories of your old traditional
pizza crust," he said.

Steve Coomes, editor of pizzamarketplace.com, wondered if the low-carb
craze would last and whether it was just part of New Year's resolution
dieting.

"I still think that the vast majority of American pizza consumers are
going to look at pizza and those side items like wings as an indulgence and
will continue to enjoy them in their intended form," he said.

"They love it to the tune of $26 billion per year."

In Boston's Italian North End, talk of a low-carb pizza was viewed as
sacrilege.

"In my culinary heart, I will never do low-carb," Salvo Goglio, 36, a
native of Sicily and chef at Antico Forno, said while chopping zucchini in a
cramped kitchen.

Brandishing a container of golden polenta, he asked, "How can you get
low-carb and keep the flavor?"

Just then, an order came off the printer above the counter where
Goglio was working: roast chicken on a salad, hold the bread. And it turned
out that several members of the staff, including Goglio himself, had been
"on the Atkins."

Still, Goglio said, "If you want to really eat good food, you can't
cut down carbs."
--

Ken

"How did you feel when you stood up in the front
of the people for the State of the Union Address -
state of the budget address, whatever you call it."

- Bushism's, 2001

I guess I am proud to be a carbavoid. I think I will have that put on a tee
shirt. I can certainly think of worse things to be............. like fat.

Hello all, I am a freq lurker here but never posted. Started 10/6/04. As of
today, down 30 pounds. Was quite a shock to finally see the numbers below
200. Had to step on the scale 6 times, then had my son get on just to make
sure it had not gone bonkers on me.

Best diet I have ever been on. (and I have tried them all)

BTW, This was done by keeping carbs below 45 a day, (slowly built up after
induction), 10 minutes of pilates a day and 1/2 gal of water a day. Never
been hungry and even had a cheat week the week of Christmas (vacation in
Branson). I put no restrictions on myself that week and had at least 14 ice
cream drinks from baskin robbins. Somehow, only managed to gain 2 pounds,
which was a shock, and lost them the very next week. Funny thing was, I knew
I could have ANYTHING I wanted that week, but nothing really appealed to me,
except pizza. I had real pizza 3 times, and Red Lobster with potato and
biscuits twice. Now if the pizza chains jump onboard, I should be very
happy.




"Ken Kubos" wrote in message
...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...=3&u=/ap/20040
202/ap_on_he_me/fit_low_carb_pizza

Pizza Makers Consider Low-Carb Dough
28 minutes ago Add Health - AP to My Yahoo!

By MARTIN FINUCANE, Associated Press Writer

BOSTON - Pizza might be hailed as the food of the gods, one of
America's best-loved meals, a hearty delectable dish that fills the
stomach
and seems to soothe the soul. But to low-carb dieters, it's just a
gut-busting disk of dough.

And that has caused pizza makers around the nation to wonder if the
low-carb craze will force changes in one of America's best-loved foods.

They're saying, "Hey, we've got a problem here. Pizza's built on
bread. It's the No. 1 enemy of the Atkinites," said Tom Boyles, senior
editor of PMQ Magazine, a publication that follows the pizza industry.

Boyles has a word for those who want to avoid carbohydrates:
"carbavoids."

Although industry sales haven't taken a hit yet, some pizza
operators
are considering offering customers low-carb pizzas.

"skylock" wrote:

I guess I am proud to be a carbavoid. I think I will have that put on a tee
shirt.

Hi, and thanks for delurking! Carbavoids unite.

Now stop lurking and post. :-)