Background
Before we get into the specifics of this class, let’s take a quick step back and give you all a little more back-story…
The launch of these new Level 3 classes will endeavor to be something of a “passion project” for Noel because he will attempt to combine his professional goals with his personal aspirations. If you haven’t noticed, Noel is on a mission. Over the past three years, he has made one of those rare life-changing decisions: making health and exercise his top two priorities – no exceptions, no substitutions, no excuses, no…really. And the results have been overwhelmingly positive, incredibly life-affirming, and unquestionably delicious. Â But don’t let the term “passion project” fool you. Â Noel is very serious about this new generation of classes.
If you can’t tell by the some of the photos he has posted, Noel has been exercising between two and three hours per day, six days per week, swimming, walking, running and strength training, eating a much more nutritious and balanced diet, improving his sleep habits and, as a result, he has reversed his doctor’s diagnosis of pre-diabetes, lost 50 pounds, maintained his weight for two years and counting, brought his blood pressure down to normal levels, decreased his stress levels and made his wife and family very happy. And now he wants to share some of his newfound knowledge and wisdom with his clients and students in the form of new pizza recipes and techniques.
And the way he has decided to do this is by beginning this new generation of collaborations with health professionals who specialize in nutrition, health and exercise science. As well, Noel has reached out to some of his favorite manufacturers to bring you the next generation of healthy flours for your dough as well as a new way of looking at ingredients and preparations for your toppings and side dishes. The main goal is simple.  You don’t have to stop eating the things you love.  To the contrary, Noel has been eating bread or pizza (and sometimes both) everyday throughout his entire journey.  The goal is to add healthy foods to your diet and look into making better decisions to support your overall health and wellbeing.
Details
Let’s get a little more specific…
Honestly, Noel is not generally a fan of using more than 15-20% whole grain flour with pizza so the inception and development of this class has been a somewhat challenging labor of love. That said, Noel has been working for years (literally since 2021) on this signature recipe and technique so you know it’s going to be next-level great. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The journey actually began when Noel reached out to a family friend and Registered Dietitian, Nancee Jaffe, about collborating on a series of three new and innovative artisan pizza and bread classes. Â The goal was not to just make delicious pizza and bread but also to teach Noel and his clients and students about health and nutrition in general.
Noel’s conversation with Nancee Jaffe began with a simple question: what are the healthiest foods a person can eat and how can we use them to make delicious pizza and bread? Over a series of discussions and brainstorming sessions, Noel and Nancee fine tuned their goal: to compile a list of healthy and delicious foods by category, with the objective being that Noel would take this list back to his kitchen and create a variety of both healthy and delicious pizzas and breads. Â And once he had the three prototypes tested and ready for mass consumption, Noel and Nancee would launch their first class: Beginner Level 3. Easier said than done. Noel got to work on the Beginner Level 3 class first.
Recipe R&D: The Dough
The dough recipe and process for this upcoming class have a true passion project for Noel. Â He and his staff have been workshopping the crust recipe and process since 2021. Â Some people might call this a “cracker crust” at first glance, but Noel has taken it several steps further.
- The texture of the crust is not just dry and crackery but it has a nuance that expertly combines a light and crunchy out rim, an uber-crispy inner crust and a light and airy crumb that has few equals.
- Noel has combined his love for several styles of pizza and flatbreads into this one new super-thing crust pizza offering:
- Sardinian Carta di Musica (aka Pane Carasau) – a hand rolled, wood fired durum wheat flatbread known for its thin, crispy texture, reminiscent of a sheet of music paper, hence the name.
- Matzo (Matzah) – a traditional Jewish unleavened bread, especially associated with Passover. It’s also very thin and crispy, somewhat similar in texture to Carta di Musica, and has some lovely (non-kosher) additions which have inspired Noel, specifically the Onion Matzo alternative aka Egg & Onion Matzo which Noel grew up eating as a child.
- Chicago Thin Crust Tavern Style – a hand-rolled or sheeted thin-crust beloved local favorite pizza which is cooked directly on the hearth and often preferred to the more well known and heavily marketed Chicago Style Pan Pizza.
Class Goals
Here are a few of the categories we intend to cover…
- Besides being very tasty, our 50% Whole Grain Dough has a variety of nutritional and dietary benefits:
- Rich in Fiber
- Higher Nutrient Content
- Supports Blood Sugar Control
- Heart Health Benefits
- Supports Weight Management
- Other Topics
- Gut Health / Gut Microbiome
- Fermented and Probiotic Foods
- Prebiotic Foods
- Plant-forward Living / 30 Plants per Week
- Brain/Gut Health
Ingredients – Dough
Ingredients – Toppings & Sides
- Featured Toppings
- onions – raw & roasted
- kale, chard, spinach, tatsoi & mizuna – raw or steamed
- zucchini – raw, steamed, Â roasted or grilled
- butternut squash – steamed or roasted
- peppers – raw, roasted or grilled
- yams and sweet potatoes – steamed or roasted
- heirloom potatoes – steamed or roasted
- tomatoes – raw, halved
- tomato sauce – raw or cooked
- assorted fresh dips and pestos
- aged cheeses, kefir, yogurt
- parmesan, pecorino or other hard cheese
- Mezze Plate / Featured Sides
- hummus: A dip made from blended chickpeas, tahini (sesame paste), lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil.
- baba ghanoush: A smoky, creamy dip made from roasted eggplant, tahini, garlic, and lemon.
- tabbouleh: A salad made with bulgur wheat, parsley, mint, tomatoes, and a lemon-olive oil dressing.
- tzatziki: A creamy Greek yogurt dip made cucumbers, lemon, garlic and dill.
- vegetables: Fresh or roasted vegetables like cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, and peppers.
- olives and olive oil: Both whole olives and olive oil are common on a mezze plate.
Equipment and Pizza Tools
None of the items listed below is an absolute requirement but these items will be helpful if you intend to follow along with Noel step by step:
- gas or electric home oven
- pizza stone
- electric mixer (ie. KitchenAid)
- container and lid to store dough in the refrigerator
- dough scraper
- wooden & metal pizza peels
- cooling rack
- pizza wheel
- chefs knife or mandolin
- spiralizer or Kitchenaid spiralizer attachment (optional)
- half sheet pan
- parchment paper
Here’s a bit more information about my collab partner for this classa and the next two, Nancee Jaffe:
Nancee is the lead dietitian for the UCLA Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases. Nancee was recruited in 2012 to help develop a comprehensive GI Nutrition Program to enhance care for patients with specific nutritional issues and to provide ongoing nutritional education to UCLA GI fellows, gastroenterologists, and other health care professionals. The GI Nutrition Program is now an integral part of the division’s Integrative Digestive Health and Wellness Program.
In addition to her lead role, Nancee continues her clinical nutrition practice, counseling patients on diagnoses such as irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, short bowel syndrome and idiopathic or functional bowel disorders. Nancee shares her expertise on nutrition and digestive disorders by speaking at national conferences. Her current research includes the Mediterranean diet’s effects on the gut microbiome in IBS with Lin Chang, MD, co-director of the UCLA G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience. Nancee is also researching different types of diets and their potential effects on remission and flare states in IBD with Berkeley Limketkai, MD, PhD, director of clinical research for the Center for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Nancee spearheaded an effort to formalize a GI-specific dietitian group housed jointly under the American Gastroenterological Association and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics which became official in 2020.
Nancee graduated from California State University, Los Angeles, where she earned her masters of science in nutrition. She completed her dietetic internship at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was mentored by Dr. Chang.
After You Register:Â
We will send you an automated confirmation email.  Within 48-72 hours, we will send a second email containing a link to recipe and process instructions to prepare your dough in advance of the class, as well as some toppings if you choose, and everything else you’ll need for our time spent together. After that, you’ll receive an additional link to the Zoom webinar just prior to class time.  As mentioned above, by preparing a batch of dough in advance of the class, you will be able to use that dough to bake along with us on Zoom during the class.  This will allow you to mix a second batch live with us during class for you to then bake on your own time if you choose. Â
Don’t worry, we’ll try to answer all of your pre-class questions via email.  But, if not, we’re certain this deep-dive virtual pizza class will give you the opportunity to ask all of your burning healthy pizza questions in real-time.
Please email us if you have any questions or comments at info@slowrisepizza.com
**NOTE: Class registration will end one hour prior to class time.**
Read more hidden text