Healthy Italian Bread Recipes

To improve the nutritional profile of pizza, use half whole-wheat and half all-purpose flour, which yields a light crust with a distinctive nutty taste. Quick-rising yeast shortens rising time to just 10 minutes, making homemade pizza a possibility for busy weeknights. Use a food processor, stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or your hands to mix the dough. Add enough liquid to the dry ingredients to make a soft dough. If kneading by hand, toss, rather than push, the dough onto the counter for about 10 minutes; this allows the gluten to develop without incorporating too much flour.

A typical calzone packs almost 800 calories and 25 grams of saturated fat. In this healthier calzone recipe, we use lean chicken sausage to keep fat in check and add nutrient-rich spinach to bulk up the filling without adding calories. Serve with marinara sauce for dipping.

Puffy, chewy-crisp and fragrant with fresh herbs, this Parmesan focaccia goes well with soups, stews and, of course, Italian-style fare. Be sure to use only fresh herbs and avoid the temptation to stir them into the dough (sprinkle them over it); many herbs, including the ones called for here, inhibit yeast growth when they're combined in the dough. The dough bakes on the lowest rack in a very hot oven to simulate the hearth baking that is traditional for focaccia. Recipe by Nancy Baggett for EatingWell.

This easy homemade pizza dough for thin-crust pizza, made with 50 percent whole-grain flour, provides 4 grams of fiber per serving without tasting too wheaty. If you have a food processor or stand-mixer with a dough hook, let your machine do the kneading for you. The pizza dough freezes beautifully, so make a few batches at a time and keep your freezer stocked.

No bakery degree required for this recipe: these healthy, savory sun-dried tomato-and-Asiago scones are as easy to make as a batch of muffins. White whole-wheat flour adds a boost of fiber, and just enough butter gives them great flavor and texture without going overboard on calories. Try them with brunch or alongside your dinner salad.

This authentic Tuscan chestnut bread recipe, castagnaccio--not exactly bread and not sweet enough to be considered cake--is in a category by itself. Serve this Italian delicacy on a cheese platter or as part of an antipasti spread.

In less time than you can drive to the store and back, this homemade pizza dough is ready.

Long, crispy, thin breadsticks like these grissini are laid right on the tablecloth at many Piedmontese restaurants.

Talk about easy! Almost everything in this pesto-cranberry tart is store-bought. Although the tart can be enjoyed shortly after it comes out of the oven, it's just as good served at room temperature.

This distinctive loaf boasts a beautiful bouquet of herbs baked into the crust. Flavored with more herbs, it's a fine accompaniment to savory dishes, but is also delicious toasted, with honey.

Flavorful Parmesan makes this homemade bread addictive.

Breadsticks are a great accompaniment to so many meals. Here we press olives and rosemary into prepared pizza dough for a super quick and easy version.