Homemade Pizza Recipe for Runners

Of all the foods that runners order up to satisfy cravings and recharge weary muscles, pizza tops the wish list. While pushing through ultraruns, Dean Karnazes, author of Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All Night Runner has been known to call ahead for an extra-large Hawaiian, which he folds up and eats like a burrito. His is but one of the five billion-ish pizzas sold worldwide each year. Legends, too, are known to devour pizza at the peak of their abilities. “If the furnace was hot enough,” says hero Quenton Cassidy in Once a Runner, “anything would burn.” Indeed a hot furnace is required – a single slice of pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut has 776 kilojoules and 13 grams of fat. (And, honestly, who eats just a single slice?)

While frozen and takeaway pizzas are go-to meals for many runners, homemade pizza is almost always fresher-tasting and healthier. “Pizza DIY style lets you create it with whole grains, lean meats, and vegetables that deliver nutrients runners need,” says RW’s resident sport dietitian and pizza fan, Anthony Meade. The step-by-step guide in below includes a vibrant sauce and exciting toppings to help you build a delicious and nutritious pizza from scratch. Mangia!

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MEDITERRANEAN PORK PIZZA

Ingedients: Tapenade

3 anchovy fillets

1 1⁄2 cups pitted Kalamata or Niçoise olives

1⁄2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil

1⁄4 cup flat-leaf parsley

2 chopped garlic cloves

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons capers, drained

juice of 1⁄2 lemon

1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions: Tapenade

Rinse and pat dry the anchovies, then blend them with the remaining ingredients into a chunky paste. (Nutrition bonus: Olives offer disease-fighting phenolic antioxidants, which may improve recovery.)

Ingredients: Mediterranean Pork Pizza

280g homemade or supermarket-bought pizza dough (purchase a copy of Runner’s World January 2014 for a runner-friendly homemade pizza dough recipe)

225g pound pork tenderloin, thinly sliced

1⁄2 cup tapenade

90 grams soft goat cheese, crumbled

1 cup thinly sliced radicchio

1 cup thinly sliced fennel

2 tablespoons pine nuts

6 basil leaves, torn

Directions: Mediterranean Pork Pizza

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook pork until browned on the outside but still pink in the middle.

Spread tapenade over dough, leaving 2cm border uncovered. Top with radicchio, goat cheese, pork, and fennel in that order. Bake for 10 minutes, or until crust is golden and crisp. Top cooked pizza with pine nuts and basil.