Grain Free Pizza Crust

We topped this one with my tomato confit, fresh
grape tomatoes, black olives, fresh basil, and
a sprinkle of Black River old cheddar/brick
shredded cheese. 

A while back, on my Facebook food page, I posted a link to these delicious little cheese balls. Pretty easy to make and darn tasty to boot! They were the closest thing to real bread that I have had in years! The recipe got my brain to working though, as I thought of all the things that this type of dough would be great for.  Naan bread was the first creation, and although I still want to tweak the recipe a bit before I share, it is exactly what my curry dishes have been missing since going grain free. Pizza was the next experiment, and it was a beautiful success. It goes on the parchment paper as a sticky gooey mess of muck, and comes out as a wonderfully crisp thin yet chewy pizza crust. Add some toppings, bake again on a hot pizza stone, and you have an amazing grain free pizza, no yeast, no grain and no belly ache to be found!

I played around with the technique from the cheese ball recipe, as I found mixing the hot milk into the dry ingredients in the mixer was much easier, and I changed up the ingredient list a wee bit to get a better texture for what I was aiming for.  The results are amazing, and I am so excited to share!

 If you don't have a pizza stone, I am sure this would work fine on a baking sheet, just be sure to use the parchment

 paper in the first step, as i think it may stick to the pan without it. The stand mixer is necessary, as getting everything mixed would be impossible without it!

Grain Free Pizza Crust

1 cup milk

1/3 cup avocado oil

1 ½ cup tapioca starch

1/3 cup arrowroot starch

¼ cup coconut flour

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

Put a pizza stone on the middle rack of your oven. Preheat oven to 450F

Heat milk and avocado oil in a small pan over med low heat until you just see bubbles forming on the sides, not boiling, but nice and warm.

Meanwhile, measure the dry ingredients into a stand mixer and mix on low until blended.

With the mixer still running, slowly pour the warm milk/oil mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until blended. It should come together in a nice, somewhat sticky dough.

Mix on medium for 3-4 minutes until the “dough” cools down enough that you can touch it with your hand (with the mixer turned off of course!!) . If it is too hot the eggs will cook instead of blending in. 

When the dough is cool enough, add the eggs one at a time and continue to mix on low until everything is well combined. It will take a bit to come together into a nice smooth but sticky dough.  When the dough starts coming together well, turn to medium and mix for a full 2 minutes until thoroughly combined.

Using a rubber spatula, turn dough onto a large piece of parchment paper. 

Wet your hands (you may need to wet them a few times during this process, it is sticky!) and spread dough out on parchment paper with hands into whatever pizza shape you desire, making it nice and even and about 1 cm thick.

Using a pizza peel or the bottom of a cookie sheet, slide the dough (still on the parchment paper) onto the preheated pizza stone and bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven, using a pizza peel or the back of a large cookie sheet.

 top with desired ingredients, and bake again until toppings are hot thru 

and cheese is bubbly (if using), usually 6-8 minutes ish. 

Slice and serve hot!

This one was topped with a smokey bbq sauce, bacon, pepperoni,
mushrooms, jalapenos, and an old cheddar/brick cheese blend
 from  Black River Cheese, that was perfect!

Grain Free Pizza Crust

Our Spynx cat Inka, trying to be helpful while
my hubbie replaces the part in my oven.

 In celebration of my stove finally being fixed, I decided to make pizza. I whipped up a batch of regular yeasted wheat pizza dough for my boys (they still occasionally eat wheat), and then I made this lovely grain free pizza for my hubbie and I. This is more of a technique post than an actual recipe, but the link to the recipe for the "dough" can be found here.  My grain free bread dough is very versatile, and makes a pretty awesome pizza dough. It does require pre-baking as it doesn't have the elasticity of a regular wheat dough. I baked it on a large pan lined with parchment, topped it and then finished it up on my pizza stone in a hot oven. Yes, an extra step is involved, but to have a grain free pizza that you can pick up and eat with your hands...totally worth it!

Grain Free Pizza

1 batch of Grain Free Sandwich Bread, NOT cooked!
Toppings of choice

Preheat oven to 400F (put pizza stone in while preheating if using)

Mix batter for bread as per directions in the recipe. Instead of baking in bread pans, spread out evenly on a parchment lined baking sheet with an edge preferably. I find one batch nicely fills my pan that measures about 18"x 13". 

Bake for 15 minutes or until firm and starting to show some browning on the edges. Remove from oven and using parchment, lift off and set aside on wire racks until it is cool enough to handle. 

 Top with your favourite pizza toppings.

 Slide pizza peel under pizza, and carefully transfer into oven onto hot pizza stone***.

A Pizza Peel makes taking a whole pizza out
of a hot oven so much easier!!

 Cook for another 12-15 minutes or until the toppings are nice and hot and your cheese is melted, bubbly and starting to brown. 

Serve right away! (leftovers are awesome in lunch boxes!)

 ***(alternatively, slide pizza back onto baking sheet and bake in preheated oven if you are not using a pizza stone)

Grain Free Cauliflower Pizza Dough

I have made many attempts at grain free pizza. And they all, while being pretty tasty, failed in the pizza–like crust department. The grain free ones were too dry, the cauliflower ones too wet.  We had yet to have one that could be picked up and eaten out of hand. Until now! I ate two slices with no fork!! This worked spectacularly. Although it is not highly reminiscent of the yeasty risen wheat dough that causes me so much belly-grief, it is the best grain free pizza dough I have tried to date.  I look forward to making it again! (and again...and again...)

Grain Free Cauliflower Pizza Dough

1 small-medium head org. cauliflower

1 generous tbsp coconut oil

1 ½ cups almond flour

2 Tbsp arrowroot flour

1 egg

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

4 tbsp ground Chia seeds

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tsp Herbamare

Raw Dough

Preheat oven to 425F, using a large pizza stone in the oven if you have one.

Cut cauliflower into chunks and process in your food processor until very fine. (alternatively grate on a box grater into fine crumbs)

Heat coconut oil in large pan, and sauté the processed cauliflower  over medium high heat for 6-7 minutes. (this helps to pre cook the cauliflower without adding water like steaming would)

Set aside to cool slightly.

When cool, mix in the rest of the ingredients and knead with hands until it is very well combined. 

On a large piece of parchment paper, spread “dough” into a large circle (or pizza shape of your choice!) approximately 1cm thick.

Transfer dough on parchment to a pizza peel or to a large sheet pan, and bake in preheated oven for 15 -20 minutes or until the crust is starting to brown nicely.

Cooked Dough

Top with toppings of choice**, and bake for another 8-10 minutes or until the toppings are heated thru and the cheese is melted nicely. We used an organic pizza sauce from Eden, thinly sliced mushrooms, an organic beef pepperoni, and a combo of raw milk mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.

Let cool slightly before indulging!

**go easy on any toppings that are “wet”,  as they will make your crust less crisp.