Monday, August 26, 2013

Grain Free Pizza, Two Ways

Pizza is one of those things that are just hard to give up - we may be avoiding grains, but oh, those toppings!

We worked out a couple ways this week to enjoy the occasional pizza-like meal without giving in and dialing Papa John's, and I was pretty happy with both!





I.  Almond-Flour Crust
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 T. olive oil
1 egg

Combine almond flour, baking soda and egg in a large bowl.  In a small bowl, whisk together egg and olive oil.  Add wet ingredients to dry and combine thoroughly - this makes a dough with cookie dough consistency.

I found it easier to divide into two oblongs - four small circles would have been even better.  Put dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll out thin. Remove top paper and transfer the bottom paper, with the crust on it, to a cookie sheet.

Bake 15-20 minutes at 350F.  Remove from oven, add toppings, and put under broiler for a few minutes to heat toppings and melt cheese.

We used a lot of toppings - sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, sausage, pepperoni, olives.  Honestly, I should have patted this into a pie plate and just gone for a deep dish pizza pie.  But even with all that heavy loading, this crust stayed stiff and small portions held up to being picked up to eat.

Even at that, we still had leftover toppings, so the next night we tried version 2:



II. Pizza Potatoes
We very rarely eat potatoes - this is not low-carb, but it is grain-free, and sometimes potatoes are a real treat.  That said, this would have worked nicely with sweet potatoes, too!

Poke scrubbed baking potatoes several times, and put in the oven at 375 for about an hour to bake.  Poke to check for tenderness.  When done, split open, and fluff it out to create a wide surface area.  Spread with sauce and add desired cheese and toppings.  Set under broiler for  few minutes to heat toppings and melt cheese.

Version II is a bit farther away from 'traditional' pizza, but I enjoyed it even more than I did Version I.  I look forward to trying these again!

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