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Thursday, September 11, 2014

Pizza - Low Carb, Grain Free & Delicious

This evening I was in the mood for pizza. I thought about waiting until tomorrow (Friday night) but decided I wanted it NOW! LOL So I mixed my quick pizza crust dough together, spread it out on my pizza pan and baked it for about 20 minutes. While it was baking, I pulled out my toppings and got them ready. This evening I decided to skip the pizza sauce and instead use my organic oven roasted roma tomatoes packed in oil that I get from Costco. If I had fresh roma tomatoes, I would have used those...but I didn't. I sliced up part of a red bell pepper and took out a bag of fresh baby spinach leaves and a package of gluten free uncured pepperoni that I found at Sprouts. I thought it looked really good...and it tasted even better! It's uncured, nitrite/nitrate free...gluten free and absolutely delicious. It's made by Fiorucci. I snapped a few photos of this evening's pizza below. I've also included the recipe for my ow carb pizza crust below as well. Enjoy!










Herbed Pizza Crust (Almond-Flax-Parmesan)
Makes 1 10-inch round pizza (approximately 2 servings)

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup golden flax seed meal (organic golden flax is milder in taste than brown)
2/3 teaspoon baking powder (aluminum free)
1/2 - 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder 
Dash cayenne pepper, optional
1/4 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste (decrease salt if using saltier cheeses and toppings)
Few grinds of freshly ground black pepper
4 - 5 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, finely grated

Wet Ingredients:
1 egg (or 1/4 cup egg substitute such as Egg Beaters)
1 tablespoon olive oil (a little more, if desired)
1 to 2 tablespoons water (start with 1 tablespoon of water and add the second, if necessary)

Toppings (Optional):  
Pizza sauce, pesto sauce, etc.
Cheese: shredded mozzarella cheese, sliced or diced fresh mozzarella, etc.
**Pre-cooked vegetables of choice: onions, green peppers, mushrooms, spinach, etc. 
**Pre-cooked meat of choice: sausage, ground beef topping, etc.
Other: artichokes, olives, pepperoni, etc.

**Tip: Fresh vegetable and meat toppings should be pre-cooked and drained to prevent crust from becoming soggy

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients together; add wet ingredients and mix well. Let the dough sit for approximately 5 minutes to thicken. 

Spread dough on a lightly oiled large pizza pan or cookie sheet lined with greased parchment paper (you can also use Reynolds non-stick foil, lightly brushed with olive oil).  Using a lightly oiled rubber spatula, press the dough out to desired shape and thickness (I usually make it about 1/4" thick -- *see note below).  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through (check crust after 15 minutes and remove from oven when it looks and feels done).  Spread with a thin layer of sauce, cheese and desired toppings (fresh vegetable and meat toppings should be pre-cooked to prevent soggy crust); place back into the oven to bake an additional 5-10 minutes to melt cheese.  If desired, run under the broiler for a few minutes to lightly brown the toppings and make the cheese bubbly (be careful not to burn it).

*Note:  For a crust that is flat, smooth and even in thickness, lightly spray a 2nd sheet of parchment paper with olive oil spray and place it on top (oiled side down) of the ball of pizza dough that is centered in the middle of your prepared pizza pan or baking sheet.  Using either your hands or the flat edge of an object (I use a big container of black pepper) press the dough smooth by swiping it the direction you want the pizza crust to go.  When it is the desired thickness and shape, carefully peel off the top layer of parchment paper...and "Voila"...perfectly flat, smooth, thin pizza crust! If you don't have parchment paper, pressing the dough out with a lightly oiled rubber spatula works just fine, too.

      

8 comments:

  1. Hi GGC,

    Glad you were able to find the Fiorucci. Since discovering it a few weeks ago I can call off my search for the perfect pepperoni!

    I've been sauteing some of our backyard "Julia" tomatoes for pizza topping and simmering them into other sauces. They are a "Roma" type tomato, non-watery and perfect for cooking.

    We've had a remarkable shift to fall weather the last two days ... but I love it cool! Nothing bad came of our last round of storms, I'm happy to report. :-) We did have a *very heavy* rainfall, though, but that was all. Expecting a little more this weekend, then pleasant for next week. Hope your weather is improving, too.

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  2. Hi CyberSis,

    I really love the Fiorucci pepperoni. Sprouts had a number of their other Italian meats. I'd like to try some of their others, too. I will be looking them over more closely now that I know how good their pepperoni is!

    Sprouts has an entire wall (big) of uncured gluten-free meats.

    Lucky you with the cooler fall weather. I'm hoping ours begins soon. I'd just settle for cooler mornings and evenings! Glad you didn't get clobbered again with dangerous storms. I'll have to look into those "Julia" tomatoes next summer! :-)

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  3. This pizza looks so delicious. I will be looking for the Fiorucci pepperoni and my Sprouts this week too,and the tomatoes from Costco! thanks for the recommendation

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  4. You are very welcome Sally...hope you find them! :-)

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  5. Looks good! Could you please clarify whether 375F is for a conventional oven or a convection (fan-forced) oven? Thanks.

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  6. Hi Anonymous,

    It's a conventional oven temp. While I do have a convection oven, too...I don't write recipes for convection since most folks have conventional instead. Thanks! :-)

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  7. Hi Ayla,

    I just wanted to let you know this is the best gluten/grain free pizza crust recipe I've found. I've made it four times already, and have had four successes. Even my husband who isn't eating grain/gluten free loves it. I take the dough and roll it thin between two pieces of oiled parchment paper. (I use coconut oil). After baking, the crispy edges, which taste awesome, make me think this dough would also make great crackers.

    I have also made your chicken enchilada recipe. Excellent!

    Now that I'm on my WB journey, your blog has become my "go to" spot for grain/gluten free recipes. Thank you for all of the hard work you put into this blog. Being a blogger myself (I'm on hiatus), I know finding the time to post regularly and monitor/answer comments is very time consuming. You're doing an awesome job.

    Might we see a cookbook anytime in the future? I sure hope so. :)

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  8. Hi Barbara,

    Thanks so much for the kind comments. I'm so happy you are enjoying the pizza crust (and Chicken Enchilada Casserole). I am flattered you find my pizza crust the best gluten/grain free you've found...that means a lot to me.

    As a blogger yourself, I know that you understand the time that gets put into managing a blog. I post quite frequently, almost every day. The recipe development, writing the recipe up so others can recreate it successfully, writing a post, photography...not to mention the public and private messages and comments, emails, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter... I actually have a full time job, family and life as well...LOL. It's comments and remarks like yours though that make this all worthwhile to me. I have a lot of regular followers that I've "gotten to know" over these past 3 years and I would much rather do this than watch TV in my spare time. I've been able to take my love of cooking, grain free life style and transform it into more than I ever imagined.

    Lastly, yes, a cookbook is in my future...I just need to find the time! Thanks again for the kind comments! :-)

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