You’re not normal if you don’t love pizza. So it’s no surprise when there is sometimes nothing I want more than a large Dominos drenched in cheese and topped with an abundance of pepperoni. Unfortunately, as much as I love the pizza, the aftertaste of guilt is not something I am so keen to enjoy… Alas, I have a delicious compromise to satisfy all pizza cravings that fills you up without leaving you with the horrible bloated stodginess that comes with the regular bread base.
I’ve tried many a time to make a successful base that isn’t made from a grain-based flour and doesn’t fall apart as soon as you cut into it. Finally (with inspiration from Deliciously Ella) I have a recipe that you can actually cut into slices and pick up to eat, like a real pizza!! And, of course, it’s gluten free, grain free, and dairy free!
Top Tips
- Make sure the oven is really hot before you put in your bases in to bake, otherwise they won’t crisp up.
- Bake the bases on a thin baking tray lined with baking paper which is also slightly oiled, so to make the flipping process halfway through easier.
- Don’t overload on the toppings, keep it simple, or you won’t be able to pick it up like a normal pizza.
Ingredients (yields 2 bases)
1 large cauliflower
2 tbsp chia seeds mixed with 5 tbsp of water
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup of apple puree
2 tbsp tamari
1/2 juice of lemon
Mixed italian herbs
Pinch of salt
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200c and prep a thin baking tray with baking paper and a dash of olive oil.
- Allow the chia seeds to absorb the water and form a gel-like paste. Meanwhile, place the cauliflower in a food processor and blend until a flour substance is formed.
- Squeeze out the excess water from the cauliflower, you can use a nut milk bag or, if you don’t have one of those, a thin tea towel works just as well.
- Add the apple puree, tamari, salt, and italian herbs to the paste and combine before adding the cauliflower and buckwheat to the mix – in this order the flavours are distributed more evenly throughout the dough.
- Finally, add the lemon juice (you can use the other half of the lemon if the dough is too dry) and combine until a sticky dough is formed.
- Mould the dough into the desired shape on the prepped baking tray, making sure it is the same thickness (around 2mm) all the way through.
- Bake in the oven for 14 minutes before taking out and flipping over to bake in the oven for a further 14 minutes.
- Top your pizza with whatever you fancy, my personal favourite is tomato base sprinkled with mozzarella, goats cheese, homemade pesto, caramelised onions, and fresh baby basil.
Pingback: Delicious Alchemy’s White Bread Mix: Pizza | Food and Flying