Pizza. It happens. In our house it happens a lot. As in Every Single Friday Night. When it doesn't happen, life feels horribly, disastrously wrong. We used to go out for Friday Night pizza. But once my gluten issue and Fish's egg issue were discovered, it was home-baked or nothing at all.
During the first weeks of Fish's elimination diet I experimented with SO MANY gluten-dairy-egg-soy free recipes. I found ONE that I liked, this one at The Plant Philosophy. The smell of this crust baking is like heaven. Seriously. Although sometimes it came out brilliantly, other times it came out weird and wet. Like a soggy and sort of gooey sponge. So, uh, Not appetizing. At all. I think it had to do with the humidity in the air (I am so not kidding). So when we were able to add egg back to our family diet, I was ELATED. I returned to the gluten free crust I liked best that is not only gluten and dairy free, but also paleo an low-ish carb, this one from Zenbelly Catering, and we were a happy pizza-devouring family. For eight weeks.
Then Fish's EoE scope showed inflammation. Egg. He's allergic to egg. CRUD. POOP. Other, harsher words. I so did not want to return to the never-the-same-twice (and not in a good way) pizza crust recipe, plus I loved eating pizza that was low-ish-glycemic and could go with a paleo/Mediterranean Diet/Trim Healthy Mama sort of eating plan.
I searched. I googled. I scoured ingredient lists and blog posts. And I discovered with much sadness that such a crust Did Not Exist. Until now!
Because I made it myself.
Using the two recipes linked above as inspiration, along with some lessons I've learned in the past year about baking with all these weirdo flours and starches and the brine from a can of garbanzo beans, I created our New Favorite Pizza Crust!
Now we are seriously serious about this crust. So serious that something crazy happened. Crazy things happen a lot, but last Friday as I was thinking something like, Huh, it's probably about time to start the pizza dough, the phone rang. My darling husband Stephen saying, "I'm in a McDonald's parking lot. The radiator exploded. I need you to pick me up." And I said (yes I did)...
"Sure thing, but you'll have to let me get the pizza dough started first."
And he said, "Yup, no problem. I'll be here." He wasn't being passive aggressive at all. Really.
So Rowdy and I got to work fast fast fast (seen here).
Notice she's smiling at something frothy, like egg whites. But it's not! It's that leftover water from a can of garbanzo beans/chickpeas! Can you believe it? This made my entire head explode when I first tried it. Poof. Huge explosion.
Notice too we're using a nifty milk frother. SO MUCH EASIER than the mixer. I am not kidding. If you don't have one, get one like right now.
We then mixed up our dough: proofed yeast, dry ingredients, aquafaba/chickpea whip.
We then set it aside to rise, picked up Stephen, saw the pool of antifreeze trailing from our jeep, and hurried home. So. Very. Hungry.
Once home we finished the crust. Now SOME recipes will advise you to roll out on parchment with extra flour, starch, whatever. But why bother when you DON'T HAVE TO MAKE ALL THAT MESS? Who likes scrubbing counters? Not me. Plus, PLUS rolling out the dough this way is so much fun because it involves toys.
Yes, toys. And pink plastic wrap because that's ALL they had when I last bought it. At Christmas.
Yum Yum Yummy!
1/4 C aquafaba (whipped chickpea brine)
1 T yeast (or one packet)
1/3 C water with a sprinkle of sugar or honey
2 t xanthan gum
italian seasoning and garlic powder to taste
1/4 t salt
1/4 C coconut flour
1/2 C almond flour
1/4 C tapioca OR arrowroot starch/flour
1 t apple cider vinegar
1 t oil (olive or coconut, melted)
Whip the h@ll out of the chickpea water/aquafaba. For best results use an electric mixer or a handy little milk frother. Seriously if you don't have one, get one. They are amazing.
Proof the yeast by adding yeast to warm (not too hot!) water with a bit of sugar or honey. Let rest while you compile the remaining ingredients.
Combine the dry ingredients and whisk together (just to keep things from getting clumpy).
Add oil and ACV (apple cider vinegar) to the yeast mix, and add everything into one big happy mess in the stand mixer or bowl. Combine thoroughly.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap AND a kitchen towel and let sit in a warm spot for an hour to 90 minutes.
Preheat oven to 500 (yes, really). Scoop big plop(s) of dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Using the plastic wrap from your bowl (see how smart that was?!?) cover the dough plop and flatten it slightly with your hand, then use a Play-Doh roller to roll it out to your desired thickness. You could just press it out with your hand, but where's the fun in that?
Bake for 6-8 minutes, depending on thickness. Remove and top with your fave toppings. Here I will usually decrease my oven temp to 475. Bake decorated pizza for another 8-10 minutes, broil the top for a couple minutes if desired.
This recipe makes one standard-sized pizza (think plate sized - 9"). Since I feed seven people who all LOVE this pizza, I usually tripple or quadruple it. I use slightly less yeast with bigger batches.
P.S. The starch can be omitted for a slightly crispier crust (less puff). This will make crunch-lovers thrill and THM gals O in their chairs. By O I mean, um, be really really happy, like Overjoyed. Yeah, that's what I mean.
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Rebecca Grabill
Pizza, Gluten Free
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