Mediterranean Flat Bread Pizza

I love Mediterranean and Greek style pizzas and recently realized that I'd never made a gluten free version.  The pizza crust I usually use seemed a little heavy and thick for the lighter Mediterranean flavors so I decided to use my hummus pita recipe instead. I thought about making them per the recipe for a softer, thick crust but Chris really loves a thin, crispy crust so that was my goal.

Making a crispy flatbread is easy. Just spread the crust out very, very thin and bake them until almost crispy before topping makes for a perfect crunchy crust. The hummus in the crust adds a great base layer of flavor.  You can decide how large you want to make your pizzas.  The first time I made them I made 18 small crusts to have as a side/bread.  You can make them ahead and just top and heat when you're ready to serve.  Today I made two very large pizzas with the same recipe.   

Bake them on parchment lined baking sheets in a 450 degree oven.  The smaller size baked for about ten minutes before topping and the larger took a good twenty minutes.   Top and bake until toppings are heated through and the cheese starts to brown.

The small pizzas were topped with the ingredients listed below but be creative and add the things you love:

1 can Artichoke Hearts, quartered

1 large Roasted Red Bell Pepper, chopped

1 medium Green Pepper, sliced

½ red onion, thinly sliced

10 Kalmata Olives, quartered

8 ounces crumbled Feta Cheese

4 ounces shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Olive Oil, drizzled over to taste

Fresh or dried Oregano to taste

Salt & Pepper to taste

The large pizzas were topped a variation of the above recipe but without the artichoke hearts and green bell pepper.

The tomato pizza had thinly sliced tomatoes on top of the cheese mixture – but you knew that.

I covered the crust of the other pizza with handfuls of baby kale leaves before spreading the cheese mixture over the top.  Even Marc, who hates kale, loved it.

Enjoy!

Meatless Monday & Mexican Pizza

One of our favorite grocery stores recently started carrying a gluten free Mexican pizza.  It sounded great to us but found that while some of them were great, others were not so good. They were too spicy for one of us and not flavorful enough for others. We really liked the concept, though, so I wanted to figure out an easy version to be able to make on busy school days.  I have tinkered with a couple of crust versions and this is our favorite.  It holds up to the toppings, is a little crunchy and has a nice corn taste.  We liked it rather thick (as you can see in the picture below) but you can always pat it thinner.

The toppings can be anything you like.  We have done pureed pinto and black beans, grated Colby jack cheese, guacamole, salsa, chopped onion, chopped cilantro, sliced fresh from the garden Jalapeños and hot sauce.  You can be creative and add anything you like.

If you’re starting out on the Feingold program you can make this stage one easily.  Just keep the salsas and peppers off and you will still have a lot of flavor.

Mexican Pizza

Have 2 baking sheets covered with parchment or pizza stones ready

Oven to 425 degrees - makes six individual pizzas.

For the crust:

1 package Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Corn Bread Mix

1 Cup Water

2 Eggs

½ teaspoon Cumin

Dash Garlic Powder

Mix everything together for a stiff dough.  Divide into six balls.  Pat each ball into a circle with damp fingers on your parchment lined baking sheet.  Mine were about six inches across. Three crusts fit well on each sheet.

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes.

For the black bean “sauce” just puree one can of beans with a bit of the liquid in the can - add a bit more if the beans are too thick. You want it to be the consistency of pizza sauce. That will be plenty for six pizzas.

Sprinkle your pizzas with your favorite toppings and put back in the oven briefly – five to ten minutes for us. 

Garnish with salsa and guacamole and enjoy!

Gluten Free Calzones

Our church's youth retreat is next month and Joe will need to take most of his own meals and snacks for the week. He's really easy going about food and has actually told me he would be happy if we packed up nothing but sandwiches but somehow that doesn't sound like the healthiest plan to me. My goal is give him variety and to have most things ready to eat straight from the retreat's fridge even though they said they will happily heat things for him.  Because the facility doesn't do much in the way of gluten free meals the concern about cross contamination makes me want to avoid that as much as possible. Calzones seem a neater way to pack pizza and Joe loves pizza hot or cold so we gave them a try at lunch today.  While not the healthiest meal I can sneak in veggies and it will be an easy lunch when the others are having sandwiches. The verdict was positive so we'll definitely pack up a couple for the trip.

Over the next three weeks I'll make an extra serving or two of meals, muffins, breads, etc. here and there and pack them up as I go. I'll mark them with Joe's name, our church's name, and any heating directions. I'll dedicate a freezer shelf to keep things together so I can see what I have and what I need.  By the time he's ready to go we'll just empty the shelf or shelves right into the cooler. Having everything frozen should keep everything safely chilled for the drive.

This post is really more of a method than a recipe as the dough is the same one I use here for pizza.  I just used a good jarred sauce, cheese, Wellshire natural pepperoni for the guys, chopped drained artichoke hearts for Chris and me, fresh basil from the garden and red pepper flakes.  Use what you prefer or have on hand to make your own.

For today's experiment I made five huge calzones.  They stretched a bit getting them on the baking sheet and grew even more in the oven.  Next time I would aim to make eight for a more packable meal size calzone. I think making even smaller mini-sized versions for a party would be fun, too, and will try that soon.

Heat oven to 425 and line baking sheets with parchment.

After making the pizza dough take a large sheet of plastic wrap and spray it with a bit of olive oil. The dough is sticky and using oil on the plastic wrap will make flipping them onto the baking sheet a snap.

Put a scoop of dough in the middle and with wet hands pat it into a circle.

Toppings, or rather fillings, went on one side only.  Leave room around the edges to seal it up tight.

Holding the plastic wrap firmly, quickly fold the empty side over the filled side and gently pat the edges to seal.  The dough is very sticky and will seal easily.










Here's the tricky part - it isn't hard but you have to move quickly with steady hands - open the plastic wrap up and quickly flip the calzone onto your parchment lined baking sheet.  Although it worked well for me I do think smaller calzones would make that process easier.  Seal any little holes you may have.

Bake at 425 until golden brown.

Cheesy goodness!  Enjoy!

Gluten Free Pizza and a Bake Fest with Marie!

Today’s post was going to be on pizza – only pizza – but then Marie came over to bake!  Marc and Marie are driving up to Ohio to see her family so I offered to bake some goodies for their road trip.  Marie being awesome offered to help.  We went just a little crazy and baked all of this and then some!

We made two batches of jalapeño jack cheese rolls per the recipe here.  Then we made another batch with sharp cheddar cheese and a touch of garlic – think Texas toast.  There were plenty for our dinner, sandwiches for them to take and some for our freezer. A batch of pizza dough was next – recipe below.  Marc and Marie can take the pre-baked crusts and make pizza easily and quickly with her sister later.   Check out the fun shape!

Marie took over the Kitchenaid and made two batches of muffins.  The first batch was her very own signature version of the Breakfast Cake recipe.  Like Joe’s version, Marie opted for white chocolate chips and crystallized ginger but she had brought over a bag of dried cranberries and added all of them. She then added coarse sea salt instead of the finely ground I usually use.  They baked up so moist and tender.  The sea salt crystals accented the white chocolate in the most amazing way!

Next up was a batch of these muffins.  Only while Marie mixed them up per the recipe I chopped salty peanuts to mix in and she added dark chocolate chips.  Yum!

And now to pizza….

Pizza was something I missed when I gave up gluten.  At that time there were gluten free pizzas in the freezer section but they tasted like cardboard and were completely overpriced.  They just weren’t interesting enough to bother with.  Later as my sons became gluten free there were more options and they were a bit better but still not very exciting or even close to what we used to order.  Now there are much better brands in the freezer case and at a few restaurants, too.  We're fortunate to have a couple of restaurants close by that have good gluten free pizza now.

But it’s really easy to make your own crusts and you’ll save a small fortune by doing so. This recipe simply uses the cheese bread recipe (again) with mozzarella cheese and a good flavorful olive oil.  It's a thick, chewy and cheesy crust which my sons and I love.

Does it seem everything I bake is just a variation of that first recipe?  Well, when you have a recipe that is simple, that consistently works and that you are comfortable with it just makes sense to play with it as a starting point.  Especially when you’re re-learning to bake and getting a grasp on the chemistry of gluten free baking.

I buy bags of tapioca flour an armload at a time so I always have some on hand for a quick roll, bread, pizza, etc.  Using the entire one pound bag makes for large quantities and for us that works well.  If you don’t have the large people with large appetites at your house that I have here, freeze part of what you bake.  Having a few pizza crusts, rolls or muffins in the freezer makes life so much easier.  These crusts are especially easy to freeze.  When you need a fast meal you can pull out one out, top and bake for a fresh, hot pizza in no time.  If you’re going to a party and everyone else is having pizza, make and bake your own to take.  You won’t feel deprived a bit.  Planning ahead makes gluten free living so much easier.

This is a really satisfying pizza.  The crust has a ton of cheese and eggs so it’s full of protein.  A couple of slices and a salad will be a filling, stick with you meal.

Gluten Free Pizza – Thick Crust

Makes 2 12 inch pizzas or more individual sized pizzas as you choose.

.

1 lb.    Tapioca Starch

1 lb.    Mozzarella Cheese, grated

1 T.     Baking Powder

6         Eggs  (allow to come to room temperature)

3/4 C  Olive Oil

2 T      Finely Milled Golden Flax 

2 T      Dried Oregano - optional

Dash  Garlic Powder - optional

Directions:

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silicone sheets or use 12.5 inch baking stones.

I did one 12 inch pizza on the stone and made three large individual pizzas on the sheet this time.

Place all ingredients in mixing bowl in order given.  Putting the Tapioca Starch in the bottom helps keep it from forming a cloud when you start the mixer. I use my Kitchenaid stand mixer on medium for about 2 minutes. 

Divide the dough in half and pat into circles if making two large pizzas.  Be creative and make them any size you like.  You can even try heart shaped pizzas for Valentine’s Day or anytime you want to show a little love. 

Bake until lightly browned.  At this point you can either top your pizzas and pop them back into the oven to brown or let them cool before freezing.

If topping a fresh from the oven pizza another ten minutes in the oven is usually plenty of time for golden brown cheese.  If baking a frozen shell you’ll probably need closer to twenty.  

Marie and Marc, be safe and have fun!

xoxoxox