Teff sourdough pizza

I experimented with my teff sourdough bread recipe to make a pizza crust, and it turned out great. I went for thinner crust, but left a little extra around the edge so that it was still chewy. It held together easily and got crispy, all while keeping a subtle teff flavor. My only adjustment to the bread recipe is that I added more oil and made it drier/more-stiff (ie: added more flour).

I made this pizza to have with friends, though information I understand now clarifies that meals with friends (indeed friends visiting each other's homes) is not enough social distance, so this was the last in-person social time I suspect I will have in awhile. We ate pizza and also did a reading of Jen Silverman's The Moors, and though we read this in the same room, play readings would make an excellent activity to conduct via zoom or your video-chat option of choice; you just need to scan/disseminate scripts ahead of time!

Teff sourdough pizza crust: makes 1 thin 10" pizza crust
1 cup gluten-free sourdough starter
2 Tbsp warm water
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp maple syrup, honey, or coconut sugar
1 Tbsp ground chia seeds
1 Tbsp whole psyllium husks
1/2 - 1 cup teff flour (or any combination of whole grain gluten-free flours)
1 Tbsp arrowroot powder (or tapioca flour)

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Place starter in large mixing bowl. Whisk in the liquids and salt (warm water, salt, olive oil, maple syrup/honey).
2) Next, whisk in the ground chia and psyllium husks.
3) Add the flours (Avoid letting the mixture sit more than a minute or two, as the chia and psyllium start bulking the dough up quickly!)
4) Mix them all together with a strong large spoon until dough is thick and dough like/ Unlike the bread recipe, it will not drip off your spoon. 
5) Spread the dough into a circle on a parchment covered cookie sheet. I wet my hands with water and smoothed the "dough" out, pressing gently. The chia seeds make the dough almost gelatinous, it's a different texture, and sticks together pretty well even when pressing quite thin.
6) Pre-bake for about 20-25 minutes. The crust will get nice and firm, and is also pretty flexible. I baked the crusts at different times and for different times - it is quite flexible.
7) Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack if you have one. I had time and so made these crusts early, but you could also just pile on your toppings and then bake right away. I suspect these would be easy to freeze at this stage, but I have not tried that yet.

The best pizza of the evening, I thought, was a pesto, sausage, green pepper, spinach, roasted tomato, olive pizza. Really, it got all of the toppings! When you do your final pizza bake, have high heat (450 degrees) and bake just until your toppings are melty and cooked, 5-10 minutes.

Cauliflower pizza crust (paleo)

I experimented with a cauliflower pizza crust, and found it really tasty. I have not made homemade pizza in many years, so it was just fun to try and make my own toppings. Yum. Most cauliflower pizza crust recipes seem to include cheese, which I don't eat much of, so I looked for a dairy-free recipe.

Up sides of this cauliflower crust: very little nut flour, mostly cauliflower, very subtle cauliflower taste.
Down sides: I could not pick up a full slice that would hold together (I could pick up a partial piece and it had enough structural integrity about it); pulsing raw cauliflower in the food processor is fussy and messy! Do-able. But fussy.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Post first baking

1 head cauliflower, stalk removed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup almond or tapioca flour
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 400 F.
2. Place the cauliflower in a food processor and pulse until finely shredded (I did in 2 batches).
3. Steam the shredded cauliflower for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain well, let cool, and strain any excess water using a towel. (Quite a lot of water comes out!)
4. In a bowl, combine the cauliflower, eggs, oregano, dried basil, garlic powder, almond flour, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything thoroughly.
5. Transfer to a pizza pan or baking sheet and shape into a pizza crust shape. (You are just pressing it into a big circle. It's very strange! Next time I will maybe try putting parchment paper down first to assist in transfer of pizza to the butcher block.)
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes.
7. Spread pizza sauce/toppings on top of the crust. Bake for another 8 to 10 minutes, or until toppings are nicely cooked.

I made my pizza with half pesto, half tomato paste sauce. Then I covered the whole thing with my mild Italian sausage, red onions, red peppers, mushrooms, and some diced tomatoes and shredded asiago. And a little magic salt. So tasty!!

Coconut flour pizza crust

Pizza! I haven't had any in a long long while, but got some fancy pepperoni some time ago and decided pizza was in order - the totally traditional kind of pepperoni, onions, olives, mushrooms and red peppers. I have not tried the coconut trust before, having only made an almond crust version. I am interested in making a cauliflower crust - but it seems slightly higher maintenance because of the pre-cooking and food processing and all that jazz. The coconut flour version seemed simpler.

My verdict is that the texture was great - it was a nice thin crust that you could lift piece by piece, and the taste was, well, coconut-y. No big surprise. I didn't mind it much though, and would make this again. If I was a garlic eater, I would add some garlic salt/powder into the crust to mask the coconut flavor. I initially was a little worried the pizza would be too dry - coconut flour is dry and dense, and without cheese it might be more so - but drizzling olive oil over the top solved that problem. It turned out very tasty.

Flipped over crust on parchment

Coconut flour crust
3 eggs
1/3 to 1/2 cup coconut flour
2 tsp. onion powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. oregano
1 T olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Start with about 1/3 c coconut flour, and add more depending on final consistency - brands vary so much that this will help achieve the best result.
2. I spread the dough on a piece of parchment, though I contemplated going directly on a pizza stone. You will need to flip the crust once, but it didn't seem to want to stick. I recommend spreading on parchment, or on a metal cooking sheet. Try directly on a pizza stone if you are feeling adventurous! Spread dough pretty thin, and bake for about 10-15 minutes, until brown.
3. Remove from oven and flip the crust, so that you put all the toppings on what was the under side. Once pizza is full of toppings, slide back in the oven for another 8-12 minutes until browned.
4. Let it cool a minute, slice and eat up!

As I said, my toppings were pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, red pepper, and thinly sliced onion. They went on top of a thin layer of tomato sauce sprinkled with red pepper flakes, salt and oregano. Then the whole pizza was drizzled with olive oil and baked. It tasted great.

Pizza (GF)

I happened upon this recipe for a gluten/grain free pizza crust in a book called "Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet." I was curious about the book because I have a friend who was recently diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, and this diet is one of the lesser known "cures" of sorts. There are lots of recipes involving almond flour or nut flours, which I was excited about.

So - pizza! This crust was delicious and did not get soggy - I could eat a slice by holding it in my hand, which in my experience is near impossible for gluten-free crusts. And it stayed crispy/solid in leftover form too. woah!
It's also super simple - just a few minutes, and fast baking time. Be aware it is more filling because of the almond flour.

Makes one small/individual pizza
1/2 c. almond flour (add more as needed for a workable dough)
1 egg
1 t. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 t. salt
Italian spices such as oregano and basil to taste

In a bowl mix the above ingredients together and add more flour as needed to form a ball (I needed to add about another 1/4 cup of flour). Oil a pan with olive oil. Add the dough ball pressing down with hands to form the shape of a small pizza crust. The mixture will be pretty wet, and I pressed mine out to get an 8-10" pizza, which resulted in 1/4" crust or so. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and put the crust in the oven while preheating. After 5-10 minutes, the crust should be crisp and ready for toppings. Put your toppings on, and then bake another 10 minutes.

This one was bacon, sweet potato, and carmelized onions. So good!

caramelized onion, fontina, goat cheese and grape pizza

E and I have had a Friday night pizza tradition for years. This is the latest in our pizza-making adventures.

Dough (makes 2)
2 C all purpose flour
1/2 C cornmeal
1/2 C another interesting flour (I like rye best, but I also use whole wheat)
3 T olive oil
1 packet yeast
1 C water
fresh herbs
salt
pepper

Combine dry ingredients and herbs and stir in 2 T olive oil and 1 C water. Roll it into a ball. Add remaining 1 T olive oil to a bowl and roll the doughball around in it. Cover and let rise for 1-3 hours (until about double in size).

Roll out half the dough (for one pizza). We put it in the oven (on the pizza stone) while it preheats to 500. When oven is preheated, take the dough out and top it with whatever suits you.

For this particular pizza:
Toss 1 C halved grapes in 1 T fresh, finely chopped rosemary and 1 t olive oil. Spread a layer of caramelized onions over the pizza crust. We added a bit of grated fontina cheese, the grapes and goat cheese in big chunks.
Put it back in the oven until the cheese is melted and tasty-looking.

Pizza: Sauerkraut, Apple, Cranberry and Pesto Tomato

This weekend brought Eren and Naomi to town for anniversary and birthday celebrating, Barebones, and some seasonal feasting. Pizza was selected for Saturday dinner. I got the crust recipe from Baking Illustrated (my go to for always perfect baking) and we tried a couple of different toppings. Topping one involved some recently finished sauerkraut and an amazing Sauerkraut/Apple/Cranberry recipe from a canning class KP and I took earlier this month. Topping two included leftover Cilantro Pesto and roasted tomatoes. Yum. Perfect early dinner pre-Barebones and to celebrate the years of love among us.

Pizza Dough (makes enough for three pizzas) *hand kneading version
1/2 c water
1 envelope instant yeast
1 1/4 c. water at room temp
2 T extra virgin olive oil (just realized I forgot that part!!)
4 c bread flour (Up to half can be wheat - I went 1 c wheat/3 c white)
1 1/2 t. salt

Sprinkle yeast on warm water and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells (about 5 minutes). Add remaining room temp. water and oil and stir to combine. In separate, deep bowl, combine half the flour and salt. Add the liquid ingredients and use a wooden spoon to combine. Add the remaining flour and stir until a "cohesive mass" forms. Turn out to a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (7-8 minutes), using as little dusting flour as possible. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, cover with a damp towel and let rise until doubled in size: 1 1/2-2 hours. (Note the wheat flour will slow rising time a bit.) When risen, press dough to deflate, divide into three balls, and stretch/pull with hands to form crust.
*Baking Illustrated recommends a pizza stone for perfect pizza. Sprinkled semolina/corn meal or parchment paper allows you to transfer the uncooked crust to the pizza stone that you want to have pre-heating in the oven. Cook pizza hot - 500 degrees, and remove when crust is turning brown and toppings are sizzling (6-12 minutes).

Pizza One: Sauerkraut with Apples and Cranberries and Squash
*Makes 3 pints (which you then would can, 1/2 the recipe for a more manageable amount to consume before it goes bad!)
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
1/2 c. light brown sugar
3 large sweet apples - peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
1/2 large onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 c. dried cranberries or cherries
1 t. caraway seed
1 t. fennel seed
1 bay leaf
4 c. fermented sauerkraut and juice

Combine apple cider and brown sugar in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil to dissolve sugar. Add onion, apple, cranberries and spices and simmer gentely until apple is tender. Stir in sauerkraut and juice. *If canning, heat mix to 180 degrees, fill scalded jars leaving 1/2" headspace and process for 25 minutes.
We put this mix on the pizza with some baked squash and cheese. Yum. Toss a little salt on too for some improved flavor.

Pizza Two: Spicy Pesto Tomato
Cilantro Pesto: food process 1/2-1 bunch cilantro with nuts (almonds or walnuts), salt and pepper, parm cheese, and olive oil. Sorry I don't have better amounts, I don't think you can go wrong though!
Roasted tomatoes
2ish T. Red Onion, chopped
2ish T. Jalepeno, minced
Cheese!

grilled pizza

i don't know when it was that i first heard these two wonderful words put together: grilled. pizza. all i know is that it's something that i've wanted to try forever, and finally did last night. steve and allison were coming over, and you know how sometimes you have certain friends that you want to impress with the culinary skills you think you have? this is def the way to go.

i've tried so many pizza dough recipes that i should probably look like the pillsbury dough boy by now, except for the most part, they've been inedible. a few weeks ago, the strib had an article about grilling pizza, and wha-bang! it's delicious. i credit them for the dough, but play with your own toppings. i had two parties on mine: half fig, basil, and goat cheese, half fresh mozzarella, basil, cherry tomatoes from the garden, all slathered in garlic & olive oil. i meant to use green onions and top it off with fresh avocado, but i'll just have to save that for next time.

(picture note: this is not my picture. the whole process went so fast that we didn't have time to take a picture. if you have time today, though, go google grilled pizza images and see the crazy combos that come up.)