I love pizza. I mean who doesn’t?? The chewy, yet crispy crust, your fave toppings and that ooey gooey cheesy goodness. So imagine for a moment, that you think you can never eat pizza again. I thought pizza was out for good, and it was for a spell when I learned I had an auto-immune condition. This meant eliminating certain foods that trigger inflammation and flare-ups, such as gluten and dairy. But as with most recipes I’ll be sharing on with you, once I was mostly healed and able to introduce some gluten free grains and such back in my diet, I tinkered around until I came up with an “awesome” dough, as my husband calls it. This is the foundation of pizza after all.
The Dough
As I said, it all begins here. Now if you’ve never made homemade pizza dough, I promise it is super easy. What’s so great about eliminating the gluten, is well, you don’t need to develop the gluten! When using wheat flour in the pizza or bread making process, the kneading most recipes call for develops the gluten. All that pushing and pulling is what creates that network of protein strands that form the dough, and thus that chew we all know and love. In contrast however, with gluten free flours there’s no gluten to develop, hence no kneading. You basically throw everything in a mixer or bowl, give it whirl and voila-pizza dough! (Now I suppose you could knead it if you are so inclined, but I’ll leave that between you and your dough😛). The only thing you really need to exercise here is some patience. Because like conventional pizza dough, we are using yeast and it does have to be left to rise. This allows it to develop those lovely holes we look for in artisan pizza and breads, and most importantly, flavor. The slower and longer the dough rises, the better the flavor. Certainly you can do the longer rise out the gate, but for the newbies, we’re doing a pretty quick rise here. Once you get comfy with the process, experiment. Maybe try my wild sourdough starter -click here. You can enjoy your pizza, plus add some gut-friendly bacteria to the party! Plus the bragging rights, I mean come on.
Toppings Trifecta
OK, this is where you can really go crazy. I love making pizza when I have stuff to use up in the crisper. For this version I’ve added one of my favorite combos of spicy arugula, prosciutto and “ricotta” made with almonds. I almost always have these items on hand and so throwing this together is a sinch. I love the slightly bitter greens with the salty porky goodness of prosciutto and creamy sweetness of the ricotta. Likewise, when making other versions, I always try to balance, sweet, salty and savory for that perfect trifecta and balance of flavors with each bite. Similarly, I always strive to include fiber, fat and protein with every meal. You’ll hear me say this a lot as this helps keep the blood sugar balanced, as well as my energy level up. I find this especially important when indulging in higher carb meals, even if they are the complex and healthy carbs our bodies need. By including plenty of good quality protein, fiber and fat, you can avoid those big spikes and drops we often feel when eating a good dose of carbs. Therefore sub out whatever greens you have on hand, add some onions or garlic with their awesome anti-inflammatory and antiviral attributes. Throw on some goat cheese if you want a less problematic dairy source and sub nutritional yeast for that cheesy parm goodness. Love this brand. Include mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, shaved broccoli or cabbage. Sliced sweet potatoes or butternut squash for an autumnal twist. Like I said, GO CRAZY and change it up with the seasons. Just leave out the guilt and calorie counting, as that’s silliness. Eat real, good quality, healthy food and you can never go wrong.
So, give up pizza?? Fa’get about it!
For the pizza recipe click here
For the Vegan “ricotta” click here
Mangia Mangia!!
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