How does one live without pizza? Pizza is its own food group in the U.S., to have to go without it is practically unliveable. No one should ever have to go without pizza again.
Now, to be totally fair, the pizza pictured used cheese. It was sheep cheese, and Beth can usually cheat with that. But when she really needs to watch her casein intake, she makes a creamy-garbanzo-sauce thing which is pretty dang good. Recipe will be in another post as this is gonna get long!
Let's start at the beginning.
The Crust: Makes about 3 10" thin crusts
Ingredients:
Dry
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp Beth's Flour Mix
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (I'm am 7800 ft, you might need to use more!)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp gelatin
1 tsp Xantham or Guar gum
1 tsp powdered psyllium husks (Seriously. It adds a nice wheat-y flavor!)
1 tsp each: Oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme. *
Wet
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup "milk" of choice (unsweetened!)
One warning:
DO NOT USE POWDERED SPICE! Since there is no gluten and no egg, the powdered spices will work against your gums and starches to make it so that the crust will not hold together once cooked. I tried it, so I know. The whole batch just turned into instant crumb. But it wasn't a loss since I used it to make breaded Italian chicken breasts. It's all about perspective!
Directions
Let's start at the beginning.
The Crust: Makes about 3 10" thin crusts
Ingredients:
Dry
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp Beth's Flour Mix
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (I'm am 7800 ft, you might need to use more!)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp gelatin
1 tsp Xantham or Guar gum
1 tsp powdered psyllium husks (Seriously. It adds a nice wheat-y flavor!)
1 tsp each: Oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme. *
Wet
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup "milk" of choice (unsweetened!)
One warning:
DO NOT USE POWDERED SPICE! Since there is no gluten and no egg, the powdered spices will work against your gums and starches to make it so that the crust will not hold together once cooked. I tried it, so I know. The whole batch just turned into instant crumb. But it wasn't a loss since I used it to make breaded Italian chicken breasts. It's all about perspective!
Directions
1. Dump all the dry and powdered stuff in a large bowl.
2. Mix all the dry stuff pretty thoroughly with a spoon or pastry cutter.
3. Dump in your wet stuff. (Aw, Pizza! I love you too!)
4. Cut the liquids in using a hand blender or wooden spoon. You don't want it to be entirely blended, so I wouldn't recommend an electric mixer.
Cool. You just made pizza dough. But now you have to make it look like a crust. Generally, I use a contraption I made from some pretty heavy wood. It's effectively a huge tortilla press (12x12, pictured below). I put about a 1/3 of the dough into the center of some parchment paper, put another square of parchment on top and then press it. Super easy. But if I don't have the contraption with me (it's a bit large for my purse) I do about the same thing, only I'll press it between cookie sheets, or even big, heavy books. Make sure you're using parchment paper on both sides...no need to ruin books or waste dough! I will cut enough sheets of parchment to press each crust I'm making. At this point, you can freeze them raw, or cook them in the parchment.
2. Mix all the dry stuff pretty thoroughly with a spoon or pastry cutter.
3. Dump in your wet stuff. (Aw, Pizza! I love you too!)
4. Cut the liquids in using a hand blender or wooden spoon. You don't want it to be entirely blended, so I wouldn't recommend an electric mixer.
Cool. You just made pizza dough. But now you have to make it look like a crust. Generally, I use a contraption I made from some pretty heavy wood. It's effectively a huge tortilla press (12x12, pictured below). I put about a 1/3 of the dough into the center of some parchment paper, put another square of parchment on top and then press it. Super easy. But if I don't have the contraption with me (it's a bit large for my purse) I do about the same thing, only I'll press it between cookie sheets, or even big, heavy books. Make sure you're using parchment paper on both sides...no need to ruin books or waste dough! I will cut enough sheets of parchment to press each crust I'm making. At this point, you can freeze them raw, or cook them in the parchment.
Now, to cook the pizza dough, you have options.
1. Grilling!
This one's my favorite. Fire up your grill and when it's hot, place the dough (in the parchment! not frozen!) on the grill. Let it rise and cooke for 2-3 minutes, then flip it, using two large spatulas, tongs, or a pizza peel. Be very careful when flipping because the parchment may come off. You will eventually pull it off and leave the bread on the grill to get a bit of flavor. If it doesn't come off when flipping, that's fine. Don't force it or you might pull the center of the pizza crust out, and then you'll have to make bread-crumb chicken for dinner instead. On a grill, there's not really a time, it's about feel. You'll know it's done when both parchment pieces have come off, and the center doesn't loot 'wet.' Pull the crust off the heat and allow it to come to room temperature before you try to top it. There's gelatin in it and you need to let it solidify by cooling.
2. Baking
Preaheat your oven to 450F. Put the dough (still in parchment) on cookie sheets, and cut off any excess parchment (like corners). Bake room temp crusts for 5-10 minutes. Check the centers. Bake Frozen crusts a little longer, say 10-12 minutes and check the centers.
Allow them to cool to room temperature and harden a bit before topping.
At this point, you could freeze the crusts for future use. I think that's the best way to do it. Make a double or triple batch (in the oven is the least time-intensive) and then freeze them.
Part 2 will be published shortly!