Gluten-Free Grain-Free Pizza Crust

You can’t celebrate Italian food without thinking first of pizza!  Although romans probably ate something more akin to a sheet of focaccia bread with 1-2 toppings on it.   But that idea certainly expanded over time to make pizza one of the most beloved Italian foods of all time!  And after many attempts at creating a good crust back when I started low-carbing in 2009, I had many fails in the beginning.  Finally a couple years later, I developed a crust using CarbQuik bake mix I liked OK, but it still wasn’t pizza nirvana for me or my husband.   

Then I developed my Gluten-Free Pizza crust and it took off in popularity.  That was my staple for quite awhile.  It was sturdy enough to support toppings and still would allow you to eat it with your hands.  Best of all, it had NO WHEAT or GRAIN in it!  That got the attention of lots of people who need gluten-free in their life.  I’m not personally gluten-sensitive, so I do eat foods with a very small amount of wheat in them (and use Einkorn flour when I do).  This recipe is VERY close to my older Carbquik pizza crust recipe, but this one has an even better texture and structure!    I’m most pleased with this crust and think you’ll like it!  This dough/batter is amazingly versatile for other applications as well, so be creative with this one!  This recipe is suitable once you reach Phase 2 OWL of Atkins.   It would be suitable for Primal folks that eat occasional dairy, but pizza is clearly not suitable for any Paleo followers.

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. almond flour

¼ c. golden flax meal

¼ c. plain whey protein powder

1 tsp. baking powder

3 T. cream cheese, softened

2 large eggs, beaten

1 c. grated Monterrey Jack cheese

½ c. grated Mozzarella cheese

1 tsp. cider vinegar

1 T. heavy cream

1 T. water

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Soften cream cheese in medium mixing bowl in microwave.  Beat in the eggs, cream, water, vinegar and both cheeses.  Measure and add in all the dry ingredients and stir well with a rubber spatula. Line a sheet pan or pizza pan with parchment paper.  I use a pizza pan that has air circulation holes in it. Scrape the batter onto the prepared pan, spreading it as evenly as possible with the silicone spatula into a circle that is roughly 13″ in diameter. Batter will be about ¼” thick.  Pop crust into a 350º oven and bake for about 15-17 minutes and remove.  Slide the parchment paper out from under the crust so air will begin to flow up under the bottom and it will brown nicer.  I DO NOT recommend using a silicone sheet for pizza other than reheating leftovers on.  Your crust simply won’t brown properly on silicone.  Add sauce, cheeses and toppings of your choice.  Pop back into oven and bake an additional 20 minutes or so.

Before toppings are added

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Cutting into 8 slices, each contains: (crust only)

168 calories, 12.95 g fat, 3.29 g carbs, 1.73 g fiber, 1.73 g NET CARBS, 11.3 g protein, 214 mg sodium