Gluten Free Garlic Pizza with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Provolone

I had an earlier recipe for Gluten Free Pizza which was good, but last night I tried something different and it was goo-o-o-o-d!

I pre-heated my baking stone in a 400 degree oven. (Mine is well-seasoned, but if your isn't, be sure to grease the stone. If you don't have a stone, you can use an seasoned iron skillet, and of course, you can always just use a well-greased baking pan.)


In a bowl, mix:
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons garbanzo bean flour
1/8 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/8 teaspoon salt (I used Garlic sea salt.)
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Stir in: 
1/2 cup cold water
1 teaspoon olive oil (I used flavored olive oil from Tastefully Simple)

After you mix well, the batter will be about like pancake batter. With my pizza stone nice and hot, I poured the batter on and spread it out very thin.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. Watch it to make sure the top isn't getting too brown. I took it out of the oven and used a spatula to lift it up and flipped it over. This way the crust gets all nice and brown on both sides.

I topped it in this order: 

Flavored olive oil, spread thinly across top
Provolone cheese slices (I let cheese overlap crust so I got a really crispy cheese crust around the edges.)
Sun-dried tomatoes
Parmesan cheese
Pizza Seasoning sprinkled lightly

Put it back in the over for about 10 minutes until the cheese is melted. I liked this version the best because the crust stayed so crisp. I think it would be even better with fresh roasted garlic. Next time!

If you try this and have suggestions, leave them in the comments. Thanks. - D.


Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Garbanzo Bean Flour Pizza Crust

Since I've gone wheat free, I've really missed pizza. I tried one recipe I had that used coconut flour and it was awful - like eating pizza off of a cookie. Yuck.

Last night I surfed around the 'net trying to find an alternative. I stumbled upon a blog with a recipe for "Socca Pizza for One" using garbanzo bean flour. It's different than a regular flour pizza crust, but it satisfied my longing for pizza.

Now, I'm still playing around with this, but here's what I did today:

I have a baking stone, so I put that in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Mine is well-seasoned, but if your isn't, be sure to grease the stone. If you don't have a stone, you can use an seasoned iron skillet, and of course, you can always just use a well-greased baking pan.


In a bowl, mix:
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons garbanzo bean flour
1/8 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/8 teaspoon salt (I used Garlic sea salt.)
2 tablespoons Parmesan 

Stir in: 

1/2 cup cold water
Drizzle of olive oil (I had some flavored olive oil from Tastefully Simple that's delicious.)

After you mix well, the batter will be about like pancake batter. Today I was eager to get my pizza crust made, but next time, I will let this set for a bit in the fridge.

With my pizza stone nice and hot, I poured the batter on and spread it out. Today I left it a bit thicker, like a normal pizza crust. Next time, I intend to spread it out a bit thinner. I like a crispier crust.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. Watch it to make sure the top isn't getting too brown. I took it out of the oven and used a spatula to lift it up all around to make sure it wasn't sticking, then topped it with organic pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, green olives (my spurge!), and imported Parmesan. Then I sprinkled the entire top with pizza seasonings. Play around with it. Add meat (I don't eat very much of that.) and veggies. Put it back in the over for about 10 minutes until the cheese is melted. 

Yum!

*Updated recipe 3/09/12: Last night when I made the pizza, I added 2 tbsp. of Parmesan to the crust mix. I let the mix sit for a few minutes and spread it very thin on my bigger pizza stone. What a difference! Totally changed the crust and it crisped up better, too.

The Weekend

So, how did your weekend go? We showed Fireproof, the movie with Kirk Cameron, at our church Saturday afternoon. I couldn't get to sleep that night and woke up early the next morning unable to get back to sleep. I'm not a therapist, but that movie touched me psychologically, I believe. All day Sunday, I felt like I'd been hit by a Mack truck. I taught Sunday School, played for church, left church, went to eat, straight to a baby shower, home for a 45-minute nap, and back to church to play and run the sound.

Keeping in mind my goal to gain health, I ate a WeightWatchers meal before the movie Saturday night so I wouldn't pig out on the pizza we served afterwards. Late that evening my husband and split a turkey sandwich on whole grain bread, which kept me to my promise of portion control.

Last night after church my husband and I ate pizza I'd picked up at Sam's Club made by Kashi. It was good! Vegetarian on a whole grain, super-thin, almost like a cracker crust. I think I could be a spokesperson for Kashi. I love all of their products.

Considering how busy our weekend was, I did plan ahead and ate with awareness. Until now, I suppose I would have scarfed down a bunch of pizza after the movie and eaten like crazy after church last night using the excuse, "Well, I've had a long day. I deserve it. And besides, I'll start on Monday."

Tell me - does it ever really work to start something new on Monday?

Oh, and I'm praising God because I just got word from a friend that his entire family of wife and four kids were in a horrendous car accident over the weekend where they had to be extricated with the 'jaws of life' yet every person came out of that accident with no serious injuries.

How'd your weekend go?