Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Gluten Free Pizza Base

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I'm so excited - I've finally come up with a great gluten free pizza base! I've tried lots of different recipes, but this one has been the best so far. It's lovely and crispy, but not too hard, and definitely not crumbly (like so many gluten free recipes are).  It's delicious as Pizza Bianca - topped just with olive oil, fresh rosemary and garlic, and sea salt.  Or bake it plain, and top with a dairy free avocado topping and chopped, raw veges.  Or you can spread a homemade pizza sauce onto it (I use the back of a spoon) then bake and top with a salmon salad and dressing. Another one I love is the Lamb Mince & Salad Pizza. Or just make your usual version of pizzas.



This recipe makes three or four large pizzas, depending on how thick you like them.  Don't expect it to be the same texture as usual pizza dough - it's more of a batter, and you spread it onto the baking paper lined trays with a spatula.  Make sure you cook it until it's nicely browned and crispy on the edges.  Enjoy!



Preheat oven to 220 degrees C.

1.  Mix chia seeds with water in a cup, and leave to soak for a few minutes:
- 2 Tblspns chia seeds
- 2 Tblspns warm water

2.  Grind in Thermomix on speed 9 for 1 minute, or until finely ground:
     (Tip: I put a piece of kitchen paper towel under the MC to stop the grains from spitting out onto the lid)
- 120g basmati rice, raw
- 120g brown rice, raw


3.  Add and grind for another minute, or until finely ground:
- 80g millet, raw
- 40g dry chickpeas or buckwheat

4.  Add and mix on speed 6 for 10 seconds:
- 140g arrowroot flour (or tapioca starch, or potato starch)
- 40g mixed seeds (linseeds, pepitas, sunflower seeds)
- 2 tsp dry yeast (or 1 sachet)
- 2 tsp sea salt

5.  Add wet ingredients and mix on speed 5-6 for 15 seconds, using spatula to help it along if needed:
- 380g warm water
- 1 Tbspn apple cider vinegar
- 60g extra virgin olive oil
- soaked chia seeds; water

6.  Divide mixture between the pizza trays (lined with baking paper) and spread into a circle with a spatula.

7.  Drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil, especially around the edges so that they crisp up nicely.  Add herbs or sauces and toppings (see ideas and links above), and bake in hot oven for 25 - 30 minutes, or until browned and crispy.


Pizza Bianca is yummy served with a raw tomato soup!

[Note: This recipe was inspired by Cyndi O'Meara's 
gluten free bread recipe.]

47 comments:

Madame Thermomix said...

This gluten-free pizza base looks just like "the real thing", Jo. Well done! I have made gluten-free bread for a gluten-free Thermomix demo here in England and as you say it is very cake-like and crumbly. Your pizza base seems to hold together very well and I can't wait to try it. You've done a real service to gluten intolerant people everywhere. I will link to your post in my own blog and spread the word!

Jo Whitton said...

Thank you Madame Thermomix!! :D

ThermomixBlogger Helene said...

Hi Jo - I have been meaning to try this before commenting, but have been so busy on the blog lately that I didn't get around to it yet. You've done some super development work here and I CANT WAIT to try it. Especially as one of my best friends is gluten-intolerant and I have yet to make her favourite dish... pizza. Thank you SO MUCH for providing such a useful recipe and I know we'll enjoy the avocado topping too!

Jo Whitton said...

Thanks Helene! :) You HAVE been busy on your blog - very interesting articles! Hope you like this when you try it - let me know what you think. :)

charein said...

Hi Jo. this looks great. I usually freeze half of my GF pizza dough,. is that possible with this recipe?

Jo Whitton said...

Hi Charein, I've never frozen it, so not sure... if you try it, let me know how you go. Otherwise you could just make half the batch?

Charein said...

I just made this and left out the seeds but didnt decrease the water. added some arrowroot flour . but was still really runny. tastes great but a bit thin, any hints? please

Jo @ Quirky Cooking said...

Hi Charein, I think the seeds get ground up a bit while you're mixing and add a bit of bulk and bind it together more, so that's probably why it was a bit thing. Did you put in the soaked linseeds? They are the binder, and if you don't use them, you need to add 2 tsp xanthum gum instead. If you leave the mixed seeds out, just cut down on the water. It should be like a thick cake batter consistency, which you can spread on the trays with a spatula. Hope it works better next time.

Julia said...

Thanks for this recipe. I can't wait to try it. I am in the US, so will hope the conversions I have worked out are accurate !!:-)

Charein said...

thanks jo. will try again. i went back to my own recipe and tweaked it a bit and it worked. :) will use the xantham gum next time.

Anonymous said...

I like to use ground chia seeds as a binder--they work terrific in gf baking!

LizzzzieO said...

I think eggs in gluten free bread make it crumbly and more like cake. I use physillium husks in my mix which 'glugs' it together and makes it more gluteny. I've adapted the bread from the gf cookbook, leaving out the eggs adding the physillium instead with a bit more liquid if needed. I use this for bread which actually holds together in a sandwich and have made pizza with the same mix once.

Jo Whitton said...

Thanks LizzzzieO! Will have to try the psyllium husk in Cyndi's bread sometime! I'm loving the gf artisan bread, which does have eggs - maybe I should try your idea in that one... lots of people ask how you could make it without eggs!
Jo :)

NikiG said...

Jo, I made this last night and it turned out beautifully! It was really tasty and even DH was impressed when he had a taste. I will definitely make this again - I think it would be great for smaller flat breads :-) Thanks for another fabulous recipe!

Jo Whitton said...

That's great Niki, glad you enjoyed it! Yes, it does make good flatbread, as long as you don't want it soft... although I guess if you added a little more water & less oil it would be softer. :)

Emma Mount said...

Hi Jo
Just wanted to say thankyou for a lovely gf pizza dough recipe. i made this the other night for my dh and we both loved the texture and crispness of the pizza base. i am going to experiment with the recipe and spread it really thinly and bake it and see if it would work as a cracker or a substitute for corn chips,etc.
thanks again jo
em

Jo Whitton said...

You're welcome Emma, glad you liked it! Let me know how the crackers go!
:)

Anonymous said...

I love using the blender batter meathod and I am going to attempt this recipe soon. I am just learning how to cook. Do you think that if I were to par bake a couple of these and freeze them that they would hold up for a few weeks in the freezer?

Jo Whitton said...

I think these bases would be fine frozen. I don't know that you could grind the grains in the blender though, unless you have a really powerful blender and you put the liquids in with the grains. I would recommend not using whole dry chickpeas - just add besan flour instead. The chickpeas are very hard and may not grind well in a blender. Also, leave the yeast out and let it sit overnight, then reblend, add yeast, and continue with recipe. Hope it works for you! :)

gemiNy said...

Enjoying this recipe as we speak. Sooooooo good!!! I used chia seeds instead of linseeds as the binder, parbaked before adding toppings then cooked them until extra crispy & they worked out really well. Thanks Jo xxx

Anonymous said...

Hi Jo,
This pizza was great. The centre tasted a liitle like bread (as I remember it!). I didn't have millet, so substituted with extra chick peas and no apple cider vinegar so used champagne vinegar. Great taste, thanks very much.
Elle G

Amanda said...

Well, I don't have a thermomix (hadn't even heard of it, actually), but this recipe looks really good. I will try it using sweet rice and brown rice flour instead of thre rice and chickpea flour and ground millet. I will let you know how it goes! I have almost all the ingredients already.

Jo Whitton said...

I'd love to know how you go, Amanda! :)

Glad you enjoyed it Elle G & gemiNy!!

Cathy said...

We've just found out that our eldest has coeliac, so looking for gluten free recipes. As she also can't have rice, this is an extra challenge. I substituted sorghum for the rice, and proceeded with the recipe. Yummo! Passed with flying colours. The texture and taste was like a good wholemeal healthy crust, not crumbly, nice and crunchy. Thanks Jo!

Jo Whitton said...

That IS a challenge, Cathy - no gluten OR rice! But well done in substituting sorghum for rice - I'll remember that. Thank you!!
Jo :)

Amanda said...

I finally made it. I used tge equivalent weights of gf flours with a few substitutions for what I have on hand, taking into account flour densities. It worked perfectly. The texture is great. Next time I may use less rice flour and sub half corn starch or arrowroot for tapioca if I have it, to improve the taste. I only used 70g tapioca as it was and that or rice is the predominant aftertaste, though the mouth-taste is very neutral. Thanks so muchanks do much.

Amanda said...

That should be thanks so much but my phone glitched on me

Jo Whitton said...

You're welcome Amanda! Last time I made it I used glutinous rice flour instead of the tapioca flour, and drizzled with lots of olive oil, par baked, topped with mince & herbs & spices, and cooked until crispy and golden, then topped with salad - it was amazing!! The outside was crunchy, and the inside was soft - so good!!

Anonymous said...

YES! I made this for tea tonight (the Bianca one)and we all loved it. My son came inside for tea and thought I was making 'garlic bread'. Maybe next time I will add some toppings, I haven't decided just yet, I was just practicing on my family first. We have been using the Orgran pizza base that you make up and before that the frozen gf bases from the supermarkets. No more! We have finally found our
pizza base. This will save us heaps of money. Now I need a dairy free cheese to top it off. Thank you, Thank you :)

Kristy Walker

Jo Whitton said...

That's great, Kristy, so glad you liked it! You're so welcome :) xx

Alison said...

I just want to complement you on this pizza base. It was amazing. I'm also a homeschooling mum and I think we have similar taste in food except i'm a vegetarian. We are about 50% raw and I look forward to trying some more of your recipes. Thanks Alison

Anonymous said...

Hi Jo
First I will say I love your site,
I have a question about making flour from rice and and other grains really. I am questioning the need to wash and dry them first. It make the process much longer and I don't know how necessary it is?
Any advice would be good
Thanks
Gabrielle

Jo Whitton said...

Hi Alison, I'm so glad you like it! I try to be 50% raw, although with the cold weather I'm afraid I've been a bit slack and have been lightly steaming veges mostly... so cold! Great to hear you homeschool too - it's a busy life, but it's worth it :)

Hi Gabrielle, Thank you so much! Re making flour - the easiest way is to grind the grains/rice dry, then add the liquids and a little apple cider vinegar, and let it soak overnight or for a few hours. That does make it easier to digest. The other way of soaking the whole grains then dehydrating, then grinding, is such a long process I just find it too hard to keep up with. But I guess if you get into a routine with it you would manage it. If I'm really hurrying I just go ahead and use dry rice without soaking. It depends on how well your digestive system can handle it, I guess.

Jo :)

ElleG said...

Jo, I have a new pizza oven and cooked the last gf pizzas in the oven. Just wonderful. Placed the batter on baking paper, and topped as per normal (lightly).
They cooked in the same time as my husbands pizzas (made with bread flour), and tasted amazing. New favourite, Jamie Oliver's tomato base, bacon, banana and chilli.
I also love your site!

Amy said...

Hi, I was just wondering if you can make the dough ahead of time or whether the seeds and flour will soak up the water?

Thanks, it looks amazing!

Jo Whitton said...

Thanks ElleG! I'm really happy you liked it :)

Amy, you could make it ahead of time and let it sit for maybe an hour or so - but I would probably tend to par-bake it then cool and freeze if you want to make some ahead. I think that would be easiest. :)

Anonymous said...

I was really exited when I found this recipe. I made it tonight and found I needed a whole heap more rice flour (my mixture was much like porridge). I cooked some in the frying pan and then a big rectangle base in the oven. Served with buffalo mozzarella, vine ripened tomatoes, spinach and a dash of freshly ground pepper and sea salt. The result was delicious! A shaky start but a fine finish.

Amy said...

This recipe is perfect, even my picky husband and kids love it!! It is actually easier than making normal pizzs dough that I will never go back. Thank you, this one is a keeper!!

Anonymous said...

This is fantastic and I am excited to try but I cannot eat millet, and yeast does not seem to agree with me either. Can you recommend an alternative for the millet, at least?
Thanks, Romi

Anonymous said...

I can't have rice. Can u suggest an alternative ingredient?

Jo Whitton said...

This post has some ideas for substituting different grains/flours in gf baking, and which ones are interchangeable: http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com.au/p/wheat-substitutes.html?m=1

I would use sorghum instead of rice (buy online from wheat free world) or teff/amaranth. They will work instead of millet as well.

Instead of yeast, try 4 tsps baking powder.

Anonymous said...

I made this the other night and it was a huge hit!! Mom, dad and hubby all reckon best pizza base ever! Easier to work with than regular pizza bases as well!
Thanks for posting so many amazing recipes! Love your blog and FB page!

Anonymous said...

Would Like to know if this pizza recipe could be made for one person. I've just found out i cant eat anything with gluten in it, and i'm finding it quite difficult to substitute normal foods with gluten free foods. Thankyou.

My Little Mod said...

This was absolutely A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!! I made this as a family dinner tonight as my Miss 6 is a newly diagnosed Coeliac. It was an absolute winner. I've been gluten free along with my daughter and we all thought this was fantastic. Very easy to make in the thermomix. love it!!!

Jo Whitton said...

Thank you! So glad you all liked it :)

Jo Whitton said...

Sure, just halve the recipe. Otherwise, you could partially bake the bases and freeze them for another day - then you've got less work another day. :)

Jo Whitton said...

Oh that's great, I'm really happy you liked it!

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