Food trends seem to come and go without me jumping on the bandwagon.  Did you see a ton of kale chip recipes here a few years back? Nope.  Ancient grain concoctions? Endless ways to eat an avocado? Cauliflower pizza?  Okay that one I couldn’t resist.  I really wanted to believe all those raving reviews.  While it did taste like pizza should, it didn’t feel like it at all, you couldn’t pick it up fold over and consume while standing up over the sink – you know?  It was the kind of situation that required a fork and knife. 

I follow quite a few gluten free blogs and Instagram accounts, lately I’ve noticed a buzz about Otto’s Cassava Flour for Pizza.  Raving reviews, basically calling it the Holy Grail of pizza crusts.  I had to be sure, had to give it a try.

Well, much to my surprise —  it tastes great!  While it was a bit tricky to roll out, because you know most gluten free doughs stick to everything, even parchment paper, but it was so worth it. Not only did it taste just like a regular pizza — it also has a firm crispy crust, that you can pick up!

We made two versions of this pizza.  The first we cooked in a 550 degree oven with the oven rack set on the lowest rail – to get a nice crisp bottom.  The other we cooked 3/4 of the way then popped it onto the BBQ that was scorching hot for a few minutes — which yielded a perfectly crisped crust with a nice hint of smokiness.

Either way, we nailed it.

Ingredients

Yeast mix:

  • 1/2 cup warm water (approx 105-110F)
  • 1 packet active dry yeast, OR 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 cup Otto's cassava flour
  • 1 tbsp coconut flour
  • 5 tbsp arrowroot flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
  • dried herbs (optional)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

 

Instructions

In a small bowl, add warm water and honey. Mix to dissolve. Sprinkle yeast in. Mix to dissolve. Set aside for 5-10 minutes to activate. It will get foamy on top, if it doesn't yeast may be bad.

Mix dry ingredients in large mixing bowl to combine.

Lightly whisk eggs and olive oil together in a small bowl.

Add egg mixture and activated yeast to the dry ingredients.

Mix until dough forms a ball.

Transfer ball to an oiled bowl, cover with dish towel and set aside in a warm place (70-80F is ideal) to rise for 1 hour. It will not double in size, but it will rise a little.

Once dough has risen, preheat oven to 550F. Preheat pizza stone, baking sheet or metal pan to bake pizza on.

Place the dough on parchment paper and shape dough with your hands by pushing down to form a circle. I alternated using my hands to form and also a rolling pin dusted with more cassava flour.

(We like thin pizza so we rolled it out to about 1/8″ thick)

Place your toppings on the dough. Lift the whole piece of parchment paper with pizza on top and transfer to the preheated baking sheet.

Bake in the oven for 8-12 minutes, or until dough is firm and slightly golden, pulling out halfway and removing parchment paper. For a crispier golden crust, allow a few more minutes.

If finishing on the BBQ remove from oven after approx. 7 mins of baking time, slide onto BBQ while removing the parchment paper. Cook another 2-3 mins until crispy.

 

Find more of Pamela's gluten free recipes at PamelasGlutenFreeRecipes.com.