Saturday, October 20, 2012

Zucchini in the Pizza Crust

My blog has several versions of pizza crust, some with oats (a gluten) and some without. Initially, I could eat oats but not other glutens, but one day after I ate it my ears had "airplane pressure" for days afterwards. Well, I quickly linked that to the oats after eating oatmeal a couple more times in the a.m. Now I'm completely gluten-free.
 
This pizza crust is gluten-free and made principally from quinoa, millet and zucchini. Over the past several months I've been experimenting with vegetables mixed with flours to soften the flour and aid with digestion and also to displace some of that heavy flour as my digestive (because of the candida) is so stressed. I've found that vegetables like liquified zucchini or riced cauliflower make excellent crusts for vegie pies and casserole crusts. I'm still in the early stages of experimenting with alternative gluten-free crusts, but here are three others I've made:

Pizza/Pie Crust (for rolling - has oats, a gluten)
Pizza Crust with Zucchini (for rolling - has oats, a gluten)
Quinoa-Millet Pizza Crust (quinoa, millet, flax, cauliflower, cabbage)

The pizza crust is a variation of the Pizza Crust with Zucchini but this one is gluten-free. Quinoa, millet, and some flaxseeds were ground to a flour in the BlendTec. It's an all-time favorite in our house and is sure a lot cheaper than the gluten-free crusts which have the "bonus" of guar gum, tapioca starch, potato starch, and the list goes on, of things that people with candida shouldn't even consider putting in their mouths.
Pizza Crust (for rolling)

1+ cup quinoa
1+ cup millet
3-4 tablespoon flaxseeds
2+ cups zucchini whizzed to a liquid
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons rosemary
2 teaspoons thyme
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
water if needed
Blend the quinoa, millet and flaxseeds to a flour in the BlendTec and pour the dry mixture into a large mixing bowl. In the food processor, whizz a zucchini to a liquid and add it to the flours. Then add in the remaining ingredients to complete the pizza dough. The mixture should roll out easily if wax paper is used, or I find that I can easily press it out with my hands. Using the hands is, in fact, faster and the "dough" is very pliable and not that sticky. If it is, I just oil my hands a bit with olive oil or add a little more flour to the "dough" before trying to press it out again.
 
For toppings, first spread on a layer of pesto and closely together lay zucchini slices on top. Add a thick layer of spinach, large tomato slices, onion slices, and others like olives or peppers if so desired. Liberally shake on basil, parsley and thyme with more sea salt. Drizzle olive oil over the top and bake for 40+ minutes at 350F.
 


Served with a smile and a green smoothie - To our health!
 

2 comments:

  1. Your crusts were yummy! Seems like I tried one with cauliflower and zucchini together? - Kim

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  2. Thanks! I've made socca with leftover cauliflower and broccoli salad but I don't think I've tried cauliflower and broccoli in a pie crust. I've made a lot of cauliflower and white cabbage crusts and they are simply wonderful in flavor and texture. Even made breadsticks out of that combination and my bro was totally impressed!

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