Saturday, April 2, 2011

Brown Rice and Flaxseed Pizza Crust

I received a great book for Christmas - Easy Gluten-Free by Tricia Thompson and Marlisa Brown. This past weekend, I adapted the Brown Rice and Flaxseed Pizza Crust recipe from the book. Since following the GF diet, I've had a variety of GF pizzas including Udi's GF Pizza Crust, Pizza Fusion's GF Pizza, Chebe Pizza Crust Mix, and Flourless Pizza Crust. However, until now I haven't attempted to make a GF flour-based pizza crust from scratch.

This pizza crust recipe is hearty, healthy, and versatile. The texture is unlike any GF pizza crust I've had before - thick and fluffy, crisp yet soft. This new pizza crust recipe is As Good As Gluten and could easily make a deep dish pizza by cooking in a smaller pan or doubling the recipe. Because the pizza crust is made with hearty ingredients (brown rice and flaxseed), it does taste a little different than a non-GF white flour pizza crust. I think it still tastes delicious and reminds me of a whole wheat pizza crust I used to make in my pre-GF days.

I made a BBQ Chicken Pizza (recipe coming soon). I'll give you a sneak peak at the final outcome because you have to see how thick this pizza crust is! Seriously, does it even look like GF pizza?! I'm SO glad I tried this recipe. I like thin crust pizza (which is a good thing because so far the only GF pizza crusts I've had have been very thin and crispy), but I also like thick crust pizza (which is one food I miss from my pre-GF days).

Ingredients:
·½ cup organic whole grain brown rice flour (I use Bob's Organic Whole Grain Brown Rice Flour)
·½ cup ground flaxseed meal (I use Bob's Ground Flaxseed Meal)
·1 tsp baking powder
·¼ tsp salt
·1½ tsp garlic powder
·1½ tsp onion powder
·1 - 3 tsp of additional seasonings of your choice (see Notes section below)
·¼ cup water
·3 eggs
·3 TBS extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
·½ cup cooked brown rice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425˚. Line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients, from the flour to the onion powder. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients, from the water to the EVOO. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until well combined. Let sit for 2-3 minutes then stir in the brown rice until well combined.

Using a spatula, spread the pizza dough on the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes.

Remove pizza dough from oven and add the pizza toppings of your choice and cook for 15 additional minutes (or until crisp).

Yield: 6-8 slices

Notes: You can add spices to the dry ingredients to flavor the crust. For an Italian pizza, add 1 tsp of basil and 1 tsp of oregano, or 1½ tsp Italian seasoning. For a Mexican pizza, add 1 tsp dried cilantro. For a BBQ chicken pizza, add 1½ tsp chili powder.

I've also shared this recipe on: Create a GF Pizza Challenge, Seasonal Sunday

16 comments:

Linda said...

That pizza looks very good. Would you send me an email please. I'd like to talk to you about something. Linda (at) GlutenFreeHomemaker (dot) com. Thanks!

Lisa, in NZ said...

I love the look of this pizza. I would lvoe to know what your toppings are as well as my kids are quite fussy. (Well, not too much as they eat GF all the time!)
tHANKS

Lisa, in NZ said...

Ah, oops! Found it.

Adrienne @ Whole New Mom said...

Have you tried this without eggs? One of my children has a life-threatening allergy.

Thanks!

Brooksie said...

Trying this out tonight. First time making anything GF.

Anonymous said...

How would I freeze this crust? Before, after or in the middle of cooking it?
Thanks!!
Stephanie
Granum, Alberta

As Good As Gluten said...

Stephanie, While I haven't tried freezing the crust, I would recommend freezing it in the middle (after you pre-cooked it for 15 minutes but before you add the toppings for another 15 minutes of cook time). Then once it's thawed you'd just need to add the toppings and cook for 15 or so more minutes. You may need to adjust that cooking time based on how it froze and thaws.

If you try it, please let me know how it turns out for you.

Anonymous said...

I tried this recipe and wasn't able to find flaxseed meal anywhere (I live in Tokyo). I tried it with oats (got organic/non-cross contaminated) and ground them up myself. In the end I had to add a little more brown rice flour (seems like that's the case with most of the pizza dough's I make) and it came out decent. I would need to try with flaxseed meal to see what it really should taste like in order to compare/contrast. Read online you can also substitute pecan meal as well for flaxseed meal. All in all not bad for a quick dough that doesn't need to rise.

Anonymous said...

I saw a post about a substitute for eggs. I was not sure if there was an answer posted. Can you substitute flax eggs, or will that be too much flax?
Thank you!

As Good As Gluten said...

I haven't tried this recipe with flax eggs, but do not think it would be too much flax. If you try it, please let me know how it works

Stacey said...

Can I leave out the Cooked brown rice?

As Good As Gluten said...

Stacey - No, you cannot leave out the cooked brown rice as it is the main ingredient in the crust.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was great. Had no rice but used oats and 3 egg whites instead of whole eggs. Nice flavor.

Ted N. said...

I just made this tonight and the taste was great! The toppings I used for this "Pilot" recipe was that of a simple cheese pizza. After the crust was cooked for 15 min., I added tomato sauce mixed with about 4 cloves of fresh minced garlic & sprinkles of oregano and basil. I also us4d 1 1/2 pounds of pizza cheese in a standard cake sized pan (w/parchment paper).

The crust was a bit moist, so I'll cut the EVOO by a TBSP next time and also increase rice cooking time so my brown rice comes out less moist as well. Perhaps increase crust cooking time from 15 min to 18-20.

So far, this has been the best gluten-free pizza crust recipe I've tried. Thanks! I love my pizza!!

As Good As Gluten said...

Ted,
Thank you so much for the mind feedback. I am so glad you had a good experience with this recipe, and you've found a GF pizza crust recipe you love.
Lauren

Unknown said...

I added cooked quinoa instead of the cooked brown rice and it turned out great! Used sauteed zucchini noodles, garlic, and red onion for my toppings...