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