Low Carb Gluten-Free Margherita Pizza
What is better than a low-carb and gluten-free Margherita pizza? This particular gluten-free pizza is made with an easy-to-make quinoa flour-based crust. If you haven’t tried using quinoa flour before, you will love its bread-like texture. Quinoa flour, water, a little bit of honey (just enough to feed the yeast), yeast, almond flour, flaxseed meal, and olive oil combine to make a batter. The batter is left to rise for half an hour to help the yeast flavor to develop. The crust will have a nice yeasty smell as it is baking, similar to a wheat crust without all the inflammatory gluten proteins! The final pizza is topped with a light coating of tomato sauce, parmesan, and mozzarella cheeses. Once the pizza has cooled slightly, a few basil leaves are added on top for color and flavor.
How to Make It
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Heat water to 100-115F. Make sure to check the temperature of the water with a thermometer.
Step 2
Combine water heated with the yeast and the honey. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes to allow the mixture to foam. The mixture should puff up.
Step 3
Toast the quinoa flour in a dry pan until fragrant about 1-2 minutes stirring constantly. Allow the flour to cool. You want the flour cool enough that it will not kill the yeast once combined.
Step 4
In the meantime, combine the quinoa flour, almond flour, flaxseed meal, and olive oil. You can use a wooden spoon for this step. The mixture should look homogenous.
Step 5
Once the yeast mixture is foamy, add it to the dry ingredients and mix well. The mixture will be thin like a batter. It will not look like a traditional “pizza dough”.
Step 6
Allow the mixture to sit for 30 minutes covered with plastic wrap. The mixture will rise considerably. It will also have a nice yeasty smell.
Step 7
Once the time has elapsed, line an 11” round piece of stoneware with parchment paper, ensuring the excess goes up the sides. If you do not have a round piece of stoneware, you can shape the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet as well.
Step 8
Divide the batter in half. Spread it to the edges using an offset spatula. Make sure the batter is spread evenly.
Step 9
Bake the crust for 25 mins. At this point, the crust should easily remove from the parchment paper. Carefully remove the crust with the parchment paper attached and peel the parchment off. Flip the crust upside down.
Step 10
Spread the crust with half of the tomato sauce evenly over the crust, leaving 1 ½” or so on the edges. The tomato sauce should add a very thin layer. It does not need to be saucy.
Step 11
Sprinkle the top with half of both kinds of cheese. Turn the oven on broil and cook the pizza until the toppings have just melted. Keep a close eye on the pizza to prevent burning. The whole process should take 30 seconds to one minute.
Step 12
Remove the pizza from the oven and top it with half of the fresh basil leaves. Repeat with the remaining batter to make another pizza. Cut and slice each pizza into 8 slices.
Ingredients
- Quinoa flour
1 cup
- Water
1.5 cup
- Honey
2 tsp
- Yeast
4 tsp
- Almond flour
1 cup
- Flaxseeds Or Flax Seeds Whole Or Ground
3 tbsp, ground
- Extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp
- Tomato sauce
4 tbsp
- Parmesan cheese
0.5 cup, shredded
- Mozzarella cheese, whole milk
0.5 cup, shredded
- Basil
0.5 cup, whole pieces