If you subscribe to the theory that bread and cheese are the hardest things on our digestive systems because of the gluten, lactose, and casein, then pizza is absolute worst invention E.V.E.R…except that it’s so much fun to eat!
In my book, there is no acceptable cheese substitute, so we just take a digestive enzyme to break down the lactose and move on. However, after a lot of experimenting and Pinterest-ing, we did find a crust substitute that’s worth making.
Don’t even start about that cauliflower crust thing :/ I love me some roasted cauliflower and even caul-rice, but it was not meant to be crust!
My go-to crust uses this recipe as inspiration.
Ingredients
1 cup tapioca or arrowroot starch/powder/flour (it may be called different things depending on the brand, but it’s all the same)
1 cup cassava flour
1/2 coconut flour
1 tsp Real Salt or some other unrefined salt
1 can full fat coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut oil (use refined if you don’t like the taste/smell of coconut oil)
2 eggs (you can sub this for a gelatin egg if necessary)
1 tsp each of onion and garlic powder
Directions:
- Mix dry ingredients first. Then add wet ingredients. Combine thoroughly.
- Divide dough into 2 balls. This freezes well as dough or after baking so you can mix once and bake twice!
- Roll out a ball of dough between two pieces of parchment paper. No thicker than 1/4″.
- Transfer the dough/parchment sandwich to a baking sheet (I prefer stones) and remove the top layer of parchment.
- Bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit until desired doneness.
For Pizza:
I like crispy crust, so I pre-bake the dough a little longer for pizza so it’s already on the crispy side. Top the crust with your desired toppings. We used pesto in lieu of sauce for this one. If you prefer tomato sauce try a heavily salted tomato paste with fresh herbs instead of canned sauces. The lack of moisture in tomato paste keeps the crust crispier. We’ve also done cheese-less versions which are just as tasty in my opinion but would never pass muster for the cheese-lovers in our family.
For crazy bread:
Bread sticks should be soft and chewy in my humble opinion, so we pre-bake the dough for this iteration a little less. Top the bread with grass-fed salted butter, fresh minced garlic, and grated Parmesan cheese. Return to the oven until everything is melty and bubbly. Cut into strips with a pizza cutter and enjoy.
