If you are on a gluten-free diet, you probably just assume that you will never get to indulge in the delicious taste of pizza ever again. Not to worry! You are not alone in your gluten-free diet, and you are not alone in your love of pizza.
At the end of this article is a recipe for pizza crust using coconut flour, so that you can enjoy pizza once again. But before that, here are some interesting facts about this delectable food item—a staple at parties, Friday nights at home in front of the TV, and staff lunches?
- Pizza scholars have traced the term "pizza" all the way back to 997 AD, where the word was found in a Latin text in Southern Italy. In this text, it is said that the bishop is owed 12 pizzas on Christmas Day, and another 12 on Easter Sunday.
- By the late 18th century, pizza came to look and taste much like it does today. The poor areas of Naples became known for great pizza, and soon that's where everyone headed when they wanted to give pizza a try.
- Luckily for Americans, when Italians immigrated in the late 19th century, they brought pizza with them. Pizza was mostly popular with Italian-Americans, who bought pizza from street vendors. Soon, restaurants selling pizza started opening.
- Although there were places to get pizza in the United States, it didn't really become popular with Americans until they got a taste of the pie during World War II. Soldiers in Italy bought pizza, found out how delicious it was, and couldn't wait to tell the folks back home.
- Today, the pizza business is booming. Americans eat 350 slices of pizza per second, which is easy to do as there are so many places to buy it. You don't even have to leave your house, because nowadays the pizza will come to you.
- Whatever topping you can think of, it has probably been on a pizza. Pepperoni is the most frequently asked for topping in America, but other countries have their own favorites, such as paneer cheese, minced mutton, and pickled ginger (India); mayonnaise, potato, bacon, eel, and squid (Japan); and red herring (Russia).
Now that your appetite is whetted for pizza (although probably not for pizza with eel on it), let's talk about gluten-free pizza crust made with coconut flour. At first glance, the idea of making pizza crust with coconut flour may seem strange.
But why should it?
Coconut flour may have a naturally sweet taste, but it has many health benefits. It has a lot of fiber, protein, and iron, and it is good for your immune and nervous systems, your thyroid, your bones, and even your skin.
Another reason to give coconut flour pizza crust a try: some people can't have pizza at all if the crust is made with a flour that contains gluten. (Who wants to live a life without pizza?)
Besides, if you make it with the right ingredients, you won't even notice the sweet taste of the coconut flour.
Here's a simple recipe for coconut flour pizza crust (it also makes a great sandwich bread):
You'll need…
3 eggs
1 cup coconut milk
½ cup coconut flour
2 tsp. onion powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. oregano (optional)
1 clove minced garlic
Your choice of toppings
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line a pizza pan with parchment paper, then grease with olive oil.
In a medium bowl, beat the eggs. Add in the milk and mix well.
Add in the remaining ingredients and mix all the ingredients together, then spread the dough onto the pan.
The crust will be very thin in consistency - not to the point of pancake batter, but still thin. It will be spreadable, but not runny.
Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until brown. Remove it from the oven and immediately 'flip' it over. (If you have a large baking rack, like this one, this step will be easy.)
Let it cool for a few minutes.
Add toppings and pop it bake into the oven and continue to bake until the cheese bubbles.
Pizza has come a long way—from Italy it traveled around the world, where through the years pizza lovers everywhere got the chance to make it their own. Now you can make it your own, too—even if you are on a gluten-free diet.
Mark
Just tried this. the recipe is a bit off, use a full cup of flower, do not expect great things.
Chrissy Lane
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your feedback - I will experiment with more pizza crust recipes - this one has always turned out well for me, but I do let the batter sit for a bit before baking - that helps the coconut flour absorb the liquids.
I'll try to come up with one that you like better.
But as always, thank you for sharing!
Howard
My wife and I have been recently trying coconut flour for pizza crust, even as an additive to grated and de-watered zuchini. I agree with Mark (Feb 21, 2014) that1/2 cup of coconut flour just doesn't seem enough, given our experience. So, "if" your recipe is accurate at 1/2 cup, what else do you add? Also, how thick does your crust come out in the end after baking?
Chrissy Lane
Hi Howard,
Thank for your comments!
The only thing different I occasionally do with this recipe is add a couple tablespoons of flax seed. That may also help with the consistency.
Also, letting the batter sit for a few minutes will allow it to absorb the coconut flour completely, making it a bit thicker.
The crust is not very thick.
I'm working on something for a thicker crust, but really, this one is quite thin.
Does that answer your questions?
Chris
Works well first time I have had something I cooked with coco flour stay together thanx for the recipe 🙂
Melanie Fox
Hello! I made this tonight and we enjoyed it. It had a biscuit type texture and is great for a quick bread to have pizza on. The only thing is trying to figure out how to reduce the fat because of the eggs. I do have egg replacer on hand, so that may help, I will have to check the nutritional info on those. Thank you for the recipe. Letting the dough stand for a bit helped it a lot.
Carol
Hello! I'm new here! I been searching for a good pizza recipe for a while. I just found this recipe at coconutflourrecipes.org I have not tried it yet but will soon. If anyone has tried this recipe please tell your experience with it! & if anyone knows what can be used in place of the yogurt in this recipe please post that as well! Thank you to all who will reply! PS... I hope it was ok to pst a recipe from another website on here? I am new to this site!
This person wrote the following....
I have been wanting to make a coconut flour pizza and I am glad that I finally got to do it last weekend. The thing is, I actually tried 4 different coconut flour recipes that I found online. And while doing this, I wasted so many ingredients (especially eggs) because two of the recipes I tried are just totally crap. I think they are fake, someone just put together random ingredients and then posted a nice looking pizza photo along with it. The other recipes that I found used ingredients that I am not familiar with so I did not even consider making them.
And then finally, I found the perfect one. It is from this blog, the healthy home economist. However, I converted the recipe in half and this yield about a 5″ pizza round.
Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 tbsp coconut flour
2 tbsp plain yogurt
1/2 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp onion power
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
4 tbsp parmesan
salt to taste
pizza sauce
toppings of your choice
Procedure:
Mix the eggs, coconut flour and yogurt until there are no more lumps. Add the spices and the cheese. The batter will be a little thin but don’t worry it will come together in the end. Pour the batter on top of parchment paper until it is about 5 inches round. Make sure you don’t make it too thin on the ends, otherwise, they would just burn. Try to make the batter as evenly distributed as possible.
Bake at 375 C for 15 minutes. Then, pour pizza sauce and cheese over it and add your favorite toppings. In my case, I added all veggies- mushroom, zucchini, spinach and tomato. Put it back in the oven and broil it for 3 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.
Best eaten when warm, as soon as it gets out of the oven.
Carol
Meant will try it soon!
Lorree
Do you think this could be made ahead and refrigerated for a day or so? Think I could warm it up with toppings on the grill?
Alexandra
I am VERY excited to try this. Would almond milk work, or must it be coconut milk?
THANKS!
jo
Quick, easy and worked well. Did 1/3 portion, used milk. Pizza fix without flour - brilliant!
Amy
I love, love, love this. Of course it doesn't taste like pizza, but I actually enjoyed it way more. I live on a remote island and only brought one small bag of coconut flour back with me on my last overseas trip so I'm rationing it to make this. Mmmmm..... And this is way easier than most of the complicated recipes out there. (We left out pretty much everything bar the eggs, flour, milk, baking soda and a bit of seasoning and it was still fab).
Samantha
Are you using actual coconut milk or coconut milk beverage? They give two very different flavors and outcomes.
C.J. Brady
Hi Samantha,
Good question - actual coconut milk!