My co-worker, who is on the Paleo diet (and shrinking by the minute), recently passed along a great recipe for gluten-free pizza crust made with almond meal instead of flour.  I believe the recipe came from Everyday Paleo.  I am not on the Paleo diet, so I had no remorse when I smothered my version with cheese.  However, I am trying to reduce the amount of gluten we are eating as a family, so this is a perfect addition to our dinner rotation and a great alternative to pizza delivery.

Gluten-Free Sausage & Veggie Pizza:

Adapted from Everyday Paleo

Pizza Crust

(one pizza, serves 4)

2 cups almond meal

1 ½ tbsp. minced rosemary

1 tsp. garlic powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350°.  In a medium bowl, combine the almond meal, rosemary, garlic powder, baking soda, salt & pepper.

Add the olive oil and eggs, and mix until well combined.  Form a ball, using a small amount of additional almond meal to keep it from sticking.  Roll out the dough to approximately 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.

Place the pizza dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and dust with additional corn meal.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Form a Ball

Roll out the Dough on Parchment Paper

Pizza Toppings

(one pizza, serves 4)

3/4 cup. pizza sauce (canned or homemade)

3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup shredded romano cheese

1/4 yellow pepper, thinly sliced

1/4 green bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/4 yellow onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup black olives, sliced

1/4 lb. mild italian chicken sausage

1/4 lb. spicy italian pork sausage

 

While the pizza crust is baking, prepare your toppings.  Combine the chicken and pork sausage thoroughly together (you can buy high quality italian seasoned pork sausage and chicken sausage at stores like Whole Foods or Central Market.  Or add italian seasoning and spices to plain sausage).  Brown the meat in a pan and set aside.  Toss the peppers and onions in the same pan with a sprinkle of salt and saute them for several minutes to soften them up.  Set those aside.

When the pizza crust is finished, evenly spread the pizza sauce on top, and layer the cheese, peppers, onions, olives and meat.  Finish it off with one more sprinkle of cheese and place in a 350° oven for 25 minutes.

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The cheese should be melted and bubbly when removed from the oven.  Slice it up and make sure to share!

Considering the crust is literally made from finely ground almonds, we were pleasantly surprised by the taste.  The texture was kind of like a biscuit, which was actually quite pleasant and as good as it gets for gluten-free!  Next time, I will play around with using different herbs in the crust.  Maybe oregano instead of rosemary…