Personal Paleo Thin Crust

Personal Paleo Thin Crust

I've been gluten free for about three years now so the diet is pretty much second nature to me now.  But this year I was thrown a curve ball when my oldest son began following the wheat belly diet and decided to cut out all grains.  Thankfully he’s out on his own so his meals are typically his responsibility.  I say “typically” because he does come for dinner pretty frequently so I've been wracking my brains trying to figure out what to cook for him.  He no longer eats rice, corn, buckwheat or any other of the many grains that are OK on a gluten free diet.  That leaves me with almond flour, flax meal, quinoa and possibly tapioca starch.  I’m still looking into the latter.  Actually, I still have quite a bit of research to do on the matter as time allows.  But for now I've devised this thin crispy paleo crust to get me through if he stops by for a quick lunch.  The recipe so so easy it can be on the table in minutes.  It has a crisp almost cracker-like, flat-bread texture with a nutty delicious flavor.  And the nutritional values of this crust just blow away the crusts I usually make with rice flour and potato starch.  All in all I’m pretty happy with this new avenue of exploration.  Who knows what I’ll discover on this little quest.     

Personal Paleo Thin Crust

Prep time: 5 min

Cook time: 9-10 min

Ingredients

• ½ cup almond meal
• 1 tbsp flax meal
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp water

Topping Ingredients

• red bell peppers, thinly sliced
• onions, thinly sliced
• mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 3 tbsp pizza sauce
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 oz provolone,thinly silced (not paleo) 
• 1 oz salami, thinly sliced

Video Tutorial

Instructions

1. Preheat a pizza stone in a 400°F (or 205 °C) oven.
2. To make the crust dough in a medium bowl mix together the almond meal, flax meal and salt.
3. In a small bowl whisk together the egg and water until it’s fairly combined then add this to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.   You should have something with a loose play dough consistency once the flax meal has absorbed the liquid.
4. Add a drizzle of olive oil to a small sheet of parchment paper and rub it around.
5. Place the dough onto the oiled parchment and flatten to the desired shape and thickness.  I shaped mine into an oblong measuring  6x9 inches.  You can do this with oiled hands or place a sheet of plastic wrap on top then use a rolling pin with light pressure.
6. Remove the plastic, slide the parchment onto the pizza stone and bake it for 9-10 minutes. 
7. To top the pizza stir together the first 5 ingredients on the list and spread it over the pizza.   Scatter over the provolone and salami then return it to the oven under the broiler for 2-4 minutes and serve.

Notes: 

• The recipe amounts make a personal sized pizza.  To make a larger or thicker pizza, double triple or quadruple the recipe as necessary but be sure to tack some additional bake time to the instructions above.