Focaccia Style Pizza

In case you haven’t noticed, quite a few of my recipes lately have included Gluten Free Bisquick.  Over the years I’ve often turned to this classic baking mix to whip up a quick coffee cake or a fluffy stack of pancakes.  Last year when Bisquick announced a gluten free variety I was pretty excited.  Although I must admit, I was not too thrilled about paying $6.50 for a one pound box of the gluten free variety but at least I would have my old buddy back on the pantry shelves.  As you can imagine, when it went on sale at my local store, I stocked up on several boxes.  That brings us to the gluten free pizza experiment I executed today after discovering a recipe on the side of the box.  The dough was very easy to prepare.  The pizza - focaccia was remarkably delicious.  Did you notice I had  a bit of trouble calling this a pizza?  You see, the crust in the final product was almost more of a crisp quick bread type crust rather than a chewier, more glutinous doughy type crust that I normally associate with pizza.  Nonetheless the pie was fantastic.  I could easily see myself serving this at a brunch. Maybe I’d make small individual pizzas and add a few paper thin ribbons of prosciutto just as it came out of the oven.  It might even be spectacular with a fried or poached egg on top. I’d definitely serve this to a gathering of foodies, gluten free or otherwise.    

Ingredients for the Crust:

1 & 1/3 cup Gluten Free Bisquick

1/2 cup Water (optionally you could add a few tbs of wine to the water)

1/3 cup Olive Oil

2 Beaten Eggs

Ingredients for the Anchovy Pesto:

1 Clove of Garlic

3 Anchovy Fillets

About 10 basil leaves

Red Pepper Flake to taste

Zest of  1 lemon

2-3 tbs of olive oil

Video Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

For the crust, in a medium bowl, add the eggs, water, olive oil, and GF Bisquick and stir until thoroughly combined.  Spread the mixture into a greased 11-12 inch round pizza or cake pan.  Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. 

When it comes out of the oven, it’s perfectly normal for the surface to have a few cracks.  At this point top it with your favorite sauce, and whatever cheese or toppings you’d like.  I topped mine with sliced plum tomatoes, provolone cheese, and an anchovy pesto. 

For the pesto I used a mortar and pestle to crush the: garlic, anchovy fillets, basil leaves, red pepper flakes, and lemon zest before stirring in a few tablespoons of olive oil.  This mixture was then spread over the warm crust before topping it off with the cheese and tomato slices.  Then I sprinkled on a little thyme and a drizzle of olive oil before returning the pizza to a 425 degree oven to cook for another 15 minutes.

When the pizza came out of the oven I let it cool down for a few minutes before removing it from the pan.  Right before serving, sprinkle on some ribbons of fresh basil if you'd like .  I'm sure that if you give this recipe a try you'll enjoy it as much as I did.