Holiday Cooking - White Pizza.

I'm still in a holiday mood and last night I wasn't up to cooking any elaborate dishes.  

I decided it was time for pizza.

Being on a wheat free diet, pizza has been one of those dishes that has been a bit hit and miss in our household, that is until my Daughter shared a recipe with me and I decided to give it a go using gluten free flour.

It's a rather simple process.  The original recipe calls for 2 cups of self raising flour and 2 cups of natural yoghurt but with the gluten free flour I find that this makes a much too sticky dough.

Here is how I go about preparing the pizza dough.

Into a large bowl measure out 2 cups of gluten free self raising flour (I think this is the same as cake making flour? in some parts of the world.)  Or you can use plain (all purpose flour) to which you add 4 teaspoons of gluten free baking powder.  Add about 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh oregano and some cracked pepper.  Combine well.

Next add 1 cup of natural yoghurt (I used Greek style, you can use low fat if you wish).   Slowly combine the yoghurt with the dry ingredients stirring in more yoghurt as needed until a nice firm dough is achieved.

Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of extra flour onto your board and knead lightly into a ball.  Don't make it too dry. 

Cut the dough into 2 equal portions using a sharp  knife.

I find that the dough is still too sticky to roll out with a rolling pin so I place each piece of dough onto baking paper which is large enough to fit your pizza tray.  Flatten and push into a circle large enough for your tray using your finger tips and lift the whole sheet of paper with flattened pizza dough still on the paper onto your pizza tray.  No need to grease tray or paper.

Prick dough lightly with fork to prevent dough from bubbling and bake in a preheated 180 oC fan forced oven for about 15-20 minutes until just lightly browned.  I find if I don't bake pizza base first I end up with a soggy pizza.

Next prepare your topping.

I'm a tomato free person (along with peppers, potatoes, egg plant/aubergine etc. as these induce inflammation in my joints and soft tissue). 

So I here is what I call a 'white' pizza version.

(Of course you can prepare the pizza using your regular recipe if all you're after is a gluten free base.)

For 2 pizzas you need 450g of ricotta (you can use low fat if  you wish)  Using about 350g of the ricotta thinit out with a liquid such as water or a milk of your choice(about 4 tablespoons worth).  Don't make this runny, just thick enough to be able to spread with the back of a spoon.  Add pepper and mix well.  Spread evenly onto cooked pizza bases. 

Then it's up to you what you add as topping.

Keeping my theme of 'white' I used pitted Sicilian style olives - halved.

Chopped marinated artichoke hearts.

Sliced raw mushrooms.

Some chopped bacon. (Delete if you want vegetarian).

Chopped fresh herbs.

(I have also used char-grilled zucchini and made a regular tomato sauce and added ham and pineapple for other members of the family).

Then I sprinkled the remaining ricotta cheese over the fillings and added some sliced mozzarella cheese.  Drizzle with olive oil and cook in a 180 oC fan forced oven for about 15-20 minutes until the cheese has melted and nice and golden.  Allow to cool for a minute or two, top with chopped fresh basil and cut into wedges and serve with a salad if you wish.

If  you can eat tomato and capsicum (bell pepper) a great vegetarian version is made by using your regular pizza sauce topped with char-grilled red capsicum, sliced, black olives and mozzarella cheese, drizzled lightly with olive oil and baked as above.

I think most people tend to add too many toppings to their pizza ending up with a soggy mess.

I made two pizzas between two people and three quarters of one pizza was left over for lunches the next day.  It's just as nice cold.