Soft, Fluffier Buckwheat Pizza Crust

So, it's been a while since the last post.  Vacation has a way of making one enjoy the time away from all technology, or at least for me.  As much as computers/internet etc is helpful for keeping in touch with people and learning new information, it is so nice to take a break from it for a while.  My first blog back is about a wonderful gluten-free pizza crust - now that you are eating gluten-free, you should still be able to eat pizza and enjoy it too! 

This crust is awesome!  It can be made ahead of time and kept in the freezer until time to use and it's quality is still as delicious as fresh.  I even took these on vacation to use for my son - they traveled, froze, and refrigerated well.  In addition to traditional style pizza, we also make mexican/taco pizza on these crusts, and use them for garlic breadsticks, and gluten-free croutons, by keeping them in the freezer and thawing them as needed.  You will love how easy this recipe is and the versatility of having it on hand!  For anyone who cannot have the masa harina that is in the recipe you can use same amount of quinoa flour or all buckwheat flour, or feel free to substitute in a different one to your liking!

1 c. Warm Water
1 1/2 tsp yeast, active-dry or instant
2 Tbs Sugar
2 Tbs Olive Oil
2 Tbs. flaxseed egg substitute mixture (see egg-substitute post)
1 3/4 c. Buckwheat flour
1/2 c. Masa Harina
1 tsp. Baking Powder
2 tsp. Salt

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water, and sprinkle with the sugar.  Add the olive oil, flaxseed mixture, buckwheat flour, masa harina, baking powder, and salt.  Stir by hand with a wooden spoon until smooth and dough-like.  This mixture should be very sticky, it will not be as elastic as a "normal" pizza dough, and will not be thick enough to hold it's shape in a ball, but it should not be runny.  It should be just a little moister/stickier than biscuit dough.  When all ingredients are combined thouroughly, drizzle some olive oil over the top (maybe 1-2 Tbs.) just to prevent the top from drying out, and then cover loosely with a clean dry towel and let rest for about an hour.  It should rise a little bit, it probably won't double.  During this time, preheat oven to 475 degrees.  Grease a 14 inch pizza pan.  After the dough has rested, dump the dough out onto the greased pizza pan.  You will need to sprinkle the top of the dough with some additional buckwheat flour, and then using your fingers press gently into a circle, you should be able get it pretty close to a 14" circle.  Place in the oven and bake for about 10 mins, the top will begin to crack in places and the bottom will begin to brown.  Remove from oven and cover with your chosen pizza sauce/toppings.  Return to oven and continue cooking for another 10 mins until all toppings reach the desired doneness and bottom should be browned and slightly crispy.  Remove and let sit for 2-3 minutes before cutting.

If you are just making the crusts to put in the freezer.  Bake for about 15 mins when you first put them into the oven.  The bottom will be golden brown, the top will be cracked in places and it will feel firm to the touch.  Remove crust from the oven and cool on a wire rack.  They keep great in the freezer in an airtight container, or you could wrap them in plastic wrap and then foil and then freeze.

This recipe makes one 14" pizza or two 8" pizzas.  When making crusts for the freezer, I like to double the recipe and make four 8" pizza crusts.  They fit better in my freezer that way.

We try to avoid all Nitrates and Nitrites, so for the pepperoni seen in the pizza pictures above we used the Hormel Natural Pepperoni - it is found in a small brown and red box with the Hormel products in the supermarket.  It contains no Nitrates or Nitrites.