The Great Pizza Experiment #3

My pizza experiments up to this point have not been great successes.  The crusts have been like a very dry and extremely unappetizing cracker.

So this time I've used teff and almond meal as the main ingredients.  Yes, I admit it; I am in love with teff!  I just love it's texture and taste.  I find it bakes up much less dry than the other gluten/wheat-free flours.

My recipe for today is as follows:

1 cup teff flour - I used brown, but ivory would be very nice too
1 cup almond meal
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 tblsp. apple cidar vinegar
2 tblsp. olive or canola oil
3/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 425°.

Combine all dry ingredients and whisk together well.  Whisk in oil and vinegar.  Finally, stir in water and mix until just combined.  The trick with teff is not to overwork it (or overbake it), or it can become tough.  The dough will be slightly sticky.  Form dough into a ball.

Place dough on a well-oiled cookie sheet.  Press the dough down until desired shape has been formed.  The thinner the crust, the more cracker-like it will become, so bear that it mind when forming your crust. 

Bake for 10 minutes.  Let cool for about 5 or 10 minutes, then add desired toppings.  These alternative flours tend to drink up moisture, so adding more pizza sauce than you normally do is a good idea.  Bake for 15 minutes, and enjoy!

If you need advice on substitutions, please leave a comment and I will happily reply!

This dough turned out fairly well, although I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the almond meal.  The taste was light, but if you didn't know what flour was used, you would probably guess it was some kind of "whole grain" flour.  The taste, overall, was rich.  The baked crust was nice and moist.  The texture was good; definitely less cracker-like than previous attempts.  I think I'm onto something here, but it still needs a bit of adjusting.

I neglected to take any photos, as I was too focused on trying it, rather than documenting it.  "Archive fever" - one of my favourite concepts - is not alive and well in me, I`m afraid.  Sorry Derrida :(   On the other hand, I guess the blog alone makes his point, no?