Zucchini Crust Gluten Free Pizza

Zucchini Crust Pizza, originally uploaded by A Gluten Free Guide.

I was intrigued when I stumbled upon this pizza crust recipe made without a speck of flour. I decided to give it a try during my test run of recipes from Donna Klein’s new GF Cookbook. However, it was too big of a risk for me to rely solely on this for my dinner party. So as a backup, I prepared a second pizza using Gillian’s Foods gluten free pizza dough.

I was pleasantly surprised with how “crusty” the zucchini recipe turned out. I tasted a small piece after the first baking. Then topped it with a simple marinara sauce, fresh mozzarella and basil to make a classic Margherita style pizza – with a rather nontraditional gluten free crust. While it tasted good, next time I will use a shredded mozzarella with less moisture to keep the crust a little crispier.

After a rushed defrost of the Gillians frozen pizza dough (oops, I was supposed to put it in the fridge to defrost the night before…) I was also pleased with my “back-up” gluten free pizza. I used a basil marinara sauce, shredded mozzarella, grated parmesan, kalamata olives and roasted red peppers to top the pie.

All of the guest seemed to enjoy both pizzas. Since half of them were gluten eaters, these recipes and products truly passed the test.

I’ve had past success using the Gluten Free Pantry pizza dough mix. It’s thick and doughy – more of a Chicago style deep dish. As a third alternative I also had two frozen Nature’s Hilights Brown Rice Pizza Crusts. This was for a guest that was on a restricted fat diet. The only ingredients are rice and water. Unfortunately the flavor is quite bland and I wouldn’t recommend the product unless you absolutely can’t use any of the other alternatives.


Zucchini Pizza Crust (from Donna Klein's The Gluten-Free Vegetarian Kitchen)

2 to 2 ½ cups grated raw zucchini (about ¾ lb)
Salt
2 eggs
1 cup shredded gluten-free part-skim mozzarella cheese
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Lightly grease a standard-size nonstick baking sheet with sides. Place the zucchini in a colander set in the sink and sprinkle liberally with salt; let drain for about 15 minutes. Rinse under cold-running water and drain well. Transfer to several layers of paper towels and squeeze to thoroughly dry. Transfer to a large bowl and add the eggs mozzarella, and pepper; toss well to thoroughly combine. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet, pressing mixture evenly into the sheet with your fingers. Bake in the center of the oven until light brown and crisp, 12 to 15 minutes. Use as directed in recipe.

(It’s really important to squeeze as much of the liquid out of the grated zucchini as possible before mixing with the other ingredients)

PS -- My round up of gluten free pizza across the blogosphere is now live.