Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Quinoa Pizza Crust

Hey there curious cookers, I want to share a recipe with you all because it solved one of my greatest conundrums and I thought it might help you too! How to make pizza healthier while keeping it close to the classic pizza we all love?? After a year and a half of watching my housemate make and consume delicious homemade pizzas every other week or so, I just couldn't stand it anymore! I needed some gosh dang pizza. It's wonderfully cheap and it makes such good leftovers, a pretty ideal college kid food. So I started hunting. I found a recipe for quinoa pizza crust on the blog Positively Healthy and while I was cooking I made a few adjustments based on how I know how to work with quinoa. It came out even better than I ever could've hoped for a healthy alternative! The crust gets golden and crispy on the outside and, because I like doughy pizza crust, it can be thick enough to be soft on the the inside. Topped with gooey mozarella, bell peppers, onions, and basil it was to die for! This quinoa pizza finally satisfied my craving for pizza while feeding my body something I knew would be good for it. So, here's the recipe, I hope it helps you to indulge in all the delicious varieties of pizza:

Quinoa Pizza Crust

(this recipe is for a 12-inch cast iron pan. though it can also be done on a regular pan or cookie sheet.)

1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil or non-stick cooking spray
1 tsp Italian seasoning (oregano, basil, garlic, thyme, etc.)
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg


 1. Combine quinoa and water in pot or rice cooker and steam as you normally would to prepare quinoa.

2. Coat a cast iron pan in the tablespoon of olive oil and put it in the oven to preheat to 450 degrees.

3. Once the quinoa finishes cooking, take it out of your pot and put it in a food processor. Toss in the Italian seasoning (whatever combination you want that adds up to 1 tsp), salt, and egg. Food process these ingredients together until the quinoa comes together like a dough (rather than it's usually rice-like texture).

4. Take the quinoa pizza dough out of the food processor and put it on a piece of wax paper. Flatten into a circular shape that will fit into the cast iron pan. Keep it thicker (at least a 1/4 inch) for a doughy crust, roll it thin for a crispy crust.

5. Once the oven finishes preheating, flip your rolled-out pizza crust into the pan. Cook for 10 minutes. Then grab a spatula, open the oven, flip your crust and cook for another 10 minutes.

6. Finally, open the oven and quickly layer pizza sauce, cheese, veggies, and meat (whatever you want to put on your pizza really. go crazy. try anything. great use for random leftovers!) onto the crust. Cook for another 5-7 minutes.

Hope you all have fun making tasty quinoa pizza creations!

Please, let me know how it works for you and feel free to post any questions you might have.

P.s. I'll put up pictures shortly, but I have to go write a essay now...

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