This Gluten Free Tomato Mushroom pizza is made with one of the darlings of the gluten free world – chickpea flour.
Anyone who is following a Gluten Free diet knows the challenge that comes from trying to prepare some of your favorite foods. But, with a few substitutes and some creativity, that does not need to be the case.
With this recipe, even pizza is on the menu!
Healthy Cooking with This Gluten Free Tomato Mushroom Pizza.
I love making a recipe that is meatless at least a few times a week. This gluten free tomato mushroom pizza is my latest attempt for Meatless Monday.
What is chickpea flour?
This versatile flour is commonly used in many Indian restaurants. It is made from chickpea beans grown in India.
The flour does not contain gluten so it makes a good substitute for wheat flour in gluten free recipes.
Using chickpea flour
I have never cooked with chickpea flour before, so I did some research and found that a common way to use it is to make what is called “socca.”
Socca are chickpea crepes often sold in the south of France and I decided to try making them and then using the crepes as a pizza base.
The end result was pretty good. It does not taste like a traditional pizza, simply because the base is not a wheat based base, but it’s still a great substitute for pizza if you follow a gluten free diet.
You can see from the photo above that the base is much more crepe-like than dough-like. The base is sort of nutty tasting and a bit thinner than a normal pizza base but it holds up well and compliments fresh veggies and cheese very well.
It tastes somewhat like a focaccia bread to me.
I made my gluten free tomato mushroom pizza with one crepe as the base, but it was kind of hard to work with, so I would recommend making individual sized pizzas instead of a larger one.
My recipe will make two individual sized pizzas or one larger one (about 9″). I am no crepe maker, so you may have better luck than I did making a large one.
The toppings are up to you. I chose Gouda cheese, fresh tomatoes, olive oil, fresh mushrooms and sliced onions. Any toppings that are not too liquid will work fine.
While not a traditional pizza, this Gluten free tomato mushroom pizza was tasty and so healthy and satisfied me very well.
I can’t wait to see what other uses I will come up with for my flour. I think I may try to make some flatbreads for hummus next!
Gluten Free Tomato Mushroom Pizza
Ingredients
For the Socca base:
- 1 cup of water
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp of Organic Besan Flour
- 1 tsp sugar
- 3/4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
- Topppings:
- olive oil
- sliced fresh tomatoes
- spinach leaves julienned
- sliced fresh mushrooms
- 1/2 cup of Gouda cheese (or your favorite cheese)
- sliced onions
Instructions
- Combine the ingredients for the socca in a bowl and whisk until combined. Let this sit for about an hour.
- Turn on your broiler. Slice your toppings and grate your cheese.
- Grease an oven proof skillet with some olive oil and pour 1/2 of the socca mix into the skillet. Cook until the top starts to form a few bubbles (about 3-4 minutes) and then place under the broiler so that the top will cook (about a minute). Place the socca pizza base on a cookie sheet that is lined with parchment paper that has been brushed with olive oil.
- Repeat for the other half of the socca mixture. Turn the oven on to 425º F.
- Brush some olive oil on the socca pizza bases. Layer your pizza toppings and cook in the preheated oven for about 8 minutes.
- Enjoy!