Ask many low carbers what they miss most about their old diet, and the vast majority of them will say pizza. I often say pizza, and I was never that much of a pizza fanatic. I was certainly not one of those people who ate pizza every day in university, although I liked it well enough. I didn’t go out of my way to eat pizza, but I didn’t say no to it either. But on a low carb diet, I often find myself wistful about it It’s just that pizza is the whole package, you know? It has the bread and carbohydrates that most people in Western society crave, it has a touch of sweetness from the pizza sauce, and it has meat and cheese and perhaps a few veggies.
So I’ve long been on a mission to make a really great bread-like pizza crust. Yes, I know there are lots of interesting and healthy low carb “pizza crusts”, made with things like cauliflower or zucchini, and I think that’s all well and good. But I wanted something I could serve to my kids and not see that eye-roll or that look of horror that I had so bastardized one of their favourite foods. That meant that the crust had to be as close to the real thing as possible.
It definitely took a few tries to get this one right. My first was good, but a touch on the soggy side. It just didn’t quite stand up to the toppings well enough, although the flavour was fantastic. So on the second go round, I added more oat fiber for dryness and structure, and a little less liquid. I also baked it a little longer without the toppings, and a little less with them. Broiling the pizza at the end helps melt the cheese and get it nice and browned. The whole family loved both attempts, and the kids ate it without question, but the second try held together a little better. It’s still on the fragile side compared to wheat dough, but it’s a fantastic stand-in!
If you have a pizza stone, I definitely recommend using it. The pizza crust is good on a regular baking sheet but slightly crisper and better on the stone. Let the stone heat up while you are preheating the oven, and then just transfer the piece of parchment paper with the crust on it to the stone.
Almond Flour Pizza Crust
Ingredients
- 3 cups almond flour
- 1 cup oat fiber OR 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup unflavoured whey protein powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 4 eggs lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1/4 cup almond milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, oat fiber OR coconut flour, whey protein, baking powder, garlic powder and salt.
- Stir in eggs, melted butter and almond milk until dough comes together. It will be somewhat sticky.
- Take half the dough and form into a ball. Flatten the ball into a disc and roll out between two pieces of parchment paper to about 1/2 inch thickness (around 10 inches in diameter).
- Peel off top layer of parchment. Lift bottom parchment with crust on it onto a baking sheet or pizza stone.
- Bake 8 minutes, then remove from oven and put on your favourite toppings. Bake 5 to 7 minutes more.
- Turn on broiler to high and broil pizza 4 to 5 inches from heat source for 1 to 2 minutes, until cheese is melted, bubbly and a bit browned.
- Remove from oven and let site 5 minutes.
- Repeat with remaining dough.
