Tonight was pizza night. For awhile – especially during football season – I would go over to Dave’s and whip up a homemade pizza or 2…sometimes a cold veggie pizza with cream cheese and ranch instead of pizza sauce or a BBQ chicken pizza….mmm… Well, tonight we both went to the store and bought different ingredients to make our own pizzas. (Even though I made them both. 🙂 Let’s just say mine was VERY different than his…
I found 2 recipes that I wanted to try and he made up his own. Next time I’ll be doing that as well! Dave chose a garlic and herb crust topped with pizza sauce, LOTS of cheese and 2 whole packages (from Trader Joe’s) of salami AND pepperoni. OMG. My arteries are clogging thinking about that thing. Mine was a chicken arugula pizza with a homemade gluten free crust (FYI – All of the ingredients we got were from Trader Joe’s – even his crust! I also buy a wheat one there that I LOVE).
I get intense when I cook and bake because I want it to be perfect. I usually end up with food in my hair, flour on my face and clothes, and a HUGE mess in the kitchen. I pulled my bangs back tonight in a little twist with a bobby pin so it would be out of my way and I’d be ready to go into battle. I didn’t even think about it, I just wanted it off my grill. So, as we were sitting down, Dave said, “I like your hair like that – you look like a princess. A pizza princess.” 🙂 Haha! Funny. Thus came the title of this blog!
Needless to say this pizza princess was happy with how her pizza turned out – HOWEVER – if I did this again, I’d add garlic and cherry tomatoes to it and possibly some other herbs. Maybe red pepper flakes and oregano. It was a tad bland, but still delicious and the egg really added a cool element. I had never poached eggs, so that was a new experience all on its own. I mean – c’mon – put an egg on just about anything and it’s golden, right?!
If you get adventurous and want to try this pizza – go ahead! i’d definitely suggest my additions even though I didn’t taste it – I can tell you that they would all be great. It was relish. Now that the pizza princess has a fully belly, it’s time to clean up the castle, kiss the prince goodnight and hopefully have a happily ever after week ahead…now all I need is a bejeweled crown. 🙂
GLUTEN FREE PIZZA CRUST
- 3 cups gluten free flour blend* (1 cup brown rice flour, 1 cup white rice flour, 1 cup tapioca flour, 1/2 tsp xanthan gum) *I used 2 cups of gluten free flour from Trader Joe’s and 1 cup of almond meal
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3 Tbsp sugar, divided
- 1 Tbsp yeast
- 1 1/4 cup warm water, divided
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a small bowl, combine yeast and 3/4 cup warm water – about 110 degrees. Too hot and it will kill the yeast! Let set for 5 minutes to activate. Sprinkle in 1 Tbsp of the sugar a few minutes in.
- In a separate bowl, combine gluten free flour blend, salt, baking powder and remaining 2 Tbsp sugar. Whisk until well combined.
- Make a well in the dry mixture and add the yeast mixture. Add the olive oil and additional 1/2 cup warm water before stirring. Then stir it all together until well combined, using a wooden spoon (see photo).
- Lightly coat a baking sheet or pizza stone with non-stick spray and plop your dough down. Using your hands and a little brown rice flour if it gets too sticky, work from the middle and push to spread/flatten the dough out to the edge (see pictures). You want it to be pretty thin – less than 1/4 inch.
- Put the pizza in the oven to pre-bake for roughly 25-30 minutes, or until it begins to look dry. Cracks may appear, but that’s normal and totally OK.
- Remove from oven and spread generously with your favorite pizza sauce, cheese and desired toppings. We went with Daiya to keep ours dairy-free. Pop back in oven for another 20-25 minutes, or until the crust edge looks golden brown and the toppings are warm and bubbly.
- Cut immediately and serve. Reheats well the next day in the oven or microwave.
- Some kind of pizza crust (pre made or make your own)
- Cooking spray
- 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shaved fresh Romano cheese, divided
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 6 large eggs $
- 1 (5-ounce) package baby arugula
- 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil $
- 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh lemon rind $
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice $
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- chicken (already cooked
PREPARATION
- Preheat oven to 450°.
- Unroll pizza dough on a baking sheet lightly coated with cooking spray; place in preheating oven. Bake as oven heats for 7 minutes.
- Combine the ricotta and 1/4 cup Romano. Remove pan from oven. Quickly spread cheese mixture over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edges. Return pan to oven, and bake for 5 minutes.
- While pizza bakes, add water to a large skillet, filling two-thirds full; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer. Add vinegar. Break each egg into a custard cup, and pour gently into pan. Cook 3 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Carefully remove eggs from pan using a slotted spoon.
- Combine arugula, remaining 1/4 cup Romano cheese, and the next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl; toss well. Top pizza with arugula mixture, chicken and eggs; sprinkle with pepper. Cut into 6 pieces.
***Additions – add cherry tomatoes, red pepper flakes (at the end), and minced garlic (which I would add into the cheese mixture that you bake on the crust) – step 3.
***Notes – I also made a pretty big pizza – the gluten free crust was a medium sized pizza, so you probably want to double the recipe for the pizza if you make the above crust. Also, what is “bland” about the pizza is the “sauce” – the ricotta, so if you want more of a bite – spice is up with some herbs or garlic. Enjoy!
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