Vegan Gluten Free Pizza

So, one of my friends asked me to help her with a vegan gluten-free dough recipe and I said that I will accept the challenge. Well after lots of research and experimentation, I managed to come up with this delicious, tasty millet based dough. It is a very good alternative to wheat if you are gluten intolerant and/or follow a vegan diet. The amounts of the ingredients are for 1 pizza so you have to increase the amounts if you are doing more than one pizza. When it comes to toppings I used what I had in my fridge/pantry and again feel free to use anything you like or prefer. Millet flour is sometimes marketed as Bajra/Bajri flour which is the Indian flour for millet, I made my own and ground some millet seeds in my spice grinder. I also added some ground golden flaxseed/linseed but it is optional if you cannot find it.  It is quite easy and quick to prepare, just throw the ingredients in a food processor and voilà. for one pizza you will need...

For the dough

• 215g millet flour
• 65g coconut oil
• 100ml boiling water
• ½ teaspoon rock salt
• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed/linseed

For the topping

• 3 tablespoons kalamata olive hummus
• 1 small yellow pepper, de-seeded and cut into rings
• 2 slices white onion, separated into rings
• 1 mushroom, thinly sliced
• 2 smoked garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• Harissa paste, to taste
• Pinch dried oregano
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Freshly chopped dill

How to...

1. Preheat the oven to 240°C/475°F.
2. Prepare the dough, in a food processor  put the millet flour, coconut oil, salt and flaxseed, if using, and blitz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. With the motor running, add the boiling water tablespoon by tablespoon until you get a smooth dough. I used nearly all of the 100ml. 
3. Now, place a large piece of greaseproof paper on the kitchen top and dust with some millet flour. With your hands take the dough and shape into a ball on top of the greaseproof paper and with a rolling pin slowly roll out into a pizza base about 5mm thick. Don't worry if it is not round!! 
   
4. Spread the pizza base generously with the hummus and spread evenly the sliced pepper, mushroom, onion and smoked garlic. Dot with harissa paste to taste, sprinkle with dried oregano. Carefully transfer onto a large oven tray together with the greaseproof paper.
5. Bake into the preheated hot oven for 15-20 minutes.
6. When cooked take out of the oven, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with freshly chopped dill. Slice into 8 pieces and serve immediately.
   

Enjoy!!

R&A

Pizza Toast

Yesterday we were both tired and we felt like doing a speedy dinner. So we decided to do Pizza Toast!! We have been calling it like this for ages, my brothers and I used to get this prepared by our mom just after we came back from school as a quick snack. Well basically to avoid  the daily 'mom I'm hungry' moan from the three of us :) You can do a myriad amount of fillings when it comes to toasties (closed toast). I must say this is my favourite and Amanda loves it as well known. For me it's like one toastie leads to another as I can never get tired of eating them. Try them out, something different and delicious! You will need...

• Sliced bread
• Tomato purée/paste
• 1 can tuna, drained
• Green olives, pitted & sliced
• Cheese slices, like Edam or Cheddar
• Dried oregano

How to...

1. Preheat the sandwich toaster.
2. In the meantime spread the tomato puree on the sandwich bread. Put some tuna, some olives, sprinkle some oregano and cover with a slice of cheese. Cover with another tomato puree covered piece of bread.
3. Press gently with the palm of your hand and put into the sandwich toaster.
4. Cook to your liking.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Pizza Caponata

This is one of my favourite pizza toppings. I missed the tinned caponata from Malta so I got my parents to send me some. As soon as it arrived I put Pizza Caponata on the menu :) As for all pizza toppings use as much or little ingredients as you want. I was introduced to this pizza topping when I used to work at Ir-Rokna Restaurant & Pizzeria which in my honest opinion does the best pizzas on the island using the traditional wood burning stone oven. Well, this is my Pizza Caponata. If you are doing your own dough just click here and follow the making the pizza dough steps...any problems feel free to let us know :)) So this is what I put on my Pizza Caponata...

• Tomato sauce (not too much)
• Grated mozzarella
• Tuna chunks
• Hard boiled eggs
• Caponata
• Anchovies
• Green or black olives
• Dried oregano

How to...

1. Just spread a little tomato sauce, then the caponata followed by the anchovies, tuna, olives and eggs.
2. Sprinkle the grated mozzarella cheese and oregano.
3. Bake in a hot oven for about 15-20 minutes or until cheese is golden.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Pizza Margherita con Prosciutto Crudo (Parma Ham)

Another request...the proper Pizza Margherita from the Italian region of Campania where it was born. Famous pizzaiolo Peppino Brandi created this recipe in honour of Queen Margherita of Italy in June 1889, hence the 'il tricolore' [the 3 colours of the Italian flag. Green [Basil], White [Mozzarella] and Red [Tomatoes]. In the original recipe the Neapolitans use San Marzano tomatoes but unfortunately is very difficult to find here in the UK, so we used good quality canned chopped tomatoes. As for the mozzarella the original recipes uses Mozzarella di Bufala [Buffalo Mozzarella] but feel free to use good quality cow's milk mozzarella. When baking the pizza make sure that you only bake the dough with the tomatoes and cheese only. After cooked, then add the Prosciutto Crudo, basil leaves and extra-virgin olive oil. Here is the recipe for the dough, it is very easy and fast to do and is well worth it. The ingredients that follow are for 4 pizzas...Square, round or whatever shape you want to give it...obviously the original shape is round.

NOTE:  '00' flour is a very fine flour used in making pizza dough which is very fine and needs no sifting..available from Asda, Tesco and others. Click on the blue link for further info.

For the pizza dough:

• 1 pkt of dried active yeast [7g]
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• 300ml lukewarm water
• 500g '00' flour, or normal plain flour
• 100g semolina, plus extra to dust

For the topping:

• 2 cans good quality chopped tomatoes
• 3 Buffalo mozzarella [about 375g], torn into small pieces
• Fresh basil leaves
• 150g Prosciutto Crudo [Parma Ham]
• Extra olive oil

How to...

1. To make the pizza dough, blend the yeast in a measuring jug with 300ml lukewarm water, sugar and the 2 tbsp olive oil. Leave it to stand for 10 minutes. 
2. To make the dough you can easily make it using a food processor, just throw everything in and process until the dough turns into a ball. Otherwise, mix the flour and semolina and pile the mixture into a volcano shaped heap on the working surface. Make a well in the centre and slowly pour in the liquid, start kneading with your hand and adding the yeast mixture until all the liquid has been incorporated. Knead to a smooth dough. Cover and leave in a warm place for an hour to rise.
3. Heat the oven to 220°C/Gas Mark 7. Knock the pizza dough back and divide into four or two, depending on the size of your pizza. If you are making it round, shape each piece into a ball and stretch it until you get a 12" round base. 
4. Now, spread the chopped tomatoes on the bases, sprinkle the mozzarella and put into the hot oven for about 10 minutes or until done to your liking. When cooked get it out of the oven put 2 slices of prosciutto on each, tear the basil leaves on it and drizzle with good extra-virgin olive oil. 

Enjoy this simple but truly irresistible pizza. :)

R & A