Low Carb Pizza

I always thought low carb pizza was some sort of myth (closely akin to unicorns and the Yeti) until I saw this recipe on Linda’s genaw.com.  This recipe (which is below) makes individual 8-inch pizzas and is simple to make.  The crust is made from a mixture of flax meal and parmesan cheese, which you cook in the microwave in just 2 minutes!  Then for the sauce, you can go really easy and just use store-bought pizza sauce or make your own homemade pizza sauce using the recipe below (which just involves mixing some ingredients together and no cooking).  I really like the sauce and recommend making it (it has very few carbs and tastes great).  The recipe for the sauce makes a fair amount of sauce – enough for 8-10 pizzas (I found the recipe on allrecipes.com – it looked so simple to make and got great reviews from nearly 300 reviewers).

Ingredients to make 1 crust :

• 3 tablespoons of flax meal (you can make your own by grinding flax seeds in a blender or coffee grinder)
• 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons of water
• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS
• 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of onion powder
• 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning (or just throw in a bit of basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, and marjoram or whatever you have handy!)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until there are no lumps of flax meal or parmesan cheese.
2. Grease a microwavable plate that’s larger than 8-inches in diameter (i.e., most dinner plates) with some olive oil (using a paper towel to smudge it around the plate) or use a spray.
3. Scoop mixture onto a plate.  Spread the mixture in a circular motion using the back of a tablespoon until you create a flat disc around 8-inches in diameter.  Make sure the dough isn’t broken in places as you don’t want holes in your pizza crust!
4. Microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds on high.  Flip it over carefully using a spatula and microwave on high for another 30 seconds.
5. If you want the crust to be harder, then you can fry it.  Just put a teaspoon of olive oil into a flat frying pan and fry each side for 2 minutes or until you think it’s hard enough.  I’m lazy and am ok with a soft crust for the pizza.
6. To cook the pizza (after putting sauce and toppings on – see below for those), heat the oven to 350F and bake for 15 minutes.

Ingredients to Make Pizza Sauce (good for 8-10 pizzas):

• 1 can (6oz) of tomato paste
• 1 and 1/2 cups of water
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tablespoon of dried oregano
• 1/2 tablespoon of dried basil
• 1/2 tablespoon of dried rosemary (crushed – I just used my fingers to crumble some)
• Alternatively (instead of oregano, basil and rosemary, you can just put 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning).
• 2 teaspoon of salt (0r to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon of pepper (or to taste)

Directions:

1. Mix everything together well.  Best used after it’s been left to stand for a few hours, but it tastes pretty good even if you use it straight away.

The photos below show me about to mix all the ingredients and after it’s mixed.

Toppings:

I put a few slices of mozzarella and pepperoni on top, but you’re welcome to pick your own toppings.  Here’s one last photo, which shows the pizza about to go into the oven.