Cracker Crust Pizza Flatbread

The name for this one? Yup... it's right on. This... bread-like deliciousness you are feasting your eyes on was made with crackers and a little quinoa flour.

Care to know more?

The idea came to me when I was halfway through my "adult" lunchable [don't worry, you'll hear about this soon ;-)] - you see, sometimes when I'm packing my lunch in the morning I'm even more indecisive than usual, which sometimes prompts me to bring more than one option in my lunch. Then when lunchtime rolls around I take a bite of my options and see which one is most satisfying for the time being. Not a horrible idea right?

Anyway, I had brought Crunchmaster 7 Ancient Grain Cracked Pepper & Herb crackers along with a few rice cakes. I don't eat dairy very often so knowing these crackers contain whey and milk I wasn't sure how many I should eat. So, after eating half of the amount I brought (oops..) the light bulb went off! What if I used the rest of these in my homemade pizza crust tonight?! Yup. That thought was enough to switch me over to the rice cakes and finish my lunch[able].

I got home from work and got started right away - its Friday Night Pizza Night after all! Into the mini food processor it all went... and a miracle pizza crust flatbread was born...

Cracker Crust Pizza Flatbread
6-8 crackers (any gluten free crackers will work but these already have great flavor for the crust!)
~ 1/4 cup quinoa flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt

1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
~ 3 tbsp water (as more as needed)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in mini food processor. Transfer to small bowl. Add wet ingredients and mix until combined (adding water until you have a dough consistency that doesn't stick to the bowl or your hands.

Lightly flour a small piece of parchment paper. Roll out dough into a thin layer (about 1/8 inch thick, or less - mine was an oval shape about 6 inches across). Move parchment paper (with rolled out dough) to baking sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes (until edges start to brown). Remove from oven and add toppings of choice. Slide back into the oven on just the parchment paper (be careful!) and continue to bake for 4 minutes. Your toppings should be melted and heated through and the crust will, get this, feel like a cracker! [Yup - I had to throw that in there ;-)] Enjoy with a small side salad and a glass of red wine. Perfection.

*I topped mine with sauteed orange bell pepper and onion (cooked up by my lovely boyfriend), along with sharp cheddar cheese (FYI - hard cheeses are easier on digestion!) and chopped green onion.

Before you run off to make this beautiful little accidental crust let me give you some insight on why I'm calling it pizza crust and flatbread. It is so thin that it makes you feel like you're eating flatbread, but with how it is cooked and the type of toppings added you feel like you're eating pizza. Thus, pizza flatbread.

*Another note: feel free to use any flour with the same weight as quinoa flour - amaranth, garbanzo, soy are all good options. I'm sure an all-purpose flour mix would also work or try your favorite combo of flours and make it your own experiment!

However you make it, this is the perfect individual portion for a Friday night, especially when the rest of your night is filled with even more baking :)

Gluten Free Yeast Free Bread Loaf

I have to start this out by saying one thing... if you are on a starch-free or reduced carb diet... QUIT IT and go make this bread now!!! Bread is a luxury for those of us who are gluten, dairy and yeast free and when you find a recipe that resembles real bread in taste and texture... all bets are off ;-)

I have been waiting for the opportunity to make this bread for a few weeks now but today was the day! Saturday morning... not a ton of homework but a ton of snow outside... what better situation than to bake?!

I found this recipe on the Celiac Chicks website, and was overjoyed to see their beautiful picture of a sturdy-looking, tall-risen loaf of yeast free bread. Although this bread did take a bit more prep time than your typical flatbread or muffin recipe... As I smell it cooking in the oven I know it is worth it. You can find the original recipe here, but here it is with my modifications:

Dry Ingredients

1 1/2 c potato starch
1 c sorghum flour
1/2 c ground flaxseed
1/2 c hazelnut meal/flour
1/2 c potato flour (this is actual potato flour, different from potato starch mentioned above)
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp xanthan gum



Wet Ingredients

2 c water
3 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp blackstrap molasses
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Extra water as needed

To Prepare
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease and lightly flour an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 bread pan, set aside. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a small bowl whisk together the wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix, adding the extra water as needed, until the dough forms a ball that doesn't stick to the sides of the mixing bowl. Place the dough in the bread pan and smooth out to fill entire pan. Lightly wet your hands to evenly flatten the dough. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and lightly spray with canola oil. Cover the bread pan with foil and cook for 60 minutes. Remove foil and cook another 10 - 15 minutes until the top is golden brown and the dough is fully cooked (insert a thin knife into loaf, if it comes out completely clean the bread is done). Let loaf cool in pan for a few minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes
*My original thought in using a smaller loaf pan was to half the recipe... It seemed like the perfect amount of dough when I first put it in the pan but as there is no yeast, it really didn't rise at all - this may also have been because of my substitutions. The loaf ended up working perfectly in the end once I discovered a different way of slicing it! - However, for your first attempt I do recommend using the full recipe (as listed above).
**This bread is absolutely delish fresh from the oven or slightly toasted. As with most gluten free baked goods it will dry out after more than a few days. I would recommend cutting the whole loaf into pieces once cooled, and freezing half for later use.


Be sure to leave comments if you try this recipe or the original or if you make any further modifications!

Absolutely Amazing Flatbread

I am SO excited to share this recipe with you!!! I found it on the Gluten Free Cooking School website. I read the ingredients and had everything on the list, the description sounded awesome and I love that they have the nutrition facts for not one but two pieces of this delicious, soft and oh-so-amazing flatbread!

You can find the original recipe here. The only change I made was substituting millet flour for the garfava flour - I'm still avoiding beans as much as possible. The cooking time, 15 minutes, was perfect in my oven,  letting it sit for a few minutes in the pan before cutting into it was the difficult part!!

Also, make sure to lightly grease the pan and dust with flour (I used the rice flour) - this makes it the bread pop out of the pan without a problem at all :)

This bread is so good, I barely got in a second picture!

I ate 2 pieces with my soup the same night of making this and put the other pieces in a plastic bag stored on the counter. The next day the bread was still moist as ever, didn't crumble and toasts perfectly! I'm planning on making this bread in the future with some modifications to see the different types I can make... a sweet version, an herb infused bread, I may even try to roll it out to make a pizza crust! I'll let you know how those go.. in the meantime, enjoy this incredible, REAL bread!

Yeast Free Mini Bread

Whenever I find a bread recipe that doesn't have yeast I am ecstatic! I found this recipe for Paleo Bread on Elana's Pantry, and only made two modifications - substituting hazelnut meal/flour for the almond flour and substituting canola oil for the coconut oil.

Here is the recipe I followed:

3/4 c. hazelnut meal/flour
1 tbsp coconut flour
1/8 c. golden flaxseed meal
1/8 tsp sea salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/8 c. canola oil
1/2 tbsp honey
1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

To prepare:
Pulse first 5 ingredients in a food processor (through baking soda). Add in eggs, oil, honey and vinegar and pulse until smooth.
Bake at 350 for 22 minutes. Let cool in pans 5-10 minutes then remove and let cool completely on wire racks.

I made half the recipe this first time (I usually do this with new recipes so as not to waste ingredients!), and used two mini bread pans. I thought the batter would fill about 4 mini pans but.. I was wrong... I filled 2 pans to the top... take a look at how they turned out.

I know they don't look that small here... take a look at this one...

The left is a standard size bread loaf from the grocery store, the right are my cute little mini loafs!

Now you can really see how small and cute they are :)

The taste of this bread resembles the Hazelnut English Muffin/Bun/Bread I have made several times, although the texture is a bit more delicate. Once the loafs cooled I placed them in a plastic bag and have stored them in the refrigerator. I'm hoping that by being cooled they will be strong enough to hold up for a mini-sandwich!

Regardless of their size they are delicious, not sweet, very bread-like and most importantly yeast free!

Play around with this recipe and let me know how it turns out. Enjoy!

Simple Fulfilling Rice Toast with Sunbutter & Banana

I'm not sure if I can really call this a recipe, but what I can call it is happiness, filling, healthy and such a wonderful way to start any day.

If you've ever been able to have regular bread (that is, bread with gluten, yeast & dairy) and peanut butter you know how delicious a  peanut butter, banana & honey sandwich can be. This is an allergy free spin off of that but made for breakfast.

The bread I use for this is Food for Life Yeast Free Brown Rice Bread. It is very dense and has a taste similar to sourdough bread. It is so dense that it really only works if it is toasted, and even then I'm not sure I would use it for a sandwich. However, for morning toast, especially toast topped with sunbutter and a banana it is perfect.

This breakfast is very simple to prepare - Toast the bread (I always make two pieces), when it is ready top with your sunbutter of preference (I use Once Again Sunflower Seed Butter), add a sprinkle of cinnamon to both slices, cut up the banana and add to toast, top with a drizzle of honey and enjoy with a large cup of green tea :)

I know it is simple and may not seem like much but to me it is one of those comfort foods that always sounds good and always satisfies.

I hope this brings a fresh idea to your mornings, enjoy!

Hazelnut, Yeast free English Muffin/Bun/Bread

Go ahead... check the title again... that's right! Its a recipe for bread that can be used for breakfast, lunch and dinner! It's incredible I know! And I must immediately say THANK YOU to Iris from The Daily Dietribe. I adapted this recipe from her Gluten-Free English Muffins (Vegan, Yeast-Free, Sugar-Free). Sadly, I can't have almonds so I tried out another nut meal - Hazelnut. Bob's Red Mill Hazelnut Meal is the only one I have been able to find in stores, and yes one day I will have enough motivation to grind my own but that day has not yet arrived because this recipe works and tastes so well! **I've also used hazelnut meal in place of almond flour for a few other recipes and they always seem to work. Make sure you like the taste of hazelnuts first, but it is a mild nutty flavor that goes with several different tastes.** One other substitution I made is using Bob's Red Mill Creamy Buckwheat Cereal in place of the Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal.

I strongly encourage you to check out The Daily Dietribe for yourself, but here is the recipe (with my modifications). 

English Muffin/Bun/Bread:

1 1/2 c hazelnut meal/flour 
3/4 c potato starch
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon Creamy Buckwheat Cereal
2 1/2 teaspoons xantham gum or guar gum
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup oil (I've used olive, canola, walnut and all work great)

How to Prepare:

Preheat oven to 400.

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. 

Stir water and oil in a small bowl. Pour into dry ingredients, stirring until completely mixed. *(The batter may seem too moist at first but it will thicken. The moisture is also nice because the muffins won't crumble or fall apart later on!)

Grease a cookie sheet and scoop the batter up into heaping 1/3 cups. Makes 6 scoops. Bake for 40 minutes. You want the edges to begin to turn golden brown to make sure the insides are cooked thoroughly. *(In my oven, 38 minutes cooks them perfectly, they will feel hard to the touch but will ease once cooled and the bottoms will be slightly browned.) Let them cool and when you are ready to enjoy cut in half. I like to keep them whole until I plan to use them, I think this allows them to stay moist longer. 

Now the fun part! How I've enjoyed them...

I've used these for breakfast... toasted with Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter... a delicious way to start out any day! I keep enough batter in the bowl for one or two muffins and then add baking spice or plain cinnamon, raisins or other dried fruit, and fold in. Place on the cookie sheet along with the others and cook to perfection. (Just remember which ones have the additions!)

I've used them for lunch and made a sandwich! I get excited because there isn't a lot of sturdy bread in my life anymore... so any type of sandwich such as this is a real treat ;-)

I've also used them for dinner as a bun for a burger (pictured) or you can shape them as a hot dog bun and use for a brat or hot dog. (I did this for a camping trip with brats cooked on a stick over the fire... it was to die for!)

However you use them, I hope they bring as much happiness to your meals as they have to mine. Thanks again Iris!