Paleo Pizza

I finally decided to give paleo pizza a try. I've had some good luck with Elena Amsterdam's The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, and used her crust recipe for this pizza. It proved to be easy, crispy, and firm enough to pick up and eat like a pizza. It was kind of like eating pizza on a cracker. All-in-all, a good way to transfer pizza toppings into your mouth. Because the crust is a bit dry, I think it's important to add some moisture. The artichoke and green olive spread from Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals makes a prefect first layer. To that, I added some of my favorite summer pizza toppings. The result was a delicious paleo pizza. Enjoy!


Crust adapted from Elena Amsterdam's The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook. Artichoke and green olive spread adapted from Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals, Mark Sisson and Jennifer Meier.


Serves 2-3.

Ingredients
Pizza Crust
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour (I didn't have blanched on hand so I further processed my almond meal and used it instead.)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large egg
Italian herbs, to taste (optional)
Artichoke and Green Olive Spread
1 cup pitted green olives
2 15-oz cans/jars artichoke hearts, drained
1 Tbsp capers, drained
1 garlic clove
1 Tbsp fresh parsley
1/8-1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
Toppings
2-3 links cooked Italian sausage, sliced thin
2-3 fresh plum tomatoes, sliced thin and drained on a paper towel
large bunch fresh basil leaves, cut in thin ribbons or "chiffonade"
1-2 thin slices red onion, quartered

Preparation
Crust

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Whisk egg and olive oil together in a small bowl.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix with a spoon until moist throughout.
4. Roll dough into a ball and set in the middle of a large sheet of parchment paper. Cover with a second piece of parchment paper and roll dough to about 1/8 inch thickness and about a 10 inch circle.
5. Remove top parchment and slide bottom parchment sheet onto an unrimmed baking sheet.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until firm and lightly browned.

Spread
While crust is baking, combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse several times until ingredients form a chunky spread.

Pizza

1. Preheat broiler.
2. Spread artichoke and olive spread in a thin layer on the baked pizza crust. On top of spread, layer fresh basil leaves, tomato slices, and sausage slices. Sprinkle onion evenly across the top.
3. Place baking sheet back into oven on the second rack. This will ensure that the parchment paper doesn't catch on fire under the broiler.
4. Broil for 2-4 minutes or until toppings are lightly broiled.
5. Cut pizza into 6 slices and serve immediately.