Does this really qualify as pizza?
Not sure…
I mean, we are so far from that first image that comes to most people’s minds when you say the word pizza: a thick, cripsy (if you’re lucky) white crust, garnished with loads of tomato sauce, highly processed meats and or coldcuts, a few vegetables (again, if you’re lucky!) and mounds of cheese.
Not much “healthy” stuff going on there.
Granted, there are healthier alternatives even at your local pizzeria, but I don’t think that they would offer anything that’s even remotely close to this one.
What a shame, I say… “Cuz pizza or not, this dish was DIVINE!
I guess by now, you guys know just how much I love my pizza, right? And since I’ve decided to avoid grains for a while, well, my all time ultimate favorite pizza crust is pretty much off limits.
I turned to my very good friend Internet to try and find a good grain free pizza crust recipe, but found none that really called my name.
Sure, there is this cauliflower based pizza dough that’s all over the place, but it didn’t really appeal to me.
At least not at this point.
Not saying I’m never gonna try it, but I thought it wouldn’t go too well with what I had in mind for this particular pizza. I mean, pear, figs, blackberries and… cauliflower? Ewwww… I know I can be out there sometimes, but that just didn’t work for me.
I don’t think it would’ve worked for any of you, either! 
So I decided to go with a cross between the crust that I’d done for my Grain Free Asparagus Quiche and that of my Rustic Sweet Potato Tarlets.
That worked amazingly well. Even beyond my expectations.
The taste of the buckwheat went PERFECTLY well with the sweetness of the fruits and honey, the tanginess of the cheese and the fresh sharpness of the rosemary. As for the walnuts, they added that extra little crunch and were just plain sublime on there.
This was probably one of the best pizzas I ever had. I just died with every single bite.
Now, I’m not saying that I’m ready to give up on standard pizza crust for good, but I can guarantee that I will be having that exact same pizza again many, many times. In fact, I had it 2 nights in a row. And I never did that with ANY other pizza before.
Well, except for that take-out stuff, way back when, that is… when I’d have the leftovers the next day!
Now, you might be wondering whether this is a main course or dessert pizza… I mean, with all the fruits and honey, it’s gotta be way sweet, no?
Well, in fact, no, it isn’t. I don’t think it would make a very good dessert. Yes, it is somewhat sweet, but it’s also surprisingly savory. So I wouldn’t recommend it.
Appetizers, on the other hand…
Oh, yeah! Now THAT would be splendid!
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
- ½ cup coconut flour
- 2 cups almond pulp (leftover from milk, no dates or vanilla used this time)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup egg whites
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 bosc pear, sliced very thinly (the use of a mandolin is recommended)
- 2 fresh figs, sliced rather thinly
- 25g walnuts, chopped
- 25g unripened goat cheese
- 6-8 blackberries
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- about 1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- about 1 tsp liquid unpasteurized honey
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites and buttermilk together and set aside.
- In a seperate (and significantly larger) bowl, add buckwheat flour, coconut flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt and whisk until well incorporated. Whisk in almond meal, blend thoroughly and make a well in the middle.
- Pour buttermilk mixture into the well and progressively mix in flour mixture with your fingers or wooden spatula. Continue mixing until dough comes together then turn over onto a floured surface (make sure to use grain free flour!)
- Knead dough for about a minute, until really well incorporated then divide into 4 pieces. Shape each piece into a flat circle. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 500F
- Grab one circle of dough and place it between two sheets of parchement paper. Roll it gently, changing direction often, until you get a disc that's about 10" in diameter.
- Remove the top piece of parchment paper and flip dough over onto pizza sheet. Remove second piece of parchment paper. At this point, you might want to bring the edge back a little to help form a perfect circle and create a little bit of a "crust".
- Repeat with other discs if making more than one pizza at this time. If not, you can keep the dough in the refregirator for 3-4 days.
- Brush olive oil overtop your pizza dough and srpinkle with salt and pepper.
- Arrange your pear slices in a circle, leaving enough space between each slice to insert figs later
- Sprinke half the rosemary, a litte more black pepper and place in the oven. Cook for about 7-8 minutes, or until the crust and pears start to take a light golden color.
- Remove pizza from the oven, insert fig slices between each pear slice, sprinkle walnuts, goat cheese and remaining rosemary. Return pizza to the oven for 2-3 minutes, until goat cheese just starts to soften.
- Remove pizza from the oven, add blackberries and drizzle with honey.
- Slice and enjoy immediately (you might want to sit down, first!)
Notes
Grain Free, Gluten Free, Vegetarian
I need me some fresh figs now! It’s been too long! Love the pizza base idea!
Thanks Michelle! I only wish fresh figs were more affordable. I’d be enjoying them so much more often!
They are one of my favorite fruits!
What a pretty pizza! Much better looking than the average greasy one. I’ve tried so many grain-free pizzas but I never really liked any of them. I guess I’ll have to make some almond milk so that I can have leftover almond pulp for this! But is it crispy? Be honest!
And I laughed so hard at your ewwing at the thought of cauliflower with the other ingredients. I somehow take comfort that you, the person most open to combining strange (strange to me, anyway) ingredients together, find that unappealing. I don’t know why but I do.
It IS crispy, Erin. I don’t like eating pizza with utensils, so I have to be able to pick up the slice and bring it to my mouth without everything falling off of it. And this one holds beautifully, the crust really is nice and crunchy. Loved it, seriously! And making your own almond milk is a bonus, really! Just wait ’til you try it. I’ve simplified the process quite a lot now that I make it on a weekly basis: almonds and water. That’s it, that’s all. Oh, and I’ll scrape a vanilla bean and add the seeds to the milk after it’s all done. Much easier that way! Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed!
Glad I made you laugh. For some reason, it sounds even worse when you say it. Ewww… cauliflower and blackberries. No way!
HI Sonia!
looks delicious. just wondering if you could suggest any common substitutes for cream of tartar and almond pulp in this recipe? (would lemon juice or vinegar and almond meal work?)
Thanks!
I’ve never tried regular almond meal, but I’m guessing it should work just as well… as for the cream of tartar, if you’re not a purist about keeping this grain free, you could replace it with baking powder, and omit baking soda. Should do the trick!
Can you bring back the reply to comments notifier? That was a useful thing.
Since it’s not a soggy pizza I’ll make this some time soon, although I vowed to my husband to stop trying to make grain-free pizzas. Maybe I’ll just make half! 1/2 cup of egg whites is a lot when you have to do something with all the yolks. Geez, I just saw the yield! I think I can safely make a fourth of this recipe.
Yes, yes I will. I’ll even do it this week unless it’s too hot to turn on the oven! I’ve just convinced myself.
SO RIGHT! This too is now gone… it was part of a plugin that needed to be deactivated. I knew I wanted to keep that plugin. Will have to look into that. Thanks for pointing that out, Erin.
And to be honest with you, I’d been meaning to use whole eggs in this one, only my son had eaten them all, so I was all out! That’s why I decided to take the egg whites route. I’m guessing whole eggs would work even better!
Can’t wait to hear your thoughts! 
Then I can use whole eggs – yay! I haven’t forgotten about this pizza. It’s just that we’ve had something of a heat wave (and there’s no AC) and if I want to bake, I have to wake up really early to do it or wait until 10pm or so. Those are not pizza times! So I’m waiting for it to cool down a little.
I just saw the comment notifier is back! Thank you!
The only way to make pizza in the middle of a heatwave is on the BBQ. Unfortunately, grain free crust will not hold on its own, so there’s no way it can go straight on the grill.
This can only mean one thing: I will have to reinstate full grain, full gluten pizza dough for the summer!
Or, do the grain free thing on a baking sheet on the grill. Yeah, that might work. Worth a shot, I guess!
Nobody we know has a house and grilling anywhere except for a few specified parks is illegal AND we have to lug the grill and coal with us. Germany makes it really, really difficult to have a nice BBQ.
So no pizza for me until it’s a little cooler! It will happen, though. It will it will!
ARE YOU SERIOUS??? OMG!!! I would be a VERY unhappy camper, if I couldn’t fire up the BBQ anytime I want… And seriously, coal? Don’t you guys have propane grills? Mind you, coal does confer a very distinct flavor to food. There’s nothing like wood, though. That would be my ultimate favorite. I need to build me a new firepit.
And seriously… why is it that they make it so hard for people to enjoy a nice BBQ there? Don’t they know just how good grilled food tastes like?
Hahaha… propane. Maybe if you have a house but I really, really doubt it. And no, they do not understand how good grilled food is. I always bring some Argentinean steak (because the German stuff is no good, and by the way, I’m the only person who has ever brought beef to a BBQ here, everyone else brings pork) and some rosemary / lemon / onion chicken (people also never bring chicken to a BBQ) I’ve marinated and it’s like heaven. What does everyone else bring? Oh my gosh… I have to find you a picture. OH! And never have I ever seen someone bring a burger to a BBQ.
I couldn’t find a picture of what I was talking about but imagine some bright orange or bright bright red pork chops in a bag. It’s horrifying and I don’t understand why people buy it and eat it! It’s not difficult to throw together a few things. Maybe it’s laziness.
When I teach the food chapter with my students, I always ask them what they like to grill, just for my own amusement, and 100% of them have said only pork. And they’re not grilling pork tenderloin! No no no. Fatty, chemical pork.
If any Germans read this, I’m not German bashing but everything I’d said is true of what I’ve experienced in Germany so far. Maybe I’m only acquainted with atypical Germans, but I really don’t think so.
And I’m not a happy camper! Can you imagine only having BBQ 2 – 3 times a year? I had BBQ 2-3 times a WEEK at my parents’ house. And my husband just showed me a bunch of red marks he got all over his shoulder area from carrying the grill 10 minutes to the bus stop, taking the bus, and then walking another 10 minutes to the grilling spot. And the coal and the food and the so on and so on. It’s ridiculous. Oh, and yesterday at the BBQ, we were watching other groups and there was a group of 15 people with a one-time grill. The thing was the size of a piece of paper, no joke. Another group was a family, had 20 people, and they used something a little larger. They just don’t get it. I’ll stop ranting know. Just know that you are VERY lucky.
Gosh darn it! I want a house in the US or Canada. You all have AC up there? I need AC (bad allergies).
WOW! That’s just insane, seriously! To think all I have to do is open the door and step on the porch, turn the knob, press the button and voilà, BBQ is good and ready to grill all sorts of veggies, fruits, fish, seafood, meat, tofu, pizza… name it! The Germans just have no idea what they’re missing out on.
The size of a sheet of paper? Really? Oh my…
You can be sure that if you ever come to Québec, I will insist that you pay me a little visit and we will BBQ EVERYTHING we can find in the fridge.
Hey… Think we can bake on the BBQ?
And yes, we do have AC up here, only I don’t have it. Really wish I could afford it sometimes. It gets REALLY hot and humid here in Montreal…
I just saw how large my rant was and now I’m embarrassed. But the BBQ situation in this place is maddening!
If I ever come to Quebec, you and I have to grill lots of stuff and make a “How to BBQ properly” manual for the Germans.
This is a very unusual recipe, from the crust, to the toppings. But it somehow all sounds good together. And it looks beautiful! It would be perfect for a summer picnic by the sea…
Oh, don’t I wish I had a sea to take it by to!
Not sure it would travel all that well, though…
Yummy! I wish I had a pizza stone
Actually, you don’t need a pizza stone. Just a regular pan will do. Or a cookie sheet, if you don’t have that. So long as it goes in the oven!
This looks so great! I’ve been trying to find a way to make GF pizza that is fabulous. Thanks for sharing your recipes. Love your site. Visit mine…we share a lot of the same struggles and on the same journey…Stormy
Will do, Stormy! Glad you like this, and thank YOU for taking the time to check out my recipes and say hello! I truly appreciate that!
Oh my yum! This looks incredible Sonia!!! I must make this…as a fellow pizza lover this is not an option!
Ooooh! I so can’t wait to hear what YOU think, Nora. Make sure you come back to give me your impressions!!!!
What an exotic pizza! Love all the flavor combinations, especially the coconut/almond dough.
What a feast for the eyes!! This would be a lovely addition to a Sunday brunch…who said you can’t have pizza for breakfast.
Totally agree! I’m all for breakfast pizza! Hmmm… now I just had this great idea for breakfast pizza with smoked salmon and arugula, and poached eggs… and maybe a few dices of sweet potato! YUM! I’m so trying that right this week-end! Thanks for the inspiration!
YEAH! Someone finally made an edible grain-free pizza! And not only is it edible, it’s AWESOME. I added garlic powder, oregano and a little Parmesan to my crust because I was paranoid about tasting… weird stuff (sorry
) in my crust and it tastes normal! Yeah! I only made 1/4 of the recipe and then used 1/2 of the dough and rolled it out super thin. So my pizza was like a really thin tortilla, but by looking at your pictures, that was all wrong. But it was still delicious! I guess I’ll just have to make that second half tomorrow and not roll it out so much. OH no. Isn’t that terrible? Pizza two days in a row. A real tragedy.
OMG, YES! What a relief.
I have to admit that I was nervous at the idea of you making this crust. Well, not you because it’s you, but you because well, let’s be honest, that crust is a witch to work with! And it’s not too conventional.
Your saying that it was awesome is just like rock metal to my ears! I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am to hear that!
PLUS, you had it with tomato sauce and cheese and it was still good! BEAUTIFUL! You just made my day, miss Erin.
Thank you so very, very much for this priceless feedback!
And pizza 2 days in a row? THIS pizza 2 days in a row? No problem at all! I did it too…
Oh and of course I used tomato sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan on top. I wanted “traditional” pizza.
I think it makes sense to be worried when you see that I’m making such a recipe. You know I’m picky.
What was difficult about the crust? I rolled it out on a Silpat and then put it on a baking stone, baked it a few minutes, took it out, put on the sauce and cheese, and then put the crust directly on the stone to suck out all the moisture. Worked fine! I did forget to add the almond meal until I was kneading it. I thought, “What? I can’t knead this… it’s more like stir with a spoon.” And then… aha! Almond meal. Tomorrow I just have to be sure to roll it out thicker. Can’t wait to see if I can get it as crispy.
LOL! Adding the almond meal would indeed help the cause somewhat! I bet you did get it as cripsy. This crust was all about crispy. Now you got me wanting some big time. Maybe it’s time I took some out of the freezer and see if it handles well once thawed!
And rolling it out on a silpat is just plain brilliant. I will do that next time, for sure! Thanks for the tip!
And boy do I need to get me a stone, too! Can’t believe I still don’t have that. I bet a stone thrown on the grill must work wonders!
But I won’t ask you to test that theory for me…
So I made my pizza smaller but thicker today and it was just as crispy! What I did because I was impatient was bake the crust on the Silpat on the stone, until it was browned on the bottom, then I flipped it over so that the browned bottom was facing up, put on my sauce and cheese, and then put the pizza on the stone. Great! I really hope my husband will like this crust. If not, he can make his own crust and I’ll have this.
So I really hope it thaws well from the freezer! Please let me know since I’m predicting I’ll need to keep a supply of this handy. THE perfect 289 calorie snack. Crust? Healthy. Homemade sauce? Healthy. Cheese? Okay, that’s the only unhealthy part but I do need calcium and some fat. 
And no stone?! What? You have no idea what your pizza’s in for. I don’t have a pizza stone but a rectangular baking stone from Pampered Chef. I had my husband bring it over from the US in his backpack.
It’s heavy! Even HE was impressed with that the stone did and he doesn’t notice stuff like that.
I wouldn’t go as far as saying that cheese is a “unhealthy” choice. Granted, it’s a food you want to eat in moderation because of its fat and sodium content, but still, it’s got some nutrients in it that will do your body good, namely calcium and protein! So that one isn’t on my black list just yet! Only I try to stick with the lower fat varieties, such as mozzarella, cottage, ricotta and goat cheese…
Now you’ve convinced me that I NEED to get a stone… I’ll wait until I get that before I give that pizza another try. Found one that I really like on Amazon, now I need to measure my oven to make sure it fits before I order it. Stay tuned!
And again, I’m so happy to hear that this crust worked for you. Hope your hubby likes it too!
Keep me posted!
You count cottage cheese as cheese?! It’s cheese?! What?! I mean… obviously it’s in the name, but no. No no no. Cottage cheese is some extremely healthy lumpy… stuff. I have no idea why I never realized cottage cheese was actually cheese.
Anyway, I forgot to update you on the pizza. Sorry! So Friday night I made the requested Pizza Hut pan pizza copycat and this. I ate a SINGLE bite of the most amazing 900 calorie per serving pizza ever and then ate this. And I don’t regret it a single bit! I gave a bite to my husband and he was really reluctant to even try it, but his response, “Oh. It’s actually good.” HAHAHAHA! YEEEEEES! First grain free pizza that we both like! Thanks Sonia!
LOL! You are just too funny Erin. You crack me up all the time. Of course, cottage cheese is cheese. At least, it is to me. Lucky for me, I happen to love the stuff! But between you and I, it’s not even THAT healthy. It is very high in sodium and they do add a few ingredients whose names I can’t pronounce to it, but it’s a fairly good source of lean protein, so that’s why I consume fair amounts of it.
As for the pizza, I am so happy to hear that even your husband liked it. Wow. This is true music to my ears. Really. Thank you so much. Now… about that 900 calorie Pizza Hut copycat… are we going to see a post on that one eventually? I sure wouldn’t mind getting a little peek, you know…