The BEST GF Pesto Pizza & a CPB Krispie Bar!

Pizza is one of those foods that bring people together :) Super Bowl Parties, Friday Movie Nights, Birthday Parties, Bowling Nights, Elementary School Clean Classroom Winner Parties (remember the bribery?!), Poker Nights, Oscar Parties….the list goes on and on. Well, lets add to that list — because this AMAZING gluten and dairy free pizza brings both GF-ers, and non-GF-ers together with its fantastic crust!

I served it with tasty marinara sauce!

Well let me just say, this crust did not taste gluten free.  The texture, the flavor, the crunchiness and chewiness made this crust 100% delicious.  I will go so far as to declare that I am no longer looking for a crust recipe — this is my #1. The outside of the crust was that crunchy, golden texture that everyone loves. Then the center maintained that crisp-chewiness. It was not at all dense, crumbly, cakey, or sandy like most GF crusts. Just good.

that's my mom and I from the 80s in the back:)

I’ve made this delectable pizza before, but I’ll refresh your memory!

It was pretty easy to make…in fact, this was more like making a quick bread batter than dough.

happy tummy pizza!

This makes enough for one medium-ish pizza–it fed 3 people. If you’re feeding 4, you’ll definitely want to double the recipe and make 2 pies. We made ours in a stand mixer, but a hand mixer would work just fine. Here’s what you’ll need.

1 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup GF AP flour mix (I used Bob’s Mill)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 Tbsp light brown sugar
1 cup warm water (not boiling, but warm)
good pinch of sugar
3/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 Tbsp olive oil (You can use 2 Tbsp, but my tummy only likes 1)
1 beaten egg
1/8 tsp apple cider vinegar

under a blanket of vegan cheese!

Here’s what you do: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add all the dry ingredients and sugar to your mixer and mix them all together. (Use a hand whisk to make sure they are well incorporated). Then proof your yeast in 1 cup of warm water with a good pinch of sugar. It will foam–let it sit for about 10 minutes.  While the yeast sits, combine your beaten egg, oil, and vinegar in a separate bowl. Then, with your mixer on low, slowly pour in your yeast water, and egg mixture. Beat for about a minute on medium until it becomes smooth and batter-like.

Then, pour your batter onto a parchment-paper-sprayed-with-olive-oil lined pizza pan. (That was a mouthful!) Using a silicone spatula, spread it out until it is nice and thin. Then, let that sit by the oven for about 15 minutes.

olives and mushrooms and peppers, oh my!

Bake it for 10 minutes, then take it out, spray it with EVOO, and return it to the oven for another 15 minutes until it is golden — keep your eye on it! You now have the most amazing pizza crust to top with whatever your heart desires! Put your toppings on and pop it back in the oven until the cheese melts.

gorgeous emerald pesto on an outstanding crust!

Here’s how I topped it — WITH VEGAN PESTO!

1 cup fresh basil
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
2 garlic cloves
juice of half a lemon
1 Tbsp EVOO
3-4 Tbsp water
salt to taste

Whirl those in the food processor until you get your gorgeous, emerald, creamy pesto!

refreshing and fantastic pesto

So the pizza had a pesto sauce instead of a red sauce.  This was the absolute correct decision. Then I topped it with:

1 onion, 6 sliced mushrooms, 1 red pepper — all sautéed together with 1 tsp EVOO, 2 grated garlic cloves, S & P.

sliced kalamata olives, chopped sun-dried tomatoes

Veggie Shreds Mozzarella Style Vegan Cheese

Oh. My. Gosh. This was AMAZING! The crust texture was phenomenal: crunchy but a little chewy, and sturdy enough to hold the toppings! The pesto was packed with fantastic basil and garlic flavor — so bright and lovely! The olives were salty, while the sun-dried tomatoes were intensely sweet. The mushrooms were earthy, while the red peppers were sweet and crunchy. All combined to pizza perfection :)

SO good!

Finally, I rounded out the meal with CPB Krispie Bars! CPB, for those of you who aren’t as obsessed as myself, stands for Chocolate Peanut Butter! This is my go-to dessert flavor combo. These bars weren’t outstanding…they were just ok. They tasted great, but the texture was lacking….welcome to the world of GF experimentation!

Gluten and Dairy Free!

I beat 2 egg whites with 1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar and 1/4 cup sugar until they formed stiff peaks. Then, I sifted in 1 cup of powdered sugar and 4 cups of Rice Krispies cereal. I put it in an olive-oil-sprayed baking dish and baked it for 15 minutes at 325. I then drizzled a mixture of semi-sweet, dairy-free chocolate chips, peanut butter, about 3/4 cup of powdered sugar, almond milk and vanilla extract. I warmed it in the microwave so I could melt and stir it, so it could drizzle.

not fantastic, but delicious

These were just alright — the texture just didn’t blow me out of the water. What happened – I think – is that the very porous krispies absorbed a lot of the egg white mixture, making them very hard to chew. My jaw got a workout eating that bad boy!! I enjoyed it, but will probably stick with vegan marshmallows in the future!

Oh well, a tasty mistake! The pizza definitely made up for it!

Let this healthy and delicious pizza bring G and G-Free together!

To whip the egg whites for the krispie bar, I used my KitchenAid stand mixer. It is truly an amazing appliance. It makes whipping up the egg whites a breeze! And you can do so many different things with it! From make cookies to pasta dough! We just got my sister-in-law a kitchenaid with the pasta making attachment. You can find these amazing tools here: