For Bread Week 23, I decided to try another non-wheat pizza crust. Alex and I both loved the Cornmeal Pizza Crust that I made earlier this year, so I was hopeful that we'd both enjoy the Quinoa Pizza Crust that I found through my friend Kate.
It's not as good as the cornmeal crust, but this was a solid, gluten-free pizza crust recipe that had its own advantages. It took little advance preparation. It's particularly nice that the recipe doesn't call for xanthan gum, so anyone can make it. Also, this recipe yields a single 9-inch crust that's perfect if you only need to feed one person who can't eat gluten.
The pizza crust was quick and easy to make. The only thing you have to do in advance is to soak the grain. The texture of the crust was good. It wasn't bready like pizza crust usually is, but the crust was tender-sturdy with a little bite to it. The flavor was very clearly quinoa - a little earthy, a little bitter. The original recipe said to rinse the quinoa, which may have helped some - I skipped that step. However, quinoa's simply a distinctive flavor to have by itself, so don't top this pizza with pepperoni like I did. Try a Tex-Mex pizza instead, for instance.
This recipe was pretty good, but I would make some tweaks the next time. This recipe would work really well for a multigrain pizza crust, so I wouldn't use only quinoa whenever I make it again. I think I would soak a mix of quinoa, millet, and maybe some coarse cornmeal or other grains to make a crust that's a little lighter in flavor. It's definitely worth trying again.
📖 Recipe
- ¾ cup quinoa (mine was tri-color from Trader Joe's)
- ¼ cup water
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- vegetable/olive oil (for greasing the pan)
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Place quinoa in a bowl and cover with 1 inch of water. Let soak for at least 8 hours, or overnight.
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Drain quinoa. Place in a blender, small food processor (a bullet blender works perfectly) and blend with water, baking powder, and salt until smooth, about 2 minutes.
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Line a 9-inch cake pan with parchment and oil the bottom and the sides well. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth it out to the edges.
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Bake at 425F for 15 minutes. Using a spatula, carefully flip the crust and bake for another 5. The crust will shrink as it bakes. Top with favorite toppings, and bake for another 5-10 minutes, until toppings are heated through.
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