Sunday, January 8, 2012

Another Low Carb Pizza, Plus Focaccia!

My latest pizza with golden flaxseed.  Oh, and
I put sesame seeds around the edge. Click to embiggen.
Today, while out shopping, I decided to buy a bag of golden flaxseed meal, from Bob's Red Mill.  I've used a lot of flaxseed meal since I started my most recent go-around with the Atkins Diet, but never the golden. Flax as a baking material is borderline passable.  You can make muffins that are adequate and breads that are functional. Notice, I didn't say delicious. Flax has a strong, but not unpleasant taste, so flavorings like garlic or chocolate have difficulty breaking through. When I've made pumpkin muffins, for instance, I've had to double the amount of spices I might put in a pumpkin pie. And they still taste of flax.

All of that said, I've come to enjoy products made with flax. Like I said, they're not unpleasant, they're just not delicious. So I decided to try the golden flax meal this time, to see if the flavor is better. You know what? It is. It's better. It's still flax, but it's better. So, if you try the recipe below, keep in mind that golden flax looks more like real pizza crust, and tastes a little milder than brown flax. I should note: this pizza does taste better as a leftover, I've found, than it does on the first day. I don't know why.

Re-reading this, I think I've heaped a little too much warning onto this recipe, as though you'll barely be able to stomach this pizza. Not true! It's actually quite good, especially if you're stuck in Atkins, and desperately want some pizza! The crust will not fool you, but neither will it terrify you!

LOW CARB FLAXSEED CRUST PIZZA


Brown Flax Crust. Click to embiggen.


Ingredients:
  • 1 and 1/2 C flax seed meal
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • Sweetener to equal about 1 Tablespoon of sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons of oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 C water

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425 F.
  1. Mix dry ingredients together.
  2. Add wet ingredients, and mix very well.
  3. Let sit for about 5 minutes to thicken.
  4. Spread on pan (I put it on a silicon mat or greased parchment paper).
  5. Bake for 15-18 minutes until cooked through, then add toppings* and cook until they are done.

Nutritional Analysis: Whole crust has 7 grams of effective carbohydrate, plus 52 grams fiber, 47 grams protein, 130 grams healthy fat, and 1525 calories.

*My toppings included Kroger pizza sauce (not too much, just enough to spread around), pepperoni (two layers!), plenty of shredded mozzarella, a little shredded sharp cheddar, some shredded ham, crumbled bacon and more pepperoncini slices. My cook time after adding the toppings was about 15 minutes, with the convection on.

LOW CARB FLAXSEED FOCACCIA BREAD

Ingredients:
My focaccia, sliced & plated.  Also using the golden flax.
Click to embiggen.
  • 2 cups flax seed meal
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1-2 Tablespoons sugar equivalent from artificial sweetener
  • 5 beaten eggs
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/3 cup oil
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare pan (a 10X15 pan with sides works best) with oiled parchment paper or a silicone mat.

1) Mix dry ingredients well -- a whisk works well.

2) Add wet to dry, and combine well. Make sure there aren't obvious strings of egg white hanging out in the batter.

3) Let batter set for 2 to 3 minutes to thicken up some (leave it too long and it gets past the point where it's easy to spread.)

4) Pour batter onto pan. Because it's going to tend to mound in the middle, you'll get a more even thickness if you spread it away from the center somewhat, in roughly a rectangle an inch or two from the sides of the pan (you can go all the way to the edge, but it will be thinner).

5) Bake for about 20 minutes, until it springs back when you touch the top and/or is visibly browning even more than flax already is.

6) Cool and cut into whatever size slices you want. You don't need a sharp knife; I usually just cut it with a spatula.
Nutritional Information: Each of 12 servings has less than a gram of effective carbohydrate (.7 grams to be exact) plus 5 grams fiber, 6 grams protein, and 185 calories.


SOURCE: About.com

Note: I put some sharp cheddar on top, and stirred in some garlic powder, to make this more interesting.

2 comments:

  1. This sounds delicious...and that plentiful topping is so pretty, too. My mouth is watering, so i will try this today itself.

    ReplyDelete
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