Pizza - Using mixes or baking from scratch?

For years I have used the following Pizza base recipe which is free from – wheat, dairy, egg, soy and corn. It does mean cooking from scratch but I find it's by far the tastiest we've tried.

Prep Time - 15 minutes

Cook Time - 25 minutes

Ingredients 

• 1 Tablespoon dry yeast
• 2/3 cup brown rice flour 
• 1/2 cup potato flour/ tapioca flour 
• 2 teaspoons xanthan gum 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning (optional)
• 2/3 cup warm rice milk (or your choice)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar (optional)
• Extra rice flour for sprinkling

It's great - but there are no other options you can buy, premixed and infinitely tastier than the ready made bases which cost a fortune in the supermarket.

Alternatives

1. Isabel's Pizza Base Mix This has been recommended but Recipe Resource followers on Twitter as one of the best. BUT - and it's a MASSIVE "but" ... it contains milk powder. Which excludes us and many others I know. As a recipe for coeliacs it sounds great however, the same is true of the Glutafin mix.


2. If you receive Juvela mix on prescription, there is a recipe on their website here
   
   
3. Orgran have a multi mix you can use to make pizza bases, a little more straightforward than the Juvela recipe, and you can purchase their mix online from Goodness Direct, FreeFrom for Kids or Ocado.
   
   
4. BobsRedMill Gluten Free pizza base mix. This is one I have tried, it is free from most major allergens but again, there is a "but". It is not milled/produced in a certified nut free environment. The ingredients are in the picture below.

So there are alternatives, but we still like our original recipe! Here's how you do it:-

Method

• Preheat oven to 190 degrees . In medium mixer bowl using regular beaters (not dough hooks), blend the yeast, flours, xanthan gum, salt, and Italian seasoning on low speed. Add warm milk, sugar, oil, and vinegar. 

• Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. (If the mixer bounces around the bowl, the dough is too stiff. Add water if necessary, one tablespoon at a time, until dough does not resist beaters.) The dough will resemble soft bread dough. 

• Put mixture on a greased 12-inch pizza pan. Liberally sprinkle rice flour onto dough, then press dough into pan, continuing to sprinkle dough with flour to prevent sticking to your hands. Make edges thicker to hold the toppings. 

• Bake pizza crust for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Top Pizza Crust with sauce and your preferred toppings. Bake for another 20 to 25 minutes or until top is nicely browned.

Suggestions for toppings:-

• Tomato sauce and fresh cherry tomatoes, sprinkled with Redwood Cheezly Dairy and Soya free cheese.
• Spinach with the above
• Vegusto Melty (if tolerated) cubed and added on the top to resemble a Pizza Express Pizza
• Shredded chicken and sweetcorn
• If you are allowed eggs, a poached egg and spinach are a great combination on top!

Thanks to members of our Facebook group for providing the photo and Twitter followers for excellent advice!

Creative potato cakes - fun with food!

After reading Julia's potato recipe posts on her Free From recipe blog Alimentary Bites a few weeks back, I must have made potato cakes/farls six times since then. Never before have my twins willingly eaten (and more impressively, ENJOYED) potato before, other than chips. Memories of choking were hard to shift, potato is a sticky food which children with reflux can find difficult to swallow, and scary to reflux back up. But there is something about potato cakes that is reminiscent of chips, which as long as they are not too soggy they have always been able to eat safely and enjoy.

I'm not going to reproduce Julia's recipe, you must visit her Blog to find out how to make them but they only contain potato, or possibly another flour of your choice in addition. I sometimes add a little "Pure" margarine but this is optional.

Since the mixture the recipe creates is so easy to roll and shape, as well as the gnocchi I have yet to try, you can cut it into shapes. So today, we got creative!

The pizza has some of the Redwood Cheezly soya free cheese on the top, which I cut into chunks and freeze on opening, then lift out and grate frozen as required or take a wedge at a time out for the fridge - otherwise it tends to go bad very quickly.

For the bunnies, I used carrot strips for the whiskers, and raisins cut in half (watch your fingers!) for the eyes. I experimented with my stove-top griddle to try and burn on eyes etc too.

These potato cakes have revolutionised our lunch boxes too - they are fine cold and make a lovely change from sandwiches. Today, I also added some of the protein powder I wrote about before to make them a very healthy cold snack.

'Laumuchun' or Turkish pizza

This is from Cheryl on our Facebook group who says

"My kids love this recipe, adapted from a Turkish recipe called 'Laumuchun' or Turkish pizza (it's great as they don't use cheese). Great with humus on the side. "

Ingredients:-

• Pack of gluten free pita (these don't contain egg) 
• 400g grams mince meat or lamb (or mixture of both, also works with chicken) 
• 1/2 tin of tomatoes Fresh Parley 
• 1/2 lemon juice grate mushrooms, or corgettes, or peppers (what ever you like really) 
• Seasoning 

Method:-

• Put the pitta in the toaster until they open a bit, then cut in half. 
• Put all the mixture in a bowl, mix well. 
• Smother the mixture over the pita and squeeze it down with the fork. 
• Then pop under a grill until cooked.

PIZZA!!!!

*HURRAH* for high street restaurants offering free from menu choices.

We have been testing a few this year, very cautiously!

ASK

Ask in Ipswich were extremely helpful. They explained that recently their chips have changed and are now coated to make them crispier. This makes them unsuitable for anyone with a wheat or gluten allergy. They always stock small new potatoes in their freezer, coated in a safe pepper/salt/oil combination, part cooked and ready for frying. They also grilled some chicken in the same combination for my two gourmets and served them with a child friendly salad. A real hit!

Sorbet satisfied our allergy requirements too, an excellent meal but a long wait as their online allergen list had not been updated.

PIZZA EXPRESS

Pizza Express have just launched their Gluten Free menu. As a family we love Pizza Express, the menu is pretty versatile, it's quick for the kids and they take Tesco Clubcard vouchers!!  They have a fully comprehensive allergen list but read carefully. Many items are absolutely fine but you might think they are not because the entire dish is listed as containing a known allergen. Meat is sourced locally so check that ham doesn't contain lactose for example.

We were fine - on the children's menu my twins couldn't have the dough balls so enjoyed an extra large salad. One chose a gluten free pizza, no cheese with chicken and ham on top, the other the same but with tuna. That ticked the no MWS and Gluten boxes for us, also Egg free as Archie is on minimal egg.  The gluten free pizzas in the table all say they contain dairy and soya, this is because they ahve CHEESE on. You can be creative, like us and skip the cheese and add alternatives! The pizza base was thin and crispy but a definite improvement on the supermarket bases we have tried to date.

LEGOLAND, Windsor

The Park restaurants and cafes are almost all a big no-no as Legoland now coat their chips and cross contaminate much of their food. However, The Castle Rotisserie (where the large Dragon rollercoaster is) suited us fine. Jacket potatoes with no butter, chicken or baked beans (Heinz which have no wheat flour in) were fine.

The hotel could not have been more helpful. I called the day before then spoke with the chef just before each meal. He cooked safe chips especially for the twins, and there were plenty of meat and veg options. My two ate extremely well! Breakfast was the trickiest but they always have gluten free bread to toast with jams, no spread alternative though. Do ask to have the bread toasted in the kitchen though not on the industrial size "conveyor belt" toaster in the restaurant.

Disclaimer : Obviously YOU know your child's level of sensitivity. Some children will react with microscopic amounts of allergen present. We do NOT avoid food which says "May contain traces of ...." and also do NOT avoid Soya Lecithin as we have always been told that it is a highly purified oil, with no protein present and it is usually the protein people react to. This is NOT the same for everyone.

Next Post - Coffee Shops with safe snacks!

Absurdly Easy Herby Tomato Sauce

Prep time a few minutes, makes about 300ml, or enough to cover pasta for 3-4 children or to spread on pizza and freeze some or store in the fridge!

The only trick is you need a good amount of fresh herbs!

Ingredients

• 2 large or 3 medium nice ripe tomatoes
• 2 large tbsp tomato paste
• fresh herbs: a good handful each of basil, parsley, and coriander (in whatever proportion you’ve got/fancy), small amount of dill and/or mint if you like
• half a not-too-strong red onion
• clove of garlic, crushed 
• pinch of (preferably sea) salt
• olive oil to mix up to total of 300ml or enough to mix into a smooth paste if using as a pizza topping.

Method

• Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blitz. That’s it!!! 

Sacha says "I love this raw sauce in the summer. It is great on any kind of pasta. If you want to make a slightly more substantial meal, add a tin of white beans (just rinse, drain, and stir into the pasta and sauce), some grated cheese, and/or black olives. This is a 5-minute, one pot dinner."

Pizza Base

Free From – wheat, dairy, egg, soy, corn

Prep Time - 15 minutes

Cook Time - 25 minutes

Ingredients 

• 1 Tablespoon dry yeast
• 2/3 cup brown rice flour 
• 1/2 cup potato flour/ tapioca flour 
• 2 teaspoons xanthan gum 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning (optional)
• 2/3 cup warm rice milk 
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar (optional)
• Extra rice flour for sprinkling

Method

Crust: Preheat oven to 190 degrees . In medium mixer bowl using regular beaters (not dough hooks), blend the yeast, flours, xanthan gum, salt, and Italian seasoning on low speed. Add warm milk, sugar, oil, and vinegar.

Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. (If the mixer bounces around the bowl, the dough is too stiff. Add water if necessary, one tablespoon at a time, until dough does not resist beaters.) The dough will resemble soft bread dough.

Put mixture on a greased 12-inch pizza pan. Liberally sprinkle rice flour onto dough, then press dough into pan, continuing to sprinkle dough with flour to prevent sticking to your hands. Make edges thicker to hold the toppings. 

Bake pizza crust for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Top Pizza Crust with sauce and your preferred toppings. Bake for another 20 to 25 minutes or until top is nicely browned.

Suggestions for toppings:-

• Tomato sauce and fresh cherry tomatoes, sprinkled with Redwood Cheezly Dairy and Soya free cheese.
• Spinach with the above
• Vegusto Melty (if tolerated) cubed and added on the top to resemble a Pizza Express Pizza
• Shredded chicken and sweetcorn
• If you are allowed eggs, a poached egg and spinach are a great combination on top!