Polenta Pizzas

Ready-made gluten-free pizza crusts are, on the whole, a bit of a nutritional nightmare. Making a pizza crust from polenta solves the problem of making a healthy gluten-free pizza crust in a way that’s so delicious, you don’t have to be gluten intolerant to enjoy it! The polenta crust recipe was lightly adapted from one I found on Whole Living Lauren.

Ingredients:

Polenta crust

1 1/2 cups polenta (cornmeal)
3 1/2 cups water or vegetable broth
1 tbsp tahini
1 Mrs Dash Garlic & Herb Seasoning Blend* or garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp ground turmeric
A few grinds of black pepper
1 tbsp savoury yeast flakes/nutritional yeast

Pizza sauce

4 tbsp no added salt tomato paste
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp 1 Mrs Dash Garlic & Herb Seasoning Blend* or garlic powder

Pizza toppings

Choose your favourites! I used eggplant and sweet potato, thinly sliced and pre-cooked in a sandwich press; red capsicum strips, thinly sliced mushrooms, sliced tomatoes, diced olives, diced sun-dried tomatoes and baby spinach

Pizza cheese

2 small potatoes, scrubbed and cut into eighths
1/4 brown onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tsp Mrs Dash Garlic & Herb Seasoning Blend* or garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
4 tbsp savoury yeast flakes/nutritional yeast
1/4 cup plant milk (I used oat milk)

Method:

Polenta crust

Line 2 round pans ( I used springform cake tins) with baking paper.

Thermomix instructions

Bring water or vegetable stock to a rolling boil at Varoma temperature. Reduce heat to 100°C and slowly trickle polenta in through the lid hole, stirring at speed 6.

Cook for 15 minutes at 100°C on speed 3, then add remaining ingredients and blend for 10 seconds on speed 6.

Conventional instructions

In a large saucepan, bring water or vegetable stock to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and trickle in polenta, whisking continuously. Reduce heat to lower and simmer, whisking occasionally, for 15 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Pour mixture into prepared pans and spread with a rubber spatula. Leave in the fridge for 30 minutes to set.

Preheat oven to 200°C and bake for 15 minutes, then flip crusts over and bake for another 10 minutes.

Pizza sauce

In a medium bowl, combine ingredients until well mixed.

Pizza cheese

Thermomix instructions:

Place potatoes and onion in Thermomix bowl with 1/2 cup water. Cook at 100°C on speed 3 for 10 minutes or until potato is very tender. Add remaining ingredients and blend for 15 seconds on speed 9, adding additional plant milk if mixture is too thick – you need a pourable consistency.

Conventional instructions:

In a small saucepan, simmer potatoes and onion in 1/2 cup water until potato is tender – about 10 minutes. Transfer vegetables to a food processor or high-powered blender, add remaining ingredients and blend at top speed until homogenised, adding additional plant milk if mixture is too thick – you need a pourable consistency.

Assembly:

If you have a pizza stone, pre-warm it in a hot oven. Otherwise, place polenta pizza bases on an oven tray. Spread pizza sauce over bases evenly.

Add toppings (except spinach).

Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes or until vegetables are cooked through. If using spinach, sprinkle it over the cooked vegetables at this stage, then pour on pizza cheese and grill until cheese is bubbly.

* I buy Mrs Dash from iHerb; if you don’t already have an account with iHerb, use the coupon code UTE208 at checkout to get $5 off your first purchase.