Flatbread Pizza + Italian Chopped Salad that you’ll drool over

March 30, 2017 Heather Dorak NUTRITION flat bread recipe, flatbread pizza, flatbread recipe, grain free flatbread, grain free flatbread recipe, healthy dinner recipe, healthy italian recipe, healthy pizza recipe, homemade flat bread

Let’s talk about “clean eating.” Like really clean eating – think steamed protein on some veggies. That’s fine and good, but let’s be honest – at some point you start craving all your old favorites. Pizza, for example. I’m a firm believer that depriving yourself of your favorite foods leads to eventually going off the deep end and eating insanely sized servings of said foods. I tell my nutrition clients that instead of cutting their favorites out, to start experimenting with giving them heathy or healthier makeovers. This grain free flatbread recipe is an example of such – because this girl loves her some pizza / flatbread/ anything covered in tomato sauce and cheese.

My favorite maker of healthier pizza-like flatbreads is Di’Alba in DTLA. Unfortunately, I live in Venice so when the craving hits, Di’Alba and their amazing gluten free flatbread isn’t exactly accessible, so I came up with an alternative of my own. I’m pretty pleased to report that while nothing beats their gluten free focaccia, this version is incredibly satisfying on it’s own!

There are basically two ways to make this:

The easiest way (store bought cheese)

The still pretty damn easy way (homemade cheese)

Here’s the easiest way:

Ingredients:

• Chewy Grain Free Flatbread (recipe below0
• 1 jar of clean, organic pizza sauce (I like Rao’s organic because it’s amazing and the ingredients are super simple and clean)
• Grass fed burrata cheese (raw, if available – Erewhon market has a good selection of raw cheeses)
• 1-2 cloves Garlic
• 2-3 leaves Fresh basil, torn.

Instructions:

Make the flatbread. Now, keep in mind this isn’t focaccia bread – gluten free focaccia is a pretty intensive process and that’s not what I’m about. But, I chose this flatbread because it, like focaccia is chewy and it holds together well. And, it can be either shaped or cut into squares if cooked on a griddle. Or make rounds. Whatever you’re into.

Chewy Grain-Free Flatbread 

Ingredients: 

• 2 medium eggs, whisked
• 1 c canned full fat coconut milk
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 3/4 c tapioca flour
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, combine all wet ingredients from above including olive oil.
2. In a separate larger bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
3. Slowly pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until evenly combined. You can also use a food processor to combine on the whisk setting. Batter will thicken a little after it sets a few minutes. Should be the consistency of pancakes.
4. Season a pan with oil and slowly heat over a burner set to medium – low. Slowly pour 1/3 cup of batter into the pan, forming a circle.
5. Cook 2-3 minutes or until batter begins to bubble. Flip flat bread and evenly bake on the second side.
6. Place flat bread on a plate to cool and continue process with remaining batter. If you would like your flat breads cooked to a crispier texture, you can place in the over at 375 degrees for an additional 10 minutes.

While baking, slice a garlic clove or two lengthwise. Heat some oil (grade seed, avocado, coconut, etc) in a pan and once oil sizzles, throw the garlic in for a few seconds until golden. Carefully set aside.

Once flatbread has cooled, add a generous layer of your pizza sauce, a few big blobs of burrata, and pop in the oven a few more minutes until everything is warm and gooey. Add torn basil, and carefully remove and add the garlic. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil on top and you have yourself some amazingness!

Now, if you want to take this a step further. 

Make yourself some ricotta cheese to use in place of the burrata. Seriously, homemade ricotta is seriously life changing. People always think I’m super fancy when I make it or bring it somewhere, but the truth is that it’s as simple as can be. This recipe is straight from Eipcurious.com, and it has never failed me. If you want homemade pizza sauce – by all means go for it, but you’re on your own for that one because I rely on Rao’s 🙂

Homemade Ricotta: 

Ingredients:

•2 quarts organic whole milk

•1 cup organic heavy cream

•1/2 teaspoon sea salt

•3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

•Equipment: large sieve, fine-mesh cheesecloth

Instructions:

1. Line a large sieve with a layer of heavy-duty (fine-mesh) cheesecloth and place it over a large bowl.
2. Slowly bring milk, cream, and salt to a rolling boil in a 6-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. Add lemon juice, then reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring constantly, until the mixture curdles, about 2 minutes.
3. Pour the mixture into the lined sieve and let it drain 1 hour. After discarding the liquid, chill the ricotta, covered; it will keep in the refrigerator 2 days.

Now, as a nutritionist, I’m also supposed to tell you to eat some greens with dinner. My favorite salad to eat with anything Italian is pretty simple:

Equal amounts of:

Heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved

Thinly sliced pepperoncini’s

Turkey pepperoni, chopped

Purple raddicio

Garbanzo beans

Torn basil

Curly lettuce

Chopped mozzarella

Toss all of the above in a tablespoon of olive oil, a teaspoon of red wine vinegar, and some salt and pepper and voila! Easy & super addicting – I could actually eat this salad for dinner every night.