Pizza

Pizza

When I first started eating the Specific Carbohydrate Diet I suffered from withdrawal symptoms from missing the 'normal' meals I was used to eating. In actual fact they were not physical withdrawals but emotional ones. I missed my comfort foods, specifically the ones that I would have after a stressful day at the office. There was nothing quite as comforting has having that cup of tea and a biscuit while watching 'Frasier' on TV.  And on cold winter nights a hot steaming bowl of Minestrone was just like slipping in between warmed sheets. So out of sheer necessity for the wellbeing of my emotional comfort I wrote the "Healing Foods" cookbook. There I simply recreated all the meals that had comforted me throughout my childhood and adulthood. Baked beans, muffins and pancakes through to stews and lamp chops as well as my favorite salads, vegetables and desserts. I simply reinvented them with the ingredients that were allowed on the SCD. It was simple and it worked. The food tasted just as good if not better and best of all my brain believed it and was comforted.

Then came the day that my young son invited over a bunch of friends to watch a movie, and pizza was ordered. When it arrived the smell alone brought back memories of happy times, namely Pizza night, which in our family was always on Fridays. It was the one time we were allowed to watch TV and eat at the same time. There were no arguments over dinner or investigations of how school was going or whether we had finished our homework. Ordering pizza on a Friday night marked the end of the week and the beginning of the weekend. My mother would say, probably to assuage her guilt over feeding us something unhealthy, that if we ate 21 meals a week and 18 of those meals were healthy than surely three meals could simply be whatever rubbish we felt like eating. It was the one recipe I had left out of the cookbook, as it seemed impossible to recreate. Nevertheless I decided that I would try and the results were such that now, even if I could, wouldn't go back to eating 'normal' pizza ever again. So without further ado here is the recipe for the base. These can be made in advance and frozen and then simply covered with your favorite toppings. They also taste incredibly good cold and kids will love them in their lunch box.

Pizza

Serves 4

3 cups almond meal

1/2 cup cheddar grated

1 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp cayenne

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

2-3 Tbs cold water

6 slices of Provolone or Cheddar (thin slices)

Combine all ingredients, except for the provolone, in a food processor. Then form the dough into a ball and place in between waxed baking paper.

Use a pastry roller to roll the dough out flat until it is about 2 mm thick. Remove the top sheet and cover the dough with the slices of provolone.

Bake in the oven on 150 C for about 15-20 minutes. The edges will begin to brown and that is when the base is ready.

Take it out of the oven and cool before adding toppings. (At this stage you can freeze the bases).

After you have added the toppings place the pizza back into the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the toppings begin to look cooked.