Quinoa Pizza Crust

I don’t know about you but when I get busy with the holidays the last thing that I want to think about is what is for dinner. Sure, I spend hours planning special dinners, but those day to day meals can really be annoying. One thing that saves our family time and again is my habit of keeping a stocked freezer. One thing that you will always find – this quinoa pizza crust.

If this recipe looks a little familiar it is because it is a modification of another quinoa pizza crust I posted earlier in the year. A recipe in Cooks Illustrated inspired me to try to create a pizza dough crust that used both hot cereal mix and quinoa. We love it so much and over time I’ve tweaked it to create a crust that never fails to please.

What I love is that the recipe makes three crusts, saves well in the refrigerator and also freezes very well. If I know I am going to have a busy day I take a crust out of the freezer the night before and let it thaw in the fridge. I typically will bring it to room temperature before cooking, but I’ve skipped this and the results were still good. Most of the time I make a double recipe, so my efforts yield six pizza crusts.

Get creative with this one! We make Mexican pizzas, veggie pizzas and sometimes I use the dough to make cinnamon sugar bites for the boys!

1 3/4 cups boiling water
1/2 cup hot cereal mix (I like Bob’s Red Mill – gluten free or multi-grain)
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
2 cups bread flour or gluten free baking mix
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour or gluten free baking mix
1 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp sea salt
3 T olive oil
water or additional flour to desired consistency

In a medium bowl, combine boiling water, hot cereal mix and quinoa. Allow to sit for thirty minutes.
In the bowl to a stand mixer, combine bread flour, quinoa flour, whole wheat pastry flour, yeast, sea salt and olive oil. Top with cereal mixture. Using a paddle attachment blend for one minute. Allow to sit for three to five minutes and blend for two more minutes. Switch to kneading attachment and knead for three minutes, adding additional water or flour to reach desired consistency. Dough should be slightly sticky but peel off your hand easily.
Spray a bowl with olive oil spray. Place dough in bowl and turn to coat. Cover and allow to rise for two hours.
Divide dough into three sections. Either refrigerated, freeze or cook immediately. Frozen dough should be thawed in the refrigerator overnight. Refrigerated dough should be brought to room temperature before proceeding.
Place a pizza stone on the bottom rack of your oven. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Roll pizza dough out and place on a pizza peel lined with cornmeal or flour. Top as desired. Carefully transfer pizza to pizza stone and bake 10 to 12 minutes.
Makes 3 pizza crusts. Nutritional information is for 1/4 of a pizza crust.

Preparation time:

Cooking time: 12 minute(s)

Calories: 187

Fat: 4.6

Protein: 5

5 : ★★★★★ 1 review(s)

Recipe by Cooking Quinoa.

Quinoa Pizza Crust