Gluten free pizza

For the last two years we have been advised to avoid gluten. We found gluten-free life surprisingly easy to adjust to. We do miss the sourdough bread that we used to make regularly we I have no idea how to replicate, convincingly, the magic crust. We replace the bread with gluten-free muffins, which are equally amazing, so there is no looking back now that our restrictions are less strict.

Another dish that is impossible to replicate is pizza. Good dough requires gluten, it is as simple as that, I do not know how to replicate the texture. I did discover, however, that one can make a very tasty pizza from chickpea flour. No, the dough will not look the same, but the flavor will defeat wheat-based dough any day.

The trick is to make a pancake-like thick batter from chickpea flour. Fry the pancake at a medium heat on the stove, on both sides. A carbon steel skillet, or a cast iron skillet work very well. This is what the done base looks like.

Once the pancake is cooked but not burned, I add the toppings, and stick the pan into a preheated 400F oven for about 10 minutes for the toppings to heat through and for the cheese to melt. Here is a recent result  - I used our home-made tomato sauce, sauteed peppers and shiitake mushrooms, goat cheese, and a touch of red pepper flakes. Along with a salad, this was a fabulous meal for two.

Procedure:

• I make make chickpea flour with a grain mill. It goes much faster if I break down the beans in a coffee grinder and then transfer them to the grain mill. 
• About a cup or so of beans yields two pizza's made in a 10-inch carbon steel skillet with the cooking surface of 8-9 inches.
• To prepare the batter:
• Add a good pinch of salt to the flour
• Add 1 tsp of baking powder.
• Optionally, add some dry oregano and marjoram. 
• Mix the four and the seasonings well.
• Add a few TBS of olive oil
• Start adding water slowly, maybe 1/4 cup first, and stir well. The batter will be too dense to even mix.
• Keep adding water in small quantities and mix the batter until you reach a consistency of a thick pancake batter. One can still pour it, but it is pretty thick.
• To cook:
• Preheat a carbon steel skillet on medium to medium low.
• When the skillet is hot, add a TBS or two of cooking oil
• Add in enough batter to form a thick pancake - the thickness is your choice.
• Cook slowly until cooked on one side, about 4-5 minutes, but keep checking to avoid burning the base. It's important to keep the heat low enough.
• Flip with a large spatula, and cook on the other side.
• Flip again, top with the toppings, and cook for another 8-10 minutes in a preheated 400F oven.