Hey there, beautiful pizza! I’ve had this idea milling around in my head for a couple months now; bright, colourful vegetables, little bits of golden fried tofu, barbecue sauce for the base and a crust made from cornbread. My husband is allergic to basil, so pizza sauces are kind of dicey for him, since ingredients lists usually just say “spices”. Bbq sauce is a natural progression. If you want to add some vegan cheese to the pizza, go ahead. I don’t really like it as cheese (read: it’s OK as an ingredient in some things, sometimes) but the pizza absolutely does not need it.
The crust is lovely. It’s soft where it needs to be, but it’s crisps up along the edges and the bottom – just like it should. It comes together in a snap, but it still needs time to rise, so keep that in mind. When your topping will complement cornbread, I’d say this is really your best bet for a gluten-free crust. If you’ve never made a gluten-free bread type thing before, you don’t have to knead them because there’s no gluten to develop. The dough is more like a thick cake batter, so don’t worry, you haven’t done anything wrong. I didn’t add it, but I think asparagus would be an incredible addition to this already fun, vegetable-packed pizza!
Cornbread Crust
Makes 2 -14 inch pizzas
Adapted from this recipe
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (My gluten-free mix; I used sorghum in place of the rice flour)
1 1/2 cups cornmeal (polenta)
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (if making gluten-free)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 cups lukewarm water
2 tablespoons canola oil, or other neutral oil
1 tablespoon agave nectar, or granulated sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
Combine the flour, cornmeal, xanthan gum and baking powder in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the warm water, oil, agave nectar and yeast. Using a hand or stand mixer, combine the dry ingredients into the wet and mix for several minutes, so some air is incorporated into the batter. Cover and let rise for about an hour and half. It’s not going to double, but it will rise a little. After it rises, spread about half of the batter onto a well oiled pan of your choosing. It’s a little difficult to spread out, so take heart. An oil off-set spatula (as the original recipe recommends) helped a little, but I found wetting my fingertips and pushing the batters outwards first most helpful. Let it rest for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 400 F. Bake for 10 minutes, so the cornbread has a chance to set and you can spread your ingredients onto it.
BBQ Tofu
225 g firm, or extra firm, tofu, cut into cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup breadcrumbs, use gluten-free if needed
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
2-3 tablespoons canola oil, or other neutral oil
Combine all ingredients in a large ziplock bag and shake to combine. Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tofu and fry for about 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.
Pizza Assembly
1/4 cup bbq sauce + 1 tablespoon for coating the tofu
2 tablespoons non-dairy sour cream
1 cup frozen spinach, thawed
1 large tomato, sliced thin
1/4 red pepper, sliced thin
1/4 green pepper, sliced thin
1/4 red onion, peeled and sliced thin
1/2 cup corn kernels
225 g fried tofu
1 cornbread pizza crust, partially cooked
Toss the fried tofu in one tablespoon of bbq sauce. Spread the 1/4 cup bbq sauce, as well as the sour cream over the crust. Cover with spinach and then the tomatoes. Pile the rest of the ingredients evenly over the pizza, ending with the corn and tofu. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the toppings have cooked.