KETO Pizza Crust, low carb and GF

By MaryEllen

There are a lot of recipes floating around the Internet for “Fathead pizza,” which is basically a combination of shredded and melted cheese, cream cheese, almond flour, and egg. I based this keto pizza recipe off of what I believe is the original, from Cooky’s Creations.

Ingredients

• 12 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 ounces cream cheese
• 1 2/3 cup (200 g) finely ground blanched almond flour, plus more for sprinkling
• 2 tablespoons (12 g) coconut flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 eggs (100 g, weighed out of shell) at room temperature, beaten
• Toppings of choice (unsweetened tomato sauce, more shredded cheese)

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Place a pizza stone or overturned rimmed baking sheet in the oven as it preheats.

In a medium saucepan, place the cream cheese and melt over very low heat. Add the mozzarella in two parts, stirring gently until melted and smooth. Add about half of the almond flour, the coconut flour and the baking powder, and stir with a silicone spatula until the melted cheese has absorbed the flours. Add the remaining almond flour and stir to combine. As soon as the ingredients begin to brown in the pan, turn off the heat. Continue to stir and press the dough with the spatula until everything is well-incorporated. If the heat is still on, turn it off. Add the eggs to the dough and mix and press again until the dough is uniform in color and texture.

Turn out the dough onto a piece of parchment paper lightly floured with almond flour, and knead until smooth. Divide the dough in half, and set one half aside (cover to prevent it from drying out). Press and roll out the first half of the dough into a 12-inch round, sprinkling the dough lightly with more almond flour when it becomes sticky and rotating the dough frequently. Coax the edges inward toward the center to create an edge to the crust. Pierce all over with the tines of a fork to prevent the dough from puffing up too much in the oven.

Place the first round, still on the parchment paper, on top of the pizza stone or overturned baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until the dough no longer glistens. Remove the crust from the oven. At this point, the parbaked dough can be cooled completely, covered tightly and frozen for later use. Repeat with the remaining piece of dough.

To continue preparing the pizza, top with unsweetened tomato sauce and more shredded cheese, if desired. Return the pizza to the oven and bake until the edges are golden brown and the cheese on top is completely melted (about another 10 minutes). Cool briefly before slicing and serving.

Cooks Notes:
When it comes to baking with almond flour, remember that not all almond flours are created equal. You must use finely ground, blanched almond flour in this recipe.Blanched almond flour is simply almond flour made from almonds that have had their skins removed. I only recommend using Honeyville brand or superfine almond flour from Nuts.com.

I’ve tried melting the cream cheese and shredded cheese in this recipe in the microwave, but I find that it’s much harder to combine all of the ingredients that way. Be sure to use very low heat on the stovetop, and turn off the heat the moment you see the ingredients begin to brown.

The more you knead the dough, the easier it will be to handle. Don’t be afraid to roll it out and gather it back together multiple times before you’re satisfied with its texture.

You can’t store the raw dough for later use since the melted cheese will solidify in the refrigerator, and the eggs in the raw dough will prevent you from warming it in the microwave to roll it out. But you can roll it out, parbake it and let it cool completely then wrap it tightly and freeze it for later use.