Yuca Paleo Pizza Crust with Vegan Pesto (Gluten, Grain, Yeast, Dairy Free, Vegan) With BTD Type A Variation

Going Paleo, easy.  Giving up pizza, HARD!  How I loved that ooey, gooey stretchy mozzarella on that crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside crust.  Well, folks, this is not that pizza.  This crust, however, is nutritious since it's made from a vegetable and satisfies my family's pizza cravings, even without cheese!  And in my opinion, anything has got to be better than cauliflower crust!   If you're desperate for cheese, try this vegan moxarella recipe.  I've also included the pesto recipe I used.

Pesto:

1 C fresh basil
4 C fresh spinach
1/2 C walnuts
2 fresh garlic cloves
1/4 C dried basil
1/2 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 T nutritional yeast (optional)
Salt to taste

Directions:

This is my poor man's pesto.  I didn't have a lot of fresh basil or any pine nuts so I used what I had on hand.  If you have an abundance of fresh basil, skip the dried and add more fresh.  Add all ingredients, except oil, to your food processor and pulse 4 or 5 times.  Turn processor on low and drizzle in oil.  Continue to process to desired consistency.  Adjust oil as needed.  If this is too oily for you, add more spinach.

Crust:

3 C yuca** (cut and boiled until fork tender, about 20 minutes)
1/4 C EVOO
1/2 t sea salt
1/2 t garlic powder (or 1 clove fresh)
1 T Italian seasoning
1 C tapioca starch (for flouring your cutting board)
2 T coconut flour (or cornmeal) for flouring pizza peel

For BTD: Use this recipe for crust: Thin Crispy Paleo Pizza Crust 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Place boiled and drained yuca into your food processor along with the olive oil and spices.  Process until it forms a dough ball.  This doesn't take long.  Remove dough from the food processor and allow to cool.  Lightly flour your cutting board and flop your cooled dough down onto the cutting board.  I divide my dough into however many pizzas I'm making.  Smaller, personal size pizzas are easier to work work.  Sprinkle your pizza peel with a little coconut flour.  Roll your dough ball out, using tapioca as needed to prevent sticking.

I slide my dough scraper under each side then gently lift and place on the peel.  I have a pizza stone and I slide my crust right onto my stone and cook for about 5 minutes.  If you don't have a stone, lightly oil a cookie sheet and bake your dough on that.  You can also precook these in a cast iron skillet on the stove top, then top and bake in the oven.  If you are making several, as in you have 6 people in your family, I would suggest stove top as it is quicker. 

Now that your crust has precooked, top it and quickly get it back into the oven.  If you let it sit too long, it will be difficult to move.  I top mine with either a vegan pesto or Whole 30 compliant pasta sauce and your choice of meat (if you desire) and veggies.  The pizza pictured was topped with vegan pesto, fresh, sliced tomatoes, calamata olives, onions and artichokes.  If you eat it, a little fresh goat cheese would not be remiss here.  Place back in the oven and bake for an additional 5+ minutes.  Watch it and don't let it burn.  Slice and enjoy!

**You can find yuca in most grocery store produce sections but a friend recently told me about the frozen ethnic section where you can find frozen yuca and plantains!  I never knew.  If you buy it fresh, it goes bad pretty quickly, characterized by black streaks running through the white flesh and a terrible odor.  So, either plan to use within a day or 2, or buy frozen.

I have to give credit to my friend, Chef Gina, over at food highs for introducing me to yuca.  The egg rolls were fantastic but my entire family looked at me and said, "I wonder how this would taste as pizza dough???"

This also makes an awesome flat bread.  Cook as instructed above in a cast iron skillet, until golden on each side.  The sandwich below was made with leftover dough from the pizza pictured on the top.

Click here for printable version: Paleo Pizza Crust with Vegan Pesto

Yuca Crust with Tomato Sauce, Moxarella Cheese, Meat & Veggies

Yuca Flat Bread with Pesto, Spinach and Avocado