Pick Me Up With Your hands - Egg Plant and Coconut Flour Pizza Crust

OH. YES. I. DID.

After the wild success of my Insanely Good Spaghetti Squash Pizza Crust, I decided to give it another go with egg plant instead of squash. 

Why you ask? When it was so good with spaghetti squash. Two reasons: 

One - Raw egg plant only has 2 grams of net carbohydrates per cup whereas cooked spaghetti squash has 8 grams of net carbohydrates. It might seem like I'm splitting hairs here - 8 grams of net carbohydrates is not something to get worried about. For a NORMAL person. But my Candida diet went down the drain and I had to restart based on eating some "normally" acceptable Candida diet foods like minuscule portions of gluten-free oats. I am in hyper-vigilantes mode. I cut carbs where I can.  

Two - You need to roast the spaghetti squash before making the pizza which makes it take longer and requires some pre-planning. This one can be whipped up at the last minute if need be. 

I have never eaten egg plant in my life and was eager to try something new. Gotta keep things interesting when you are on as restrictive of a diet as the Candida diet. 

In this recipe I just included the egg plant raw and adjusted the cooking time accordingly.  And it turned out awesome. The texture of the crust was sturdy - we could pick it up and eat it with our hands. Not always the case with gluten-free, vegetable based crusts. You can taste the egg plant slightly. If you love egg plant that will be a bonus. If you don't, you might not like it. 

Once again, my pizza obsessed hubby was impressed, amazed and shocked that he LOVED this pizza. 

This recipe does use a modest amount of mozzarella. Some Candida diets allow it, some don't. I wouldn't eat this everyday - but a small portion of mozza a couple times a week seems to be working out for me. I don't have a particularly high food sensitivity to dairy so I can handle it. Again - just listen to your own body. 

So we loved this pizza crust. We also love the spaghetti squash pizza crust. We also love the Wheat Belly Pizza Crust #1. But this one is the lowest calorie, lowest carb and lowest fat. So if that's what you are after then give it a try. And let me know if it turns out...............

Pick me up Egg Plant and Coconut Flour Pizza Crust

by MamaChanty

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes for crust

Keywords: bake entree candida-diet friendly gluten-free low-carb nut-free sugar-free wheat belly vegetarian coconut flour egg eggplant

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Ingredients (1 - 12 inch pizza)

• 1 3/4 cup peeled and grated eggplant, I used about half of one large eggplant
• 1 clove fresh garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/4 cup ground golden flax seed
• 2 Tbsp organic coconut flour
• 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1 cup mozza cheese, shredded (loosely packed)
• 1/3 cup liquid free-run egg whites

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a pizza baking pan with parchment paper (don't skip this step or it will likely stick).

Peel and grate your eggplant using a cheese grater. Sprinkle with salt and let stand for 10 minutes. It will get some of the bitter taste and water out.

Add egg and mozza cheese. Combine.

Combine all the dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix thoroughly.

Let stand at least 15 minutes to let the coconut flour absorb some of the liquids.

Using the back of a spoon, spread the mixture on the parchment paper. Mine was about 1/4 inch thick and made a 12 inch pizza.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes at 350 degrees and then turn oven up to 400 degrees and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it to make sure the bottom is not browning to quickly. Adjust temperature and time as needed based on your oven and baking sheet. The center should seem "dry" when its cooked enough and the bottom will be browned.

Add pizza toppings and bake for another 10-15 minutes until toppings are cooked and cheese is melted. Broil for two minutes to crisp up cheese if necessary.

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