As a food blogger there are times that you get really excited about writing a post because you know you’ve outdone yourself and come up with something awesome. This is one of those times!
After the dismal failure of the flax crackers earlier this week I was down, but not out. I knew that the low carb cracker recipe could work, but it needed some tweaking.
Meanwhile I’ve been thinking about how I could adapt it to make recipes for low carb bread, pizza dough, pie crust etc., and have literally lain awake at night mulling over different ideas.
Today my son had his first one-on-one play date here at our house, and it went great. Awww, such a big boy now! I promised the kids pizza for dinner and had picked up some traditional dough and a variety of toppings.
This was the perfect opportunity for me to try out my flax pizza crust recipe idea (since I am still eating low carb) so I got to work.
It came out even better than I’d hoped! First of all, the recipe has only got three ingredients, and is completely (net) carb free since the flax’s only carbs are from fiber.
It’s made with whole ingredients that are actually good for you, which isn’t always the case with low carb store bought products which usually have all kinds of chemicals and fillers in them to make them taste and feel authentic. Not this recipe!
Loaded with fiber and healthy fats, whether you are low carb, gluten free, or just want more Omega 3’s in your diet, this pizza recipe is for you. AND it tastes really great! I’m so excited about this! Could you tell? Seriously, it’s all I can do not to write this post IN ALL CAPS! Wow that would be really annoying to read. But funny. For me anyway. But I wouldn’t do that to you. I’ll just stick to overusing explanation marks instead!!!!!
Ok you’re thinking, it tastes good, it’s healthy, but can it really hold up to a saucy, cheesy, topping overload without getting soggy in the middle so that you can’t pick it up but have to eat it with a fork? I submit to you exhibit A below. It gets crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside like any good pizza dough should!
And with a nice stiffness to the finished product, there is no need to skimp on the toppings with this dough–it will hold up!!
For a low carber who is sick of either going without, or scraping the toppings off onto your plate and tossing the crust every time your family wants to order pizza, this is a dream come true!
I ate this tonight while everyone else ate the doughy, anemic looking white flour pizza and I thought they were the ones missing out! It’s that good people! I can’t wait for you to try it! And report back!
Oh yeah did I mention it was super easy to make? No rising, proofing, rolling and all that jazz – just mix all the ingredients together and press onto a greased cookie sheet. Pre-bake for a few minutes, then add your toppings and bake until bubbly and cooked through. Ridiculously easy.
Low Carb Flax & Parmesan Pizza Crust (Gluten Free)
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 1 cup flax meal (ground flax seeds)
- 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Mix the flax meal and Parmesan (or Romano) cheese in a medium bowl. Add the eggs and stir until a dough is formed. It will be sticky, let it sit for about 5 minutes or so until it’s easier to work with.
- Wet your hands with water to help keep the dough from sticking to them and press onto greased cookie sheet about 1/3 inch thick in a circle. You should get about a 10 inch crust out of it – if it’s a lot smaller than that you are making it too thick.
- Bake in a preheated 350 degree (F) oven for 8 minutes. Remove.
- Add toppings. Bake for another 15 minutes at 350. Remove.
- Cool. Eat. Swoon.
- Category: Entree
- Cuisine: Pizza
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 pizza (crust only)
- Calories: 239
- Fat: 18g
- Carbohydrates: 0.4
- Protein: 13g
Sample pizza recipe
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 1 recipe Flax & Parmesan Pizza Crust
- 1/2 cup sugar free marinara sauce
- 1 Italian Sausage Link, cooked and chopped
- 1/2 cup broccoli florets, cooked
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Par-bake the crust as described above.
- Add your toppings and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees (F).
- Cut into 4 pieces. Each piece is considered one serving.
- Category: Entree
- Cuisine: Pizza
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 piece
- Calories: 381
- Fat: 19g
- Carbohydrates: 4g
- Protein: 24g
UPDATE: I’ve since made a new pizza crust recipe that I think is better than this one, it uses less flax and is even better tasting for it. So before you make this, check out my other Low Carb & Gluten Free Pizza Crust and see if you might want to try that one instead! Please note that the second recipe uses coconut flour and hemp seeds in addition to the flax – if you’re looking for something simple and with just a few ingredients, this one might be right for you after all.
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In other news, for a limited time I’m bundling my Amazon best-selling e-book The Gluten Free Low Carber with my first two issues of the IBIH ezine for only $9.99 – that’s a discount of over 50%!
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Stacey Ballis says
Adapted it a teeny bit (credited of course!) over at my blog http://www.thepolymathchronicles.blogspot.com
Thanks for the inspiration!
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Thanks Stacey! I may try your version myself! And I agree with everything you said in your post. :)
Anonymous says
Low carb doesn’t work? Who says? From Halloween 2011 to now over 35 pounds have dropped off, and just by getting rid of the obvious crap (pasta, potatoes, rice, bread etc) This looks interesting, especially now that I have found out what “Net Carbs” are …. BONUS!
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Good for you! Congrats! Higher in the comments another commenter mentions that for her diabetes her doctors recommend calculating net carbs by deducting only half the fiber from the total. So if you find that you are slowing down in your weight loss using the one to one ratio, try the half fiber to one carb.
Gigglingtoes says
This blog has such great ideas. I just started a food/recipe blog with things like cauliflower hashbrowns and salmon patties if you can check it out I would love it! Keep up the great work!!
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
I tried to check out your blog but there is no link and when I click on your profile it says it isn’t available. Sorry!
Lauren says
The pizza was great. We piled it high with roasted tomatoes and broccoli, and used my kale pesto as the sauce. Then a little more parmesan, and some goat cheese on top. Delicious!
The version of the candida diet I did was very strict: no dairy, no fruit (because of the sugar). I found it very challenging, and felt pretty low energy by the end of it. I always try to bake without sugar (other than from fruit), so I’m just back to that. And, I just love dairy, so I’m back to my usual super healthy, but not-candida style diet. Feel free to shoot me an email if you want to chat more about this :)
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Hey Lauren, awesome that you liked the pizza crust and your toppings sound great! I’m not doing Candida diet either because no carbs AND no cheese just feels impossible to me. :)
Lauren says
I am making this crust right now. I only wish I’d discovered your blog before I did the Candida diet. Your recipes would have made the whole process a lot better!
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Ugh, the Candida Diet is brutal! Are you still doing it or just watching your carbs? Let me know how your pizza turns out!
Blot says
I tried making and baking some of this. I think my golden-flax meal is starting to get a bit stale, as the flavor seemed a little strong. Maybe with freshly-ground meal it’s better. Over-bake it and it goes from sort of leathery to quite crisp, and makes an okay cracker. I haven’t tried it as a pizza crust yet, but it’s as palatable as any flax-cracker recipe I’ve tried. (Type 1 diabetic for over forty years, and low-carb is the easiest way I’ve gotten adequate control of blood sugar.)
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Flax has a very short shelf life before it goes rancid so you should try to store it in the freezer if you have the room. Even still it can get stale which has happened to me and it’s a very unpleasant flavor. You should really be mostly tasting the saltiness of the cheese and very mild nuttiness from the flax so I hope you’ll try it again with a new batch of flax meal and report back! Also I recently posted a rosemary and sea salt cracker using this basic dough which is tasty and if you don’t like the flax flavor the rosemary definitely helps with that. Thanks for the comment!
Stacey Ballis says
I’m a recently diagnosed diabetic myself, just since July, and have lost 40 lbs so far doing low carb. Can’t wait to try your recipes! But both my doctor and my diabetic nutritionist nurse said that carbs and fiber don’t net out one to one, that to figure out net carbs you deduct HALF the grams of fiber from the total carb load and that is your new number. This is still a terrific and low-carb option for all of us, but it isn’t no carbs by my team’s rules. Keep up the inspiring work!
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Thanks for that Stacey, I’ve never heard that before. Do they mean the net carbs in a recipe aren’t one to one or the net carbs in a specific ingredient? My understanding has been that in a single ingredient, the fiber carbs don’t impact insulin so they can be subtracted from the total carbs – but that carbs in a recipe or dish can’t be cancelled out by another ingredient’s fiber. If that’s not the case then I definitely want to know – I’ll be doing more research on this for sure, thanks a lot for the head’s up! Congrats on the weight loss and I hope you enjoy the recipes!
Stacey Ballis says
According to my team, the way to figure out the net carbs of even a single ingredient is to deduct 1/2 the total fiber grams from the total carb grams. This conservative method helps ensure that I am not allowing those “sneaky carbs” to derail my program. I think for your blog, the best thing is to say for diabetics who really need 100% control over sugar and carb load to use that method, but you can always say that for people who are just trying to go low-carb the numbers might even be better. Trying this pizza crust tonight, and can’t wait!
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Thanks so much for this Stacey! It’s a great method to try if weight loss has stalled on low carb too and may help break through the plateau’s. I’m going to try it myself and see if it helps speed my progress! I really appreciate you sharing that info!
Anna says
your recipes look amazing!!! can’t wait to try them – so tired of doing low carb thinking i can only eat eggs, meat, cheese and plain veggies. no more!
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
I hope you like them Anna! I agree, low carb can get so boring and I want to enjoy my food no matter what my dietary restrictions might be. To do otherwise just gets depressing after awhile!
dwhitman says
I was diagnosed with diabetes about 3 months ago, and am struggling to minimize carbohydrates in my diet. Will definitely be trying this – thanks for sharing the recipe!
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Sorry to hear about your diabetes, I have family members recently diagnosed as well. It’s definitely a major diet change but there are many healthy alternatives to old favorites! I wish you the best with managing it. Hopefully you’ll enjoy this recipe and it will help you stay on track!
Anonymous says
JUST made this for my 10 year old type 1 diabetic son. He LOVES it! He really loved the fact that the whole pan was 11 carbs! He is only allowed 45 grams of carbs for meals and 3 15 gram snacks during the day. There are times he is still hungry. Instead of taking more insulin he looks for things that he can eat that will fill him up and that have little carbs. This will totally work for him. Thanks.
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
You are so welcome! I’m really glad he liked it! You can make burger buns with the same dough, and variations for crackers and pie crust. I’ve been experimenting all week and there will be more recipes getting posted soon so stay tuned!