Pepperoni & Mushroom Pizza with lupin flour crust

Low carb and gluten-free pizza crust dough made with lupin flour and topped with pepperoni and mushrooms. Great tasting lupin flour pizza crust packed with protein and fibre, perfect for a low carb diets or for any day when you want to feel a little lighter!

Why make this recipe?

• Perfect pizza crust dough made with low carb lupin flour, which helps to release energy slowly and doesn’t give you a sugar spike like regular flours
• Gluten-free pizza

Any specialist equipment needed?

You can make this lupin flour pizza crust entirely by hand, but if you have a mixer with a kneading hook you can use that too. A traditional pizza stone is handy to have, but again it’s not essential. You can bake this pizza on any large baking tray.

What makes this recipe work?

I wanted to keep things simple, so I’m not using any eggs, sugar, honey or butter in my lupin flour pizza crust recipe. It’s simply just flour, water, yeast, salt, oil and xanthan gum to replace the gluten in flour.

Ingredients

Lupin flour

Lupin flour is here for a reason, because it’s very high in fibre, protein and low in carbohydrates. It’s pretty miraculous flour, if you ask me, and perfect to make our lupin flour pizza crust!

Lupin flour has a slightly bitter taste to it (on it’s own), which is why I’m not using it as it is, but adding more gluten free flour .

Gluten free flour

To compliment the lupin flour and to make sure that this pizza is as low carb as it can be, use low carb gluten free flour blend.

You can also mix your own flours with oat flours, tapioca, almond, coconut and other gluten free flours. I’ve even seen low carb flour mix sold in a packs, which is very handy as you don’t need to do the mixing yourself.

Salt

Use any kind of salt you like. I like to use sea salt, but flavoured salts (like garlic, herbs or smoked flavour) are great too.

Xanthan gum

This is quite an important ingredient when baking with gluten free flour, as it replaces the gluten and helps to bind the flour together. Xanthan gum is essential for ensuring the flour has a stretch, doesn’t crumble, stays together and doesn’t fall apart.

Water

For best effect use tepid (slightly warm) water to make the dough. If you use cold water the dough might take longer to rise, but it won’t spoil the dough. The only thing you shouldn’t do is to use hot water as that would destroy the yeast (even instant one!)

Yeast

These days, it’s much easier to buy instant yeast, so that’s what I use. There is no need to add sugar or honey to start this yeast, it will get activated the minute you mix it with water.

If you do happen to have a fresh yeast, use double the quantity and leave the yeast to froth up in a warm water for 10-20 minutes before you want to use it. You might like to add a teaspoon of honey, sugar or other alternative sweetener as real (fresh) yeast grows better on sugar. It’s not however, completely necessary.

Oil

I use vegetable oil, but sunflower oil is fine too. Other alternatives include butter or coconut oil or you can leave the oil out all together. Oil does make the pizza dough nice and elastic and without it it might fee a bit dry.

How to make lupin flour pizza crust

Add all your dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Mix together the lupin flour, gluten free flour mix, salt, xanthan gum and instant yeast.

Add the water and oil and start mixing with a wooden spoon.

Once the dough comes together, either knead it on a lightly oiled surface or place in a mixer with a bread hook attachment. Knead for about 10 minutes if kneading by hand or about 5 minutes if kneading by a mixer. If the dough feels too tight, add table spoon of water at a time and carry on kneading until the dough feels soft and pliable.

Shape the dough into a ball and leave it to rise covered in a plastic bowl with a tea towel or a plastic bag.

Once the dough has doubled in size (this can take about 30-40 minutes), roll it out to a thin pizza base. You can also make 2-3 smaller pizzas.

Add your toppings – I’ve used thick tomato paste on the base with pepperoni and mushrooms and topped up with grated cheddar cheese.

Preheat your oven to 350 F (180 C)

Place your pizza tray in the middle shelf and bake for about 10-15 minutes until the base and sides of your lupin flour pizza crust are just golden brown. Depending on the amount of water in the dough and the type of flour you’ve used, this might be longer.

Remove from the oven and serve hot with a side salad.

Dietary requirements

• Gluten Free
• Dairy Free
• Low Carb
• Suitable for Keto diet

Allergies

If you are sensitive to peanuts or soya, you might be sensitive to lupin flour, since lupin is related to the same legume family as peanuts and soya beans.

Lupin flour, however doesn’t contain any nuts (tree nuts, such as walnuts, hazelnuts etc.).

Side dishes & recipes to compliment this recipe

Serving size & scaling up this recipe

This recipe makes 2 medium sized pizzas, if you make a very thin crust or one large sized pizza. You are welcome to double or triple this recipe to make more pizza. Alternatively, you can always prepare more dough than what you need and then freeze some and keep it for later.

How to serve your pizza

Perfect as it is or add some low carb salad options, such as mixed salad, cherry tomatoes, cucumber sticks, olives or similar.

My top tips on making lupin flour pizza crust successfully the first time round

If the dough feels too tight, crumbly or doesn’t seems to come together, add a table spoon of water at a time and carry on kneading until the dough feels soft and pliable.

When shaping the dough, start rolling the rough from the middle and add even pressure. Loosen the dough by pulling gently on the sides of the dough until you get the shape you need.

Start pre-heating your oven once you’ve finished with your pizza toppings. Your pizza dough still needs to prove for a little while and if you have your pizza baking tray on top of the oven whilst it’s pre-heating, that is just the right time for the pizza to finish proving.

Can this recipe be made in advance?

Pizzas are best served straightaway, but if you want to you can re-heat the pizza either in the oven or microwave.

How to store this pizza if you have any leftovers

Best to store in a fridge in an airtight container and eat with 1-2 days. Eat cold or heat up the lupin flour pizza crust in the microwave or oven.

How to re-heat this recipe

You can re-heat the pizza in the oven (350F or 180C for about 5 min) or in a microwave (30 seconds for one slice)