By Melanie Gulliver

A perfect tart for summer lunches or beach picnics, this tart is based on a recipe from one of my favourite chefs, Yotam Ottolenghi. I love this GF pizza base so much that I often use it for all my pizzas- it is much quicker to make than regular pizza dough as you do not need to leave it to prove at all. The dough comes together in about 10 minutes flat. If you are still not sure about making your own dough you can always buy a GF dough base in the supermarket or use a regular puff pastry base as Yotam does in his original recipe.

I also prefer to cut down a lot of the butter used in the original recipe for a much healthier version.

Gluten Free Pizza Dough- makes one 30cm pizza base

Ingredients:

1 tbsp dry yeast (gluten free)

2/3 cup brown rice flour

½ cup starch (any will do- tapioca, potato, arrowroot)

2 tsp xanthan gum (available on line or in many organic stores this helps give a stretchy feel to gf dough)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dried oregano or herbes de Provence

Up to 1 cup water

1 tsp agave or maple syrup

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Heat oven to 200C.

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor but only add half the water.

You should have a sticky ball of dough once all ingredients are well combined but if it is too dry add some more water gradually- if your dough is too sticky add some more flour.

Using more rice flour on the work surface and rolling pin, roll out your dough to slightly larger than your pizza pan or baking sheet. Grease your pizza pan. TIP- to make it easier to transfer the dough to the pan you can roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper, then peel off the top layer of paper, put your pan over the dough and flip it over.

Put your dough in the pan and make the edges slightly thicker by pushing the dough into the edges. I like to leave the edges of the dough protruding over the pan as this gives a nice home made touch. The dough will shrink back some when it cooks so do leave some overlap.

Bake your dough blind for 10 minutes- this means you bake it empty to make the base nice and crispy. To do this, place some aluminum foil across the pizza base and pour in some dry rice or beans to keep the pastry from rising unevenly.

Remove the base from the oven and add your pizza or tart toppings before finishing off in the oven.

Tomato and Almond Tart Filling- dairy free and vegan options given in brackets

Ingredients:

50 g unsalted butter at room temperature (DF/vegan option 25cl olive oil or coconut oil)

3 eggs beaten (vegan option 1/3 cup aquafaba- the juice from a can of chick peas- whipped)

65g gluten free breadcrumbs

80g ground almonds

2 garlic cloves crushed

100g ricotta (DF/ vegan option 100g soya yogurt)

20g Parmesan (20g vegan Parmesan- blend ½ cup cashew nuts with 2 tbsp nutritional yeast)

2 tbsp dried or fresh thyme

1kg medium tomatoes (about 10 tomatoes) sliced thinly widthways.

A handful of wrinkly black olives, pitted

Salt and black pepper

Directions:

(If using aquafaba in place of eggs , whip it until it has become frothy and aerated). Set aside.

With an electric mixer, beat the butter until light and aerated. If using oil then place in a food processor.

With the mixer (or food processor) running, gradually add in the eggs or whipped aquafaba. If the mixture splits add a little of the breadcrumbs, and then continue adding the eggs.

Once the eggs are mixed in and using a food processor, add the breadcrumbs, the garlic, the almonds, half the thyme, ricotta (or soya yogurt), Parmesan and ½ tsp salt until combined.

Spread the almond mix on top of your pre-cooked tart base.

Lay the tomato slices on top, overlapping them as they will shrink when cooked.

Sprinkle over the olives and remaining thyme, drizzle with some olive oil and a generous grind of black pepper.

Bake for 20 minutes, turning the oven temperature down to 180C half way through. The tart should be nice and golden with the almond mix half set- t will set further as the tart cools.

NB. If using a packet dough, cook dough according to instructions.

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Melanie Gulliver is the Clever Chef and a Director of The Clever Kitchen, a local company delivering organic nutritious wholefood meals to Monaco and along the Cote d'Azur, and holding regular nutrition workshops in Monaco and Nice.  Melanie takes orders for custom cakes and events as well.

 

Contact details:

www.theclever.kitchen

 

Melanie@theclever.kitchen, +33 (0)6 15 21 63 53
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