Perfect Paleo Pizza (Cassava Flour Pizza Crust and Dairy-Free Mozzarella)

This paleo pizza recipe tastes just like the real thing! Made with almond flour, cassava flour, and yeast, the crust has an airy, chewy texture, and it’s surprisingly easy to make.  This paleo pizza recipe is topped with a dairy-free fresh mozzarella that melts and stretches!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

I feel like this recipe is the food blog equivalent of a mic drop.

It’s real damn pizza. It’s not even that: it’s real damn Italian-style pizza. It’s what we ate at the little pizzeria by the Duomo on our honeymoon in Italy; it’s what we fed Leo at that little Italian-owned restaurant on the plaza in Barcelona. It’s that pizza in our minds, with the crust, crisp on the outside and tender on the outside, layered with fresh mozzarella and fresh basil, by which we judge all other pizzas.

And it’s paleo. What! How!

I’m pretty sure it’s sorcery. And if this perfect paleo pizza is wrong, I don’t wanna be right. There, I said it!

It occurred to me when I was writing my article about how to use cassava flour the other day that, though cassava flour can get a bit sticky on the inside when used in volume, it could make the perfect pizza crust. But I wanted to bloom some yeast and let the paleo flour blend rise, adding to the depth of flavor of the crust, plenty of air pockets, and a tenderness that you wouldn’t get from an unrisen dough.

How To Make It

Essentially, I took my perfect food processor pizza dough recipe and made a few small changes: swap out the all-purpose flour for a paleo blend, focused around cassava flour, add eggs for binding, and a bit of sweetness for the yeast to really bite into. The result was perfection. A crust that was crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, soft but firm, and really relatively easy to work with. I plopped a ball on parchment paper, pressed it out into a thin circle, and slid the parchment paper onto a preheated baking sheet in the oven. Tada!

I really hope you try this perfect paleo pizza recipe, so you can share in the excitement! Make sure, in your dumfoundedness, you snap 6-7 different angles of the crust and tag me in them. I’m right there with you! How is this real life?!

What Makes This Recipe So Good

• The paleo pizza dough creates a crust that’s light and airy yet chewy. Just like regular ol’ gluten-laden pizza!
• It uses yeast to create a paleo pizza dough that really rises, and it smells amazing.
• The dairy-free “fresh mozzarella” is easy to make and melts and stretches like real mozzarella.

Variations

• Top this paleo pizza crust with dairy-free “mozzarella” shreds, if you prefer, or you can leave the cheese off entirely!
• Use real mozzarella if you tolerate it well. Raw if you can find it. It’s an amazing combo!
• Finish the pizza with whatever creative toppings you’re into. We like anchoves, pepperoni, and pickled jalapeño slices. Or crack on egg on it – so good!
• Grill your pizza: preheat a pizza stone or baking sheet on the grill. Make the pizza as directed but cut the parchment paper down to close to the pizza dough’s size after topping. Slide the prepared pizza onto the preheated pizza stone or baking sheet and cook with the lid closed about 7 minutes, or until the crust has risen and there are dark spots on the “cheese.”

Tips

• This paleo pizza dough recipe will not look like a regular ball of pizza dough. It’s going to look like a thick cake batter, but that’s totally OK!
• Make sure you sprinkle lots of cassava flour on top of the paleo pizza dough when you’re forming the crust. It will be very sticky otherwise.
• Preheat a baking sheet in the oven then carefully slide your paleo pizza, with the sauce, cheese, and toppings, from parchment paper on one baking sheet to the preheated baking sheet. Check out my video below to help understand that process. Baking on a preheated sheet makes all the difference in that authentic taste!

How To Make It

Bloom your yeast: stir the yeast and honey into the warm water and let sit until foamy and fragrant, about 10-20 minutes.

In a food processor fitted with the dough blade, combine flours and salt and pulse to combine. Then stir in the bloomed yeast and olive oil and pulse until combined. Add in eggs and process until smooth like a cake batter, scraping down the sides with a spatula as necessary. Transfer mixture to a medium or large mixing bowl; cover with a clean dish cloth and let sit in a warm place 60-90 minutes.

Meanwhile, make your dairy-free fresh mozzarella: combine all mozzarella ingredients in a high-speed blender, preferably a personal blender container, as this makes it easier to get a very smooth texture. Blend on high speed then transfer to a saucepan and heat over medium heat, whisking constantly. It will become clumpy and might even appear to seize up, but keep whisking! It will turn into a thickened, gooey texture. When this happens, continue to whisk for another minute. Transfer to a jar and chill.

Preheat oven to 500º F with a baking sheet, turned upside down, in the bottom 1/3 of the oven.

After 60-90 minutes, your paleo pizza dough should have risen a bit, but it will not be doubled in size. Divide the dough into two equal parts and, working with one half at a time, scrape out onto a piece of parchment paper about the size of a baking sheet. Sprinkle with plenty cassava flour and pat into a disc, about 1/2 inch thick.

Using the back of a spoon, spread tomato sauce onto paleo pizza crust, leaving about 3/4″ inch for crust. Using a disher, scoop out little balls of “mozzarella” and place evenly around the crust, or sprinkle liberally with shredded cheese. Sprinkle with dried oregano and freshly cracked black pepper then place fresh basil leaves around.

Slide the prepared pizza, on the parchment paper, onto a baking sheet, turned upside down.

Open the oven and gently slide the prepared pizza with parchment paper onto the preheated baking sheet. Bake 6-8 minutes or until cheese has a couple dark spots and crust has risen a bit.

Carefully remove, leaving baking sheet in to retain heat for the remaining pizza, and use a pizza cutter to cut into slices after a few minutes of resting time. Repeat with remaining paleo pizza.

What If the Dough Is Too Runny?

It’s important that you follow the recipe exactly and use the exact amount of arrowroot, almond flour, and cassava flour specified. That said, it will not look like a ball of dough. Instead, the dough, prior to rising, will look like soft serve or a thick cake batter. Gluten is what makes regular pizza dough ball together, and we ain’t using any of that! So it will not be a ball, but it should not be like soup, either. If your is like soup, you’ve almost certainly included the wrong measurement of an ingredient. I’ve tested this recipe multiple times and have the same result each time.

It’s also important to bloom the yeast properly. It will take about 20 minutes, but this will help with the consistency and taste, too.

Can I use any kind of cassava flour?

I’ve only used Anthony’s but I’ve heard it works well with Otto’s, too! That said, I love Anthony’s in general and think you should stock up on their cassava flour. It’s affordable and consistent in my experience.

Other Recipes You’ll Love

• Perfect Grilled Pizza
• Whole30 Zuppa Toscana
• Bruschetta Chicken
• Whole30 Caesar Dressing
• 40 of the Best Paleo Recipes Around
• Paleo Chinese Chicken Salad (Whole30)
• Breakfast Egg Roll in a Bowl (Whole30, Paleo)