Millet Flour Pizza Dough
Speed - 99%
Simplicity - 99%
Tastiness - 95%
98%
Tasty!
The millet grains added a unique flavor to this pizza crust. It came out really crisp and not by in anyway crumbly.
Ingredients
For the Millet Flour Pizza Dough
- 1/2 Cup Millet Flour
- 1/2 Cup Tapioca Flour
- 1/2 Cup Soy Milk
- 1 Piece Egg beaten
- 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
For the Toppings
- 1/2 Cup Pizza Sauce
- 1 Cup Cooked Chicken Breast Slices
- 1/2 Cup Mushrooms sliced
- 1/2 Cup Mozzarella Cheese
- Fresh Cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Whisk millet flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, garlic powder, and salt in a bowl.
- Mix in the egg and soy milk.
- Pour the batter into a non-stick skillet and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes.
- Transfer the crust to a baking pan and put on your choice of toppings.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 425F.
I’ve been wanting to try out millet flour for my pizza dough for quite some time now (I’ve experimented with many other flours too, including rice flour and lupin flour). The problem is, I can’t find one in the nearby specialty health shop. Not willing to wait for the next batch of deliveries to come, I went with whole millet grains thinking that I can grind them easily myself.
Processing these millet grains in my coffee grinder was a lot easier than I was expecting, taking just under a minute.
Run the processed flour through a fine sieve to get those last bits of grain out of the flour. They can make your pizza crust really gritty.
The flour still came out too grainy to hold up into a smooth dough.
My mind was clearly set on making up something similar to a pancake batter, cooking it initially in a non-stick pan, then finishing it off to crisp in the oven.
I added an egg for binding, a good pinch of baking powder to lighten it up a bit, and some soy milk to get it to the consistency I like. You may go for any milk if you wish, or simply water. I went for soy milk to keep this batter vegetarian-friendly.
Still too loose – those little millet grains were still so distinct. I knew some dense flour had to go in to give structure to my batter. I instantly thought tapioca flour would be my best bet given its sticky nature.
The batter cooked really nicely in a non-stick pan, dense enough to crisp up in the oven.
I wanted to see how this millet flour crust would hold up to heavy toppings. Chicken slices, mushrooms, mozzarella. . . I think that’s heavy enough to test this dough’s strength.
After another 15 minutes in the oven, the dough came out holding really well. Crisp but not crumbly at all. It really had a unique flavor too, similar to chickpeas, which was perfectly enhanced by the addition of garlic powder in the batter.
I’ve been using the Bakerstone Box to grill my pizzas outside with awesome results. It works well, even with gluten free pizza doughs that need to be baked on a pan!
Millet Flour
As the recipe shows, I took advantage of both millet and tapioca flour to create the desired consistency for this pizza dough. A key reason was simply that I made the millet flour myself, as the end result might be a little different if you bought the flour from the store. Nevertheless, the dough itself came out well and is perfect for making homemade pizza.
Of the two flour types, tapioca is probably more common and is often considered one of the best performing gluten-free flours. In fact, tapioca flour is used in a range of different types of dishes, particularly as a thickening agent.
But, millet flour also has some appealing aspects.
Millet itself is a term that refers to a group of grasses that produce small seeds, with the most common variety being pearl millet. Although it is common in many types of the world, millet isn’t a traditional food source in Northern America. Still, as interest in gluten-free eating grows, there has been an increased focus on the potential of millet for cooking.
By far, the biggest advantage of millet is that it is structurally similar to wheat. As a result, baking with millet can often give similar outcomes but without the gluten. This is a great advantage, especially as many people hate the way that gluten-free baking turns out.
Using Millet Flour
Millet flour tends to have a sweet flavor, similar to what you find with sorghum. However, unlike sorghum, there is no bitter aftertaste. In most cases, the flour is mixed with other types of gluten-free flour, as I did with this recipe. The other types of flour are important, as they help with binding.
For example, adding a little millet flour to a traditional bread recipe can result in bread that is lighter overall but also has a crunchy crust. Likewise, millet flour is commonly used in other types of recipes, like millet flat bread.
While the flour is versatile, it can be somewhat tricky to use. As my own experience shows, millet grains tend to be fairly distinct, which makes them hard to cook with on their own. This is why most recipes call for at least one other type of flour. For example, I used millet as one component of my Cornmeal Pizza Dough as well.
Millet and Diets
As millet is gluten-free, it is perfect for people on a gluten-free diet. But, even though it is technically a seed, millet isn’t compatible with some other diet types. In particular, common recommendations for ketosis and for paleo diets suggest that you should avoid millet, even though it technically complies with paleo.
On a side note, excessive consumption of millet can potentially harm your thyroid. As a result, it’s best to use this as one of the grains in your diet, rather than relying on millet flour every time you bake.
Ingredients
For the Millet Flour Pizza Dough
- 1/2 Cup Millet Flour
- 1/2 Cup Tapioca Flour
- 1/2 Cup Soy Milk
- 1 Piece Egg beaten
- 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
For the Toppings
- 1/2 Cup Pizza Sauce
- 1 Cup Cooked Chicken Breast Slices
- 1/2 Cup Mushrooms sliced
- 1/2 Cup Mozzarella Cheese
- Fresh Cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Whisk millet flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, garlic powder, and salt in a bowl.
- Mix in the egg and soy milk.
- Pour the batter into a non-stick skillet and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes.
- Transfer the crust to a baking pan and put on your choice of toppings.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 425F.
Ian
I will start with WOW. This is my first attempt at making pizza as I always avoid cooking with yeast. I have to say this turned out extremely well. I did not have tapioca flour but pearls which I ground to powder in my Nutribullet. May be that made my mixture at first doughy than batter. I had to add a bit more than a half cup more of soy milk. I used the cup of chicken but doubled mushrooms (I used cremini seasoned with a teaspoon of garlic powder and a drizzle of olive oil), and extra mozzarella. I want to say we demolished the whole thing. Thank you for a great recipe.
Lee
That is a nice excellent recipe! I subbed hemp milk and poured it onto a piece of parchment on a cookie sheet because I don’t have a nonstick skillet, baked at 350 for 15 minutes, took out of oven, loaded it up and popped back in oven at 450 for 15 mins on just the parchment. It was solid and strong, crunchy and really good! Thank you!
Maria
Hi. Can you use water instead of milk in this recipe? Thanks.
Food For Net
Sure, give it a try. May take a few tries to get the recipe right!
Maria
Hi. What do you mean by 1 piece egg? Thanks! Looking forward to making this tonight!
Food For Net
Just a weird phrasing on my part. That’s one egg.
Maria
Hi. So I made this dough the other night using one large egg and just over 1/2 cup of water since I didn’t have milk on hand. The dough was thick and didn’t spread out easily in the pan when cooking for 5 minutes before placing it in the oven (I also used store bought millet flour). It baked up fine, but was much thicker than what you have pictured and a tad dry. I did like the flavor overall, but was wondering what consistency should the dough be after mixing the ingredients? I definitely would like to make this again, but hoping for a thinner more doughy crust! Thank you!
Kathrine
This is super delicious!! My new go to from now on! Even my pizza loving husband LOVED it!
Phyllis
What consistency should the dough be after mixing? I can’t wait to try this because I was searching for a dough that doesn’t require yeast!
Food For Net
Dough consistency similar to any other type of pizza, and you can turn most doughs into non-yeast doughs, although the taste and texture will be a lot different. Adding yeast means adding air to the tough which makes it a lighter crust.