Carmella - Your barley pizza crust

[Rawkinlocs]

Hi Carmella!

I was visiting your blog the other day (VERY nice, btw!) and I noticed the "evolution" if you will, of your pizza crusts. At one point you, like me, were using Alissa's calzone crust and then you adapted that with barley, etc.

I was wondering if you could t tell me what you find the barley "does for" the crust. It looks GREAT - kinda, "crusty" for lack of better terms. Is it crispier or what do you find the diffference in texture to be between your version and the calzone recipe?

Next time I make crusts, I'd like to make your version but wanted to get some feedback from you first, if that's okay.

Thanks in advance!

[Carmella]

Hey Rawk,

Actually, you're the one who got me into using the calzone as pizza crust. he he

As for the barley crust, the texture is quite a bit different. You know how buckwheat does completely dissolve when you process it? I don't know if it was because I didn't sprout the barley long enough (I followed Alissa's suggestion to soak for 6 hours and sprout for 12-24 hrs) but some of the grains sort of remained intact in the food processor. Now, quite possibly, a Vitamix would do a much better job! LOL

Once dehydrated, the crust turned out somewhat more pliable than the buckwheat one (and therefore, a little more bread-like - but mind you, I make my calzone crusts super thin so they're always more on the crispy side). The unprocessed barley also gave it a bit of a crunch. Don and I liked it a lot.

Next time, I'll try replacing the barley with buckwheat as Ama did "by mistake". She said it turned out great.

Let me know what ya think if you do make them...

[Ama]

ha ha... I totally didn't see barley! I actually don't think I even have any right now but I loved it with the buckwheat. It came out kind of crunchy but not crumbly-crunchy nor hard-crunchy. Just the right texture for me. I didn't care for the texture of the calzone crust so this is a winner!

[carolg]

Ama,
You love the crust with barley or buckwheat for pizza. Sorry I didn't follow last message. Thanks.

carolg...who has calzone with sprouted buckwheat beleving for crack free results..........

[Ama]

I made it with buckwheat. I love it! I make little tiny pizza crusts... about 3" diameter (with a cookie cutter) and they come out great. I have to search my cupboards to see if I have any barley, I'd love to try it to see the difference.

[Rawkinlocs]

Thanks for the info Carmella!

Yeah, I like the FLAVOR of it with the calzone crust...but not too sure how I feel about the texture. I think it's good with the traditional Italian toppings, but when I did the mexi-pizza it just seemed like a different textured crust would have worked better.

I'll play around with it and try with the barley and maybe even with the sprouted/dehydrated/ground buckwheat. That's the fun of raw food - you can get as creative as you want!

[Carmella]

I'll play around with it and try with the barley and maybe even with the sprouted/dehydrated/ground buckwheat. That's the fun of raw food - you can get as creative as you want!

And so the Quest for The Perfect Pizza Crust continues... LOL

[carolg]

Or...maybe for me the Perfect Calzone Crust............
carolg

[Maria]

Hi everyone, I'm on this pizza quest too, sort of. I'm not very experienced but I'm working to improve in my un-cooking skills!

I've got Carmella's barley crust recipe in my dehydrator as we speak, and I can't wait to see how it turns out. Is it better a bit chewy? I spread the batter about 1/4" thick.

I'm also making Alissa's BBQ chicken fingers for the first time. I like the strong taste of sprouted lentils,so I'm curious to see how this will taste.
Anyone made that recipe?

Maria

[Carmella]

Maria,

Cool! I left mine still a little chewy. Once I dress the crusts up, I pop 'em back in the D for a couple of hours which continues the crusts' dehydrating process.

Let me know how you like them.

BTW, what happened on the sauerkraut front? I have some kraut in my kraut maker right now... Hope this batch works out as my last one ended up all soft for some reason, and I had to throw the whole thing out.

[Carmella]

Oops! Never mind about my kraut enquiry... I just saw that you've posted an update. ;-)