Anyone for Pizza? - Runi

Raw pizza is one of my favourite raw recipes. On Anand’s and my first date Anand made me raw pizza. It was my introduction to gourmet raw foods and looked and smelt delicious. I couldn’t believe that it was possible to produce pizza out of only raw ingredients. However, he offered me only one piece of pizza together with a salad. I was quite alarmed. His explanation, that on a raw food diet the quantity of food one eats is so much less than on a cooked food diet, did little to calm me. At the time I would eat 3-4 pieces of cooked pizza in a meal (well to be honest sometimes I’d eat 5 pieces). As it was our first date I was concerned that while he would be quite satisfied with one slice of pizza I certainly would not. I eyed off another two pieces whilst wondering how to avoid appearing a glutton.

I nibbled my way through the pizza hoping to prolong having to asking for more. To my surprise one piece satisfied me. As the base of the pizza was made with brazil nuts and buckwheat it didn’t trigger the usual cravings that I would experience when eating pizza. I felt a wonderful lightness that I had never associated with eating before. I was so used to feeling a dead weight in my stomach after eating. I thought that being weighed down was the price to pay if I wanted my hunger to be satisfied. This was the start to my journey with raw food and the beginning of the end of my struggle with food.

I’d like to share with you our favourite recipe for pizza bases and some photos of them being made. I find them very enjoyable and easy to make. The Excalibur Dehydrator is ideal for the task as the bases fit easily onto the trays.

1 cup buckwheat groats (soaked for 6 hours).

1 cup Brazil nuts

3 tablespoons ground flaxseeds

1 tablespoon fresh basil

1 tablespoon fresh parsley

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon tamari

1 pinch Celtic sea salt

Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Spread the mixture out to 1 cm thickness on a non-stick dehydrator sheet. Cut out a pizza base using a pizza tray as a guide. Dehydrate at 45°C for 6 hours. Remove the non-stick sheet and leave the pizza base on a dehydrator mesh tray. Continue to dehydrate for a further 6-9 hours. You can store the pizza bases in the freezer and use them when needed.

So there you have a gluten-free, wheat-free and sugar free alternative to pizza. We will be demonstrating how to make pizzas along with 7 other amazingly delicious raw recipes in our next The Art of Organic Gourmet Raw Food Preparation class in Melbourne on Sunday 20 Jan.

Love Runi