The so-called ‘North Coast 500’ seems way too neat and prescriptive- a clockwise parade of ‘go faster’ driving and sightseeing. We’ve thrown away the route handbook and elected to drive it in the other direction, as that way both of us can enjoy the coastal vistas. We’re also planning to do more than double the mileage, as Sabrina has long wanted to explore the Isle of Skye and my hiking boots have an appointment to keep in Glencoe.
Inverness airport turns out to be a micro-delight which reminds us of Warsaw’s in the early 90’s, so we are out and on the road in our rented car in thirty minutes flat. Pausing briefly for a cup of tea by Culloden battlefield and a drive by the pink sandstone piles of Inverness town centre (a cheerful change from Edinburgh’s austere granite cityscape), we head north east along the Moray Firth, through the recently harvested fields of the Black Isle (actually a peninsular, so named for its dense forests). Cromarty our destination, is a lovely little 18th century town with a tiny harbour which we gaze at over a glass of wine before the second surprise of the day, wood-fired gluten free pizzas for dinner.
Gluten free Prosciutto, Arugula and Goat Cheese Pizza: Serves 1
Gluten Free (& Vegan) Four Cheeses, Brussels Sprout, Onion and Mushroom Pizza: Serves 1
Finding good Gluten free pizzas has become something of an obsession for me, so much so that I’m even working to perfect the right combination of flours to use (an ongoing project with no Eureka! moment as yet, but this flour that I have found works extremely well giving the dough that chew you have with regular wheat flour).
Whenever I come across GF pizzas in a restaurant I can’t resist ordering them, and always make a point of asking the chef which flours they use.
Homemade wood-fired pizzas are becoming a dream come true for most of us, with so many domestic pizza ovens you can buy these days. A pizza stone for your oven can also be used for a successful outcome, you won't have the same rise as you would with a pizza oven but, a pretty good one. Ready made pizza dough works just fine but if you want a gluten-free dough, here’s how I make it:
500g Caputo GF pizza flour
10g dried active yeast
400g lukewarm water
17g salt
15g EV olive oil
Dissolve the yeast and olive oil in the water; combine the salt with the flour, and make a mound on a work surface. Make a well in the middle of the flour; pour the yeast mixture into the well. With a fork, slowly work the flour from the inside wall of the well into the liquid. When the mixture comes together and resembles a dough, work in the rest of the flour with a kneading motion, this dough is quite soft and sticky but that's how it should be. Place in an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and let it rise until it is doubled in size (about 1 hour or more in a warm place). When the dough is ready knead the dough again with GF flour on the surface until not quite as sticky but still quite soft, cut into four and roll into balls (10" size pizzas). To shape the pizza just use your fingers to push it out from the centre making sure you have enough flour underneath to prevent sticking, leaving a thicker border. This dough cannot be lifted like you would with a wheat flour dough because it will break. Put the dough on a pizza peel/paddle making sure it has plenty of flour or cornmeal underneath so it can slide onto the stone or in the pizza oven.
GF Prosciutto, Arugula and Goat Cheese Pizza
3 pieces of prosciutto
Large handful of baby arugula
2 oz goat cheese
1 tsp olive oil
If you have a pizza stone, preheat in a very hot oven, the highest temperature in your oven and if you have a top and bottom setting. Make the dough to whatever shape you want, spread the oil over the dough, then the prosciutto and the goat cheese, in that order. Slide the pizza onto the hot pizza stone. If you don’t have a stone just use a large cookie sheet turned upside down. Cook until the crust is brown then top with arugula/rocket.
GF (& Vegan) Four Cheeses, Brussels Sprout, Onion and Mushroom Pizza
1 cup of store bought “four cheeses” (dairy or vegan according to preference)
1 small onion, sliced
4 Brussels sprouts, shredded
4 mushrooms, sliced
Repeating the steps above, shape the dough, spreading 1/2 the cheese over it, then the Brussels sprouts, onion and mushrooms and top with the rest of the cheese. Cook until bubbling and brown.
Fuelled up with a full-Scottish breakfast, we opt for a final stroll around town before heading out the next morning. Alastair and Julie, the B&B’s charming owners have been filling our heads with off-piste ideas, so we avoid the main road which will otherwise be our companion until John O’Groats and try and fail to find either Croick Church with its period Highland Clearances graffiti, or the Falls of Shin. Content that not withstanding missing out on early Victorian wall art, we have at least had our fill in the past of spectacular waterfalls (Iguazu, Hawaii, Yosemite et al will have to do), we chalk the miss up to the road trip gods and rejoin the main coastal drag by vainglorious Dunrobin Castle, seat of the Dukes of Sutherland. Shedding no tears that it’s closed for a ‘family event’ we press on to Brora and a pot of tea at the Royal Marine Hotel. No culture does genteel like the Scots and this 1913 establishment is straight out of a PG Wodehouse novel. What a dramatic contrast this is to the ‘end of the world’ theme park weirdness that greets us a few hours later at John O’Groats (as over-hyped as Land’s End in Cornwall, but with much worse weather)!
With the day proving to be a major disappointment, Sabrina and I clap each other on the back for getting this section out of the way early and do the windblown hike to the black sea stacks at Duncansby Head, to try to salvage something from the wreckage. Expecting little from our final stop other than yet another cup of tea, we arrive at The Castle of Mey five minutes before the last entry, just as the rain and clouds race away in the North Atlantic breeze, and find we have the place to ourselves.
Without exaggeration, this former summer residence of the Queen Mother is one of the most beautiful in these islands. This is no stately home, but rather a manageably sized fortified house with a gorgeous walled garden full of surprisingly exotic plants, in a spectacular clifftop location. It’s all about the exterior though, as indoors the décor has been cobbled together from Laura Ashley and John Lewis offcuts and the Queen Mother’s old rented TV set and VHS player with her collection of creaky ‘Dad’s Army’ and ‘Fawlty Towers’ re-runs, still has pride of place in the living room.
Re-inspired, we fire up the satnav in the car and head westwards past Dunnet Head with its Orkney outlook towards Thurso and our bed for the night at Strathy Point. But the road trip gods have one final joke to play on us, as the GPS hilariously deposits us in a suburban cul-de-sac called ‘Strathy Lane’. Clearly we have not “reached our destination”.
Vowing never to turn it on again we unfold the massive paper map on the bonnet and plot our route old school!
Ah how I love Scotland! Yes to haggis and black pudding with my eggs and bacon!! You are quite right about how well they do genteel. The architecture and landscape even suits the weather! By the way, I love the gothic sooty granite surroundings of Edinburgh :-))
I hate to quote a chain but Pizza Pilgrim do a mean satisfyingly chewy Gluten-free sourdough… but don’t quote me on that, I was pretty hungry :-))
So what flour combos are used in this particular blend Sabrina uses here?
Ps: Looking forward to parts 2 and 3!
That northern Scottish coast around Thurso is magical in mid-summer, especially staying up on the cliff top in the early hours to watch the sun vainly trying to set on the never-ending days.