One of the most common recipe questions I get is about finding good gluten free pizza crust. Now with Dayai cheese in the store (and some other newer alternatives), the cheese factor has been resolved for most of us. And, the toppings are so variable that virtually any diet challenge can be met by some mix of veggies and/or meats. And, unless you're dealing with a tomato issue, there's plenty of store-bought and homemade sauce options (if tomato is an issue - try pierogi pizza or pizza without sauce).
But, the crust! I've tried some of the store GFCF crusts and I'm not really happy with them. Some just taste horrible - sorry, but they do. And, those that work are horribly expensive. Call me cheap, but $10 is a lot for a smallish crust. I'd much rather make some on my own.
I've reached a point where I can make a simple, tasty crust - that even I like to eat, and would serve to guests. I'll admit, this has taken years of adapting, tweaking, changing, etc ... but, I'm at a good spot with it, and I'll share here. It's also very adaptable to allergies. For example, if you can't use brown rice flour, use sorghum flour.
So, here it is:
Shell ingredients
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour
- 2/3 cup chickpea flour
- 2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/3 cup oil (I use canola)
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tbsp sugar
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Mix dry ingredients.
- Add wet ingredients and mix well.
- Grease baking sheet with shortening (we use Spectrum) or line a baking sheet with parchment paper (I mostly use the parchment rather than shortening).
- Plop dough onto middle of parchment lined pan - might need a spatula to get it all out.
- I do this next part at the sink since you'll need wet hands - the dough is sticky. Turn the tap on and wet one hand. Use your hand to push down on the dough and smooth it out into a pizza shell shape (circle, square or rectangle). You'll have to repeatedly wet that hand to keep from sticking. I do this until it's about 1/4" thick.
I pinch the edges like you would for a pie crust.
- Bake 12 minutes, then, use a turner or other utensil to gently loosen the crust from the pan and slide onto an oven rack.
- Bake for another 5 minutes without the pan underneath.
- After five minutes, again use a turner or utensil to gently slide the crust back onto the baking pan. Remove from oven.
- This is when you'll add sauce, cheese and other toppings. Generally, I add these and then bake for five more minutes to heat. Then eat!
Here's some of my topping ideas for this gluten free pizza:
Cheese: I use one bag of Dayai cheddar. Dump it into a small pot. Add a quarter(ish) cup of rice milk (or any other milk alternative). Heat on medium until the milk heats and cheese starts to melt. Stir continuously. Add milk as needed to gain the right cheesy texture that you want. I make mine until it's sorta like cheese dip so that I can ladle it over top of the pizza. My kids call it a "cheese blanket."
Veggies: My kids like any mix of chopped onions (small pieces), thin green pepper strips and mushrooms. Of course, add whatever you like.
Meat: I've used pepperoni (our store has a gluten free pepperoni), and I've also used ground meat to make "cheeseburger pizza." You could use any meat.
So, typically, I'll spoon the sauce, ladle the cheese, sprinkle the veggies and add the meat - then bake five minutes. I'll let the pizza rest for five minutes after coming out of the oven before cutting.
One final note - I've made a larger rectangular gluten free pizza when my kids had friends over simply by doubling the recipe. Worked just fine.
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