Pizza from a different perspective

Its been a long time since I had pizza. A really long time; how about almost a year?! With Rand being intolerant of the three main ingredients (wheat, dairy, tomatoes) it just wasn't worth it. I came across this pizza crust recipe the other day, and figured I could give it a good try. Mike and I came up with a list of toppings, and away we went. Here's what we came up with. The crust recipe is from glutenfreecookingschool.com. I left out the ingredients and directions for the gal's pizza sauce since we weren't using it.


Gluten Free Pizza Crust
Yield: Enough pizza for two adults, if your goal is to be very full. This may be enough for three or four if you’re serving salad as well) Makes 2 8x8 crusts

1 Tbsp. Active Dry Yeast
1 1/3 c. milk (soy, cow, or rice)
1 tsp. sugar

1 1/3 cup brown rice flour
1 c. corn starch
2 tsp. Xanthan-Gum
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. fennel seed
1/2 tsp. rosemary (dried)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. cider vinegar

2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

3. Heat the milk in the microwave so that it is warm (not so hot that it would burn your finger, just warm). Combine the milk with the sugar and yeast in a small mixing bowl. If you stir the mixture while you slowly pour the milk, then it should all dissolve very nicely. Let this sit while you proceed to the next step - it needs to have time to get bubbly.

4. Combine the brown rice flour, corn starch, xanthum gum and spices in a larger mixing bowl. If the rosemary is not crushed, then I usually chop it up a bit with a knife before I put it in the bowl.

5. Add the oil and vinegar to the yeast mixture, which should have some air bubbles by now. Then pour all of that into the flour mixture and stir well. Once you’ve done this, the dough will be somewhat sticky, and now is a good time to sprinkle some extra rice flour on it. Now that the rice flour is cutting down on the stickiness, form the dough into a ball and let it sit while you get your pans ready.

6. If you’re using pans or a cookie sheet to cook the crusts, you will need to grease them, so that the pizza crust does not stick. Spread butter, olive oil, shortening, or cooking spray on the pan and then sprinkle a bit of rice flour on top of that. ( I use one round and one square cake pan for the pizzas. To me, it’s easier than rolling it out so that I can use my pizza stone. But if you have a pizza stone, feel free to use that, or a cookie sheet.)

7. Split the ball of dough into two pieces - one for each pan. Starting from the middle of the dough, use your fingers to press down on the dough and spread it out towards the edges of the pan. I usually work my way from the center to the edges in a circular pattern. When you get the dough to the edges, continue to push the dough up onto the side of the pan, so that you will have a nice crust. Here are some pictures of me making the crust last weekend.

8. Pop the crusts into the hot oven for 8 minutes. While they are cooking, add the basil to the sauce and prep your pizza toppings. Tonight we used diced onion, diced bell pepper, mushrooms, and black olives.

9. Take the crusts out of the oven. While they cool for a second, use your stick blender to puree the pizza sauce if you do not want it to be chunky.

10. Drizzle some olive oil onto your crusts and spread it over them evenly. (This will keep the pizza sauce from making your crust soggy.). Now add the toppings starting with the pizza sauce and ending with the cheese.

11. Pop the pizza back into the oven for 10 - 15 minutes. The time is not specific, you just want the pizzas to stay in the oven until the cheese starts to brown a bit. Pull the pizzas out, cut, and serve.


I was really impressed. The dough tasted like real pizza dough, had good texture, and held up to the toppings well. I did notice that it didn't brown, but that seems to be a trend when cooking with gluten free flours. Here are the toppings we used, and the changes I'll make the next time I make it.


Toppings: I layered thawed chopped frozen spinach, sauteed garlic slices, Italian turkey sausage (cooked most of the way and sliced into rounds), butterflied shrimp (we put it on everything, what can I say..), and pine nuts. These worked really well together!

Notes: I would add a pinch more salt to the dough, to help punch up the flavor. Along those same lines I would double the amount of rosemary that goes into the dough. I'll also sprinkle either sea salt or kosher salt on the dough when I bake it the first time, and add the pine nuts so they get pushed into the dough a little. I'm still picking them up off the floor from last night. Silly me put them on last. I would also double the sliced garlic. I used about 4 medium sized cloves, and put them in the pan to cook with the sausage. Mike and I both commented there weren't enough of them! I drizzled some olive oil on the crusts even though we weren't using a sauce. I'm not sure if it made a difference with the flavor or not. The pizza crusts came out a bit thick for our taste; I used a 8x8 square pan and a 9" pie dish. I will try halving the recipe and using my pizza stone to see if I can get a thin-medium crust. If you like a thicker crust, go with the whole recipe.

All in all, we were really impressed with the final product. For not having any cheese or tomato sauce, the pizza was really good; very flavorful and not at all dry. We will definitely make it again!