Gluten-Free Pizza!

There are two things that gluten-free people miss the most:  bread and pizza.  Pizza is actually kind of an extension of bread, really, but it does seem to be one of those indispensable American foods.  When you can't have pizza, you feel like you've been left out in the cold and abandoned.  Pizza is even more important than sandwiches!  There are many foods people can do without, but pizza "ain't" one of them.

Here you see a nice gluten-free pizza, and as you can see, I am not "doing without."

Gluten-free bread and gluten-free pizza do not remotely taste like their gluten counterparts.  There are many things we can duplicate in the gluten-free world--almost everything, actually--but bread and pizza cannot be duplicated.  So when new gluten-free people try gluten-free bread or pizza, they are often disappointed because it doesn't "taste the same."  Some of that is just confusion and getting used to a gluten-free diet.  Some of it is what I have termed wheat prejudice.  In any event, my pizza will not taste like your favorite restaurant pizza . . . BUT for a gluten-free pizza (and I have eaten many of them), it's pretty darn good.

Mix all your dry ingredients together in the bowl of your mixer.  Use a whisk for this to make sure the xanthan gum is fully incorporated.  In another bowl, beat the egg and then add the oil.  Beat again and add 1/2 cup of water and 1/4 tsp of vinegar.  Have your sauce ready.  Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and begin to mix on low.  NOW, slowly add some water (probably 2-3 tbs) and mix at level 2 for about a minute.  You are aiming for a mixture that is very sticky and somewhere between mashed potatoes and play doh.  This is not a dough, but it isn't quite a batter either.

Use a rubber spatula and scoop the "dough" out onto a greased 12" pizza pan.  It will be too sticky to do this with your hands.  Have a small bowl of olive oil next to you.  Dip a couple of fingers in, rub the fingers of your hands together, and begin flattening out the dough.  You will probably only be able to press once or twice before your fingers get sticky and you need more oil.  If you get too much dough on your hands, rinse and dry them and then continue.  Keep oiling and spreading the dough.

As you oil and spread the dough, the surface will get more and more oil on it, and then you won't need as much oil.  Keep spreading the dough and go right up the lip of the pan to form the edge of your crust.  Make sure there are no holes in the dough anywhere on the crust bottom.

Bake the crust at 400 degrees for 7 minutes.  The picture on the left shows the crust after baking.  Don't worry if you see a small crack here or there as it's only superficial and won't go through to the bottom of the pan.  Then put your sauce on and bake for another 3 minutes.  The picture on the right shows the crust after baking.  Can you see that it has begun to pull just a little bit away from the sides?  That's perfectly fine.  Now add your favorite toppings and broil on high for 5 minutes two rungs beneath the broiler.  Turn the oven off and leave the pizza inside for another 5 minutes.

Because the crust pulls slightly away from the side of the pan, it's easy to slip a spatula underneath the pizza and quickly move the whole thing to some wax paper to cool.  The pizza on the left just came out of the oven.  The pizza on the right has cooled for 10 minutes and has then been sliced.

This pizza has mozzarella cheese, green peppers, onions, and pepperoni.  I like it blackened just a bit.  You will be amazed at how well this crust holds up!  Yes, you can pick it up just like "regular" pizza, and the crust edge gets nice and crispy.  It reheats beautifully the next day in a toaster oven.  There now, that wasn't so hard, was it?  :)

1/2 cup (97 g) of potato starch (not the same as potato flour)

1/2 cup (68 g) of tapioca starch

1/2 cup (59 g) of sorghum flour

1/4 cup (43 g) of buckwheat flour

1/4 cup (41 g) of white rice flour

1 tbs of sugar

1.5 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp of xanthan gum

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 cup of water + 2-3 tbs

1 egg

2 tbs (25 g) of olive oil

1/4 tsp of vinegar

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Grease a 12-inch pizza pan.  Mix the dry ingredients together in your mixer bowl.  In a separate bowl, beat the egg and then add the oil and beat again.  Add 1/2 cup of water and 1/4 tsp of vinegar and mix well.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Mix on low for about 30 seconds.  Then mix on level two while adding water 1 tbs at a time.  Your goal is for a sticky mixture that is in between play doh and mashed potatoes.  This is not a "dough" you can pick up with your hands.  Using a rubber spatula, scoop the dough onto the greased pan.  Oil your fingers and begin to spread the dough out, oiling your fingers frequently.  Go right up the lip of the pan to form the edge of the crust.  Bake for seven minutes.  Add sauce and bake for 3 minutes.  Add toppings and broil on high for 5 minutes.  Turn off the oven and let the pizza stay in it (unopened) for 5 more minutes.  Remove from the oven, slip a spatula under the pizza, and remove it to wax paper.  Let cool for 10 minutes and then cut.  Makes one 12-inch pizza.

TIPS:

1.  I cannot stress enough how important a digital scale is in gluten-free baking.  You can pick one up at Target for about $25, and it is worth its weight in gold.  When you bake by weight instead of by volume, your results are much more exact and can be repeated every time.  If you insist on baking by volume, some recipes may turn out great and some may be a huge disappointment.

2.  If your fingers become full of dough while pressing it out, rinse them, dry them, and oil them again.  Once your fingers get "doughy," they won't spread the dough very well, oil or not.

3. If your dough seems very hard to spread, you did not add enough water.  Add more water next time.  It should be kind of mushy.