Gluten Free Pizza Crust

My husband came home one day and asked me if I could make a BLT pizza for dinner sometime. He had one at a local pizza place and wanted to try it. Well, being gluten free, I was trying to decide whether or not to make my own pizza with pre-made GF personal pizza crusts that cost $7.99 at my grocery store, or try to make one pizza for the whole family. While still being expensive, I chose to try the adventure of making my own pizza dough. It is just easier to be able to make the same thing for all of us so I don't have to worry about cross-contamination.

I got a book from the library that had all sorts of recipes from different flour blends. It was a great book that explained the difference in all these flours and how to get nutrition you may lack being GF. The book is called, "Gluten-Free Hassle Free A Simple, Sane Dietitian-Approved Program for Eating Your Way Back to Health," by Marlisa Brown, MS RD CDE CD. I adapted her recipe for Italian Pizza:

1 cup sorghum flour
1 cup potato starch
1 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup chickpea flour
3/4 cup warm skim milk
3/4 cup warm water
1 packet dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 cup rice flour

1. Mix first four flours together. In a large bowl, mix 1 cup of flour blend with 3/4 cup warm milk and 1/4 cup warm water. Add yeast, sugar, 1/8 cup olive oil, and 1 tsp salt. Mix together, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for 45 minutes.

2. Mix remaining flour with the remaining salt and xanthan gum. Mix together with yeasted mixture with 1/4-1/2 cup warm water and cider vinegar for about 3-4 minutes, until the dough is a nice soft consistency that holds together but is not too wet.

3. Knead and form the dough into a ball; cover and let rest for about 15 minutes. If too wet, add brown rice flour until a nice consistency.

4. Preheat oven to 450.

5. Drizzle a large flat pizza pan with olive oil and sprinkle with cornmeal.

6. Turn pizza dough out of bowl and shape and flatten, spreading out over pizza pan. Add brown rice flour if dough is too wet, and work it in as you fit the dough onto the pan, until the pan is completely covered with pizza dough (leave a thicker ridge around the edges). If the dough is too dry or crumbly, wet hands or a spatula and rub it across the top to smooth it out.

7. Sprinkle top of dough with some olive oil and oregano and let sit for about 20 minutes.

8. Place dough in the oven and precook for about 15 minutes.

9. I used Alfredo sauce as my sauce, then topped it with cheese, bacon, and tomato.

10. Bake for about 25 minutes, until crust is crispy. I left it in for that long, and mine was overdone, but not burnt, so I say 20 minutes.

11. When I took the pizza out of the oven, I added lettuce. My family doesn't like mayo, but if we did, that would probably be drizzled on top.

It was tasty! I will say I won't do it again until winter probably. It's sooo hot here!