Gluten Free Pizza Crust

At last, I've figured out how to make gluten free pizza crust that tastes good and doesn't require eggs!

Bryce is allergic to wheat, dairy, egg,....the list goes on and on. The majority of "gluten free pizza crusts" call for eggs  help balance out the gluten-less dough. Well, eggs are a no-go here, so I've been buying Bob's Red Mill gluten free pizza crust mix and substituting flax seeds for the eggs.

Today, however, I had no mix waiting for me on my basement shelves. Panic set in--it's Friday, we have high school football marching band to attend and pizza was on the menu. Soooo, what's a girl who hates cooking hates guessing on cooking is too lazy to run to the store and buy a gluten free mix supposed to do?

Improvise!

I followed a basic wheat flour pizza crust recipe, but subbed in a gluten-free flour blend I had on hand. I guessed on how much ground flax seed, how much olive oil, how much salt,  and pretty much flew by the seat of my pants. Oh, one thing I didn't guess on was yeast. I knew 1 packet of yeast to 1 cup warm water.

I have to say, the dough looked like the pre-packaged mix. I let it rise for 20 mins or so and then rolled it out onto a 14" pizza pan. That's right--I said I ROLLED IT OUT. With a ROLLING PIN. If you've ever made gluten free crusts without eggs, you'll know that they are more like mashed potatoes than a ball of dough. It's usually very sticky, very gloppy, and very un-doughy-like. (yes, that's a word.)

Using a damp rolling pin I rolled it out on my pizza pan. This recipe made enough for 1 pretty thick crust pizza that I was able to roll all the way to the edges of the pan. The Bob's Red Mill that I've used doesn't spread to the edge and it's usually very thin.

I then par-baked it for a few minutes, pulled it out and loaded on the sauce & toppings and finished baking it.

After the first round in the oven. It shrunk about 1 inch, so it's a 13" pizza crust.

Results?  Well, my favorite 4 year old declared it "awesome" and gave it a thumbs up, so YAY! I tried it and  while you can't compare it to a wheat flour based crust, it was pretty darn good.

Gluten-free on the left, regular wheat crust on the right. 

Cost comparison? 1 package of the Bob's Red Mill gluten-free pizza crust runs about $6.  I used 2.5 cups of gluten free flour from a 3lb bag that I purchased for $ 5, so clearly, the homemade version is cheaper.

Here's the recipe:

2.5 Cups Gluten Free Flour Blend (with Xanthan Gum added)
1 packet of yeast
1 C warm water (no more than 120 degrees)
2t Olive Oil
1t Salt
2T ground flax seeds + about 6T additional water

Mix yeast into warm water.
In large bowl combine dry ingredients, then olive oil, then yeast/water combo, then flax seed mix. Mix by hand (by hand--either with your hands or with a large wooden spoon). Cover & let rise for about 20 minutes.

Grease a 14" pizza pan and roll dough out on surface. Shape dough with a damp rolling pin or by using your hands, dipped in water. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Remove from oven, add toppings, and bake an additional 10 minutes. Serve!

**notes:

•  you can adjust the amount of water--add a little more, add a little less. It's more the feel of thedough

• My flour blend was Namaste brand and was a combination of sweet brown rice flour, tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, sorghum flour and xanthan gum. 

• Baking time might depend on your oven. Definitely do NOT overbake!!