Pizza

Okay, I have to say right up front, we tried a little bit of everything to get pizza back into this house. I’ll share a few of those ideas with you along with a great real pizza dough recipe that we now use. We can’t have cheese on top, but a good sauce, olives, peppers and other vegetables makes for a pretty good pizza either way.

Rice cakes – this one worked for a long time – that was until Little Miss really knew that she wasn’t getting pizza. So we started calling them snack cakes instead. She still really likes them though.

Ener G’s gluten free crackers – we have used these for thin “pizza” crust as well as for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, they make great thin sandwiches.

Then we tried Special Diet Solutions pizza dough and WOW we had real pizza again! We love this recipe so much we keep a container of the dry mix in the freezer all ready to go for when we want another pizza night.

Pizza Crust

This crispy pizza crust tastes do delicious that your guests won’t know it’s wheat and gluten-free. You can hold a slice in your and and it won’t crumble! You may also shape the dough into 4 individual pizzas.

1 Tablespoon gluten-free dry yeast
²⁄₃ cup brown rice flour or garbfava flour (Authentic Foods)
¹⁄₂ cup tapioca flour
2 Tablespoons dry milk power or non-dairy milk powder*
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin powder
1 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning
²⁄₃ cup warm water (105^o)
¹⁄₂ teaspoon sugar or ¹⁄₄ teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cider vinegar or ¹⁄₄ teaspoon unbuffered Vitamin C crystals
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In medium mixer bowl using regular beaters (not dough hooks), blend yeast, flours, dry milk power*, xanthan gum, salt, gelatin powder, and Italian herb seasoning on low speed. Add warm water, sugar (or honey), olive oil, and vinegar. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. (If the mixer bounces around the bowl, the dough is too stiff. Add water if necessary, one tablespoon at a time, until dough does not resist beaters.) The dough will resemble soft bread dough. (You may also mix in bread machine on dough setting).

Put mixture into a 12-inch pizza pan or on a baking sheet (for thin, crispy crust), 11×7-inch pan (for deep dish version) that has been coated with cooking spray. Liberally sprinkle rice flour onto the dough then press dough into pan, continuing to sprinkle dough with flour to prevent sticking to your hands. Make edges thicker to contain toppings.

Bake the pizza crust for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Spread pizza crust with your favorite sauce and toppings. Bake for another 20-25 minutes or until top is nicely brown.

Serves 6.

*Dairy-Alternative: 2 Tablespoons tapioca flour or sweet rice flour in place of the 2 Tablespoons dry milk powder or non-dairy milk powder. However, the crust won’t brown as nicely.

“Reprinted with permission from Cooking Free (formerly Special Diet Solutions) by Carol Fenster (Avery/Penguin Group,2005). Check out Carol’s online menu planning service at www.GfreeCuisine.com“

So, did you note that? After checking with Carol for permission to reprint her recipe I learned something new and exciting! Special Diet Solutions has been reprinted and is now called Cooking Free! She also told me that it has more recipes in it. I am going to have to get a copy!

Until next time,

MamaT

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