My wife and I love pizza. I know that’s not out of the ordinary. But when we went to Italy in 2015, we ate pizza every single day. Sometimes more than once. We were in the homeland of pizza and my half Italian wife was not about to miss out. Some was good, some was just okay. The best, by far, was from one of the many small “by the slice” shops in Rome that sell elementary school cafeteria style pizza (rectangular slices, baked on a rectangular baking sheet). I was a little leary, because elementary school cafeteria style pizza. But my wife said she had eaten somewhere similar when in Rome a couple of years earlier and loved it, and they had a few varieties that would fall into the category of accidentally vegan, so we got a slice each of two different kinds. Not going to lie, they rivaled some of the best pizza I’ve ever had.
Within the next year, my wife was diagnosed with celiac disease. We started trying new recipes similar to our old favorites. I tried converting some recipes. It was all very hit or miss, as you are probably aware if you have ever been in the same situation. Our favorite pizza dough to make at home was a slightly modified version of a recipe from La Dolce Vegan! by Sara Kramer (it was the first vegan cookbook in my collection, and still one I recommend to any vegan, as what it lacks in fancy full color pictures, it makes up for with being INSANELY packed with recipes. There’s even a craft section!).
We tried various frozen vegan gluten free pizzas. Some were good, some were not. We tried multiple dough recipes. Most were not good. At all. Impossible to bake all the way through. Weird, waxy textures (usually a sign of having too big of a starch to whole grain flour ratio). But I found one we both liked, and started tinkering with.
It started off with this recipe from Vegan Richa. Most GF pizza dough recipes are for thin crust. This is most definitely not that. This crust turns out light, fluffy and more bread like. It turns out more like what you might think of as hand tossed pizza dough. What I remember Pizza Hut’s regular dough being like, but I could be wrong (I don’t think I’ve had anything from Pizza Hut in 10 or 12 years, and I’m okay with that). I have made a few small changes to the original recipe, which is why I’m posting my version. The technique is still the same, but the change in ingredients will give you some extra flavor and make the dough a little easier to work with.
This crust freezes very well. You can mix the dough, let it go through the proofing stages, do the initial parbake of the untopped crust for 10 minutes, let it cool off and then freeze it. When my wife was getting close to her delivery date, she wanted me to make a bunch of these to freeze so we could make pizza quick and easily after Dahlia was born. It was a great idea, although I think we went through 6 or 8 crusts within a week.
If you are going to use a frozen crust, preheat your oven to 400°, take the crust out of the freezer, top it, throw it in the oven when it’s hot (you can put it directly on your oven rack or on a pan) and it should be done in about 20-25 minutes.
This crust is so good, it’s the only recipe we do at home anymore. But my wife has said that if we ever go back to Italy, she might still eat pizza every day and just accept the consequences. Lord, help us.
Gluten Free Pizza Dough
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 3/4 cup oat flour 90 grams
- 1/4 cup white rice flour 40 grams
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch 30 grams
- 1/4 cup corn starch 32 grams
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp psyllium husk flakes
Wet Ingredients
- 1/2 cup +2 tbsp warm water
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1.5 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- In a liquid measuring cup or small bowl, combine warm water (should be warm to the touch, but not hot), sugar and yeast. Stir together and set aside.
- Measure out dry ingredients together into medium or large bowl. Whisk or stir thoroughly to combine. Make a small well in the center and add the olive oil.
- When yeast mixture is proofed (foamy and about doubled in volume), add to dry ingredients. Stir until well mixed and dough comes together in a ball. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towl and let sit for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400°. After dough has proofed for 10 minutes, shape it into a 9″ circle on a parchment lined pan or pie dish (I use a 9″ pie dish because it’s already the right size, but you could do it on a pizza pan, cookie sheet, whatever you have). Cover shaped dough and let sit for 15 minutes. I usually let it sit on top of the stove so it gets and extra boost from the oven heat.
- Remove covering from dough. Spray or gently rub water on the top of the crust. Bake for 10 minutes. (If you are going to freeze the parbaked crust, let it cool on the pan or dish until it’s cool enough to be handled, carefully remove it and freeze. It will be a little fragile, so make sure it’s on a flat surface in the freezer. You might want to consider wrapping it up if it’s going to be frozen for more than a few days).
- Remove from oven. Add toppings, rub or spray more water on the exposed crust on the edge and bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until desired level of doneness. Let cool for a few minutes before cutting into.
