Pizza Crust #1

(ovo-lacto, gluten-free)

Gluten-free pizza crusts are becoming more and more popular at pizza restaurants. My wife was excited by this trend until she discovered two disturbing facts: 1) many of the gluten-free pizzas have so much cross-contamination with flour that the secondary gluten makes her sick, and 2) most of the crusts taste like crap.

We hunted online for a good pizza crust recipe, only to find most of them too grainy, gritty, or gummy. So, after much experimentation, I repurposed my gluten-free pita bread recipe to make a serviceable pizza crust.

Here it is, my new pizza crust recipe that is neither grainy, gritty, or gummy. I admit it is not as crispy as a fancy glutinous artisanal wood fired crust, but it does the job and makes pizza time a time of rejoicing rather than a time of bitter disappointment. And that’s usually all I am going for.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups GOOD gluten-free baking flour (I recommend Better Batter or America’s Test Kitchen recipe) plus extra to for rolling out pitas
• 1 tablespoon powdered psyllium fiber
• 1 teaspoons xanthan gum (if not already in flour)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 cup plain Greek yoghurt or vegan yoghurt
• 1½ cups warm 1% or 2% milk (or milk substitute), about 100 to 110 °F

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Whisk together 3 cups of flour, psyllium, xanthan gum, salt, yeast, and sugar in a stand mixer bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together oil, yoghurt, and milk.
2. With the mixer on low speed, add the milk mixture in a slow pour and mix thoroughly until completely incorporated into the flour. If you do not have a stand mixer, the dough can be mixed by hand with a wooden spoon for about two minutes. The dough should be moist and tacky, but it should hold together.
3. Using vegetable oil or cooking spray, liberally grease six or seven 8-inch circular pans with a lip. Using wet hands, place ½ cup of dough in the center of each pan and spread out the dough until it completely covers the base of the pan with a thickness of about ⅛ inch. Cover each pan with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 450°F. Poke holes in the crusts several times with a fork to let steam escape when baking. Place pans in oven for 10 minutes until crusts are parbaked. Remove from oven and let cool on cooling rack.
5. Pizzas can now be decorated with your favorite sauce, cheese (or cheeze), and toppings. Bake pizzas at 450°F for 10 minutes.

Makes 6 to 7 small pizzas or 3 x 12-inch pizzas.