Welcome To My Gluten Free Journey: Pizza Crust

It's Tuesday, that mean it's pizza night in our house! We have had this tradition for the past 10 years or so. This crust is soft, crispy and chewy all at the same time. Finally, REAL pizza crust! I can't tell you the countless times I've made gluten free pizza crust just to have it turn out to be a dismal failure! I finally have a recipe that comes out delicious every time. This also makes perfect bread sticks, focaccia and flat bread as well. I hope you enjoy this pizza crust as much as we do!

Ingredients:

2 cups of my bread flour mix
1/3 cup tapioca starch/flour
1-1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1-1/2 teaspoons ground chia seeds
2 teaspoons of Italian herbs (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon minced garlic (optional)
1/4 cup olive oil

Optional:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat your oven to 500F with a pizza stone or heavy pizza pan inside. Combine all of the dry ingredients (except for yeast) in the bowl of a stand mixer and stir together on low speed briefly. In a separate bowl combine, water, minced garlic, sugar, yeast and olive oil. Add the wet ingredients to the stand mixer and turn on low speed just to combine the ingredients.

I love my Cuisinart Stand Mixer! I have had this one for a couple years now and can't imagine trying to make gluten free bread dough without it. Click on the photo above to find this one and many others at Chef's Catalog!

Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl then turn the mixer on and increase the speed to medium and mix for 2-3 minutes or until thick and puffy. If the dough isn't really wet and sticky add in a little water. It should look like the picture below.

Let the dough rest for 15 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment that is lightly sprinkled with flour or corn meal.

Flour the surface of the dough and your hands and pat the dough into a 12 inch disk. Using a rolling pin, roll the disk out to about 15 inches or so. It should be about 1/4 inch thick.

If you like a thicker edge on your crust just turn the edges under to beef it up a little. Let it rise in a warm place for 20 minutes or until slightly puffed. Prick the surface several times to avoid large bubbles in the crust as it cooks.

Par bake the crust still on the parchment for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush the crust with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with the garlic powder. This part is optional, but it really adds a lot of flavor. At this time you need to turn your broiler on with the stone or pizza pan still inside still inside.