Gluten Free Pizza Crust

Yield

2 9" Crusts

Equipment Required

stand mixer with dough hook
2 9-inch cake pans, pizza pans or cookie sheet

Ingredients

· 2 cups flat bread flour mixture

· 2-1⁄4 teaspoon active dry yeast

· 1 teaspoon sugar

· 1⁄2 cup water, warm

· 1⁄2 teaspoon salt

· 1⁄2 teaspoon italian seasoning

· 1⁄2 teaspoon oregano, dried

· 1⁄4 teaspoon onion powder

· 1⁄4 teaspoon garlic powder

· 3 tablespoons olive oil

· corn meal

· rice flour

Directions

Proof the yeast. Mix the sugar into the warm water, stirring until it dissolves. Then whisk in the yeast with a fork. Set the mixture aside for 10 minutes. It should foam up. If you don’t get foam, the yeast is dead. You will need to replace it before proceeding.

Put the flour mixture into the bowl of the mixer. Add in the seasonings.

Use a little bit of the oil, with a pastry brush and coat two 9" pans. Add a couple of tablespoons of the corn meal. Shake the pans around to distribute the corn meal, dump out any that doesn’t stick to the pan. Set the pans aside.

Add the oil to the yeast mixture. Stir briefly then pour over the flour mix. Mix everything together with a fork.

When you can’t mix it any more, put the bowl on the mixer and mix it on medium-low speed for about 5 minutes, or until the mixture is cohesive and there is no flour stuck to the sides of the bowl. Scrape the bowl with a spatula as necessary. The dough is done when you can roll it all into a ball that stays together.

Start preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Make sure the rack is in the middle of the oven.

Turn the dough out onto a rice flour dusted surface. Knead the dough a few times, then roll it into a fat log. Divide the dough in half. Set one half aside.

Using your hands, roll the first half into a ball. Flatten it out until it is approximately the size of the pan. If the dough cracks, just push it back together. Place the dough in the bottom of the pan. Continue working the dough to the edges of the pan. If you are adding a lot of toppings, you may want to form an edge on the crust.

Place the pans in the oven, on a rack in the center and bake for 10 minutes. When it is done, it should be firm and have a slight amount of browning.

To make a pizza with the crusts at this point, add whatever toppings you wish. Switch the oven to broil and put the pizzas back into the oven on a rack in the upper half. Watch closely! All you’re doing is heating the toppings and melting the cheese. Remove the pizza when the toppings are done.

Notes

You need to prebake GF pizza crusts. If you don’t, the toppings will just make it too soggy while it’s baking.

These will freeze, but they are more fragile than wheat crusts, so putting something stiff (like a piece of cardboard) under them helps.

Since the crust is already baked when you add toppings, it works best if the toppings are precooked. Then you’re just broiling it to melt the cheese That makes for a quick dinner!